When I'm out walking
I strut my stuff
And I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite
I just might stop to check you out

Let me go on
Like I blister in the sun
Let me go on
Big hands, I know you're the one

Body and beats
I stain my sheets
I don't even know why
My girlfriend, she's at the end
She is starting to cry

Let me go on
Like I blister in the sun
Let me go on
Big hands, I know you're the one

When I'm out walking
I strut my stuff
And I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite
I just might stop to check you out

When I'm out walking
I strut my stuff
And I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite
I just might stop to check you out

Body and beats
I stain my sheets
I don't even know why
My girlfriend, she's at the end
She is starting to cry

When I'm out walking
I strut my stuff
And I'm so strung out
I'm high as a kite
I just might stop to check you out

Let me go on
Like I blister in the sun
Let me go on
Big hands, I know you're the one


Lyrics submitted by typo

Blister in the Sun Lyrics as written by Gordon Gano

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Blister in the Sun song meanings
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129 Comments

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  • +12
    General Comment

    This song is about masturbation, ie: Body and beats I stain my sheet I don't even know why. And: Big hands I know you're the one... Come on! You can't say you didn't pick that one!

    PunKinDrubliCon February 07, 2002   Link
  • +9
    General Comment

    I always thought this was a song from a penis's point of view...

    seethransomon September 02, 2009   Link
  • +8
    General Comment

    in the 6th grade i was with my first girlfriend and we were listening to the radio. this song came on and she went on about how it dosent make any sense. and i didnt want to tell her it was about masturbation cus she was y'know a 12 year old girl, so i said it had a meaning that i didnt want to tell her. so she called me a stuborn liar. and then we started fighting...and that is how my very first realationship ended

    zombiesraftermeon May 07, 2008   Link
  • +6
    Song Fact

    Gordon Gano is a clever and intelligent lyricist. You can tell intelligent by the words in his vast vocabulary. And if you didn't know he was also a member of N.H.S. (national honors society)

    Gano was a mere kid when he wrote this self titled Debut album, this song touches base a a couple key elements, he is talking about how he is high on Heroin, this drug, not any other. He's strung out, when they recorded this album, there is a recording of Gordon on an answering machine saying his dad locked him in the basement and he wouldnt be able to make it. They included this recording on the Add it Up album which has different versions of their previous hits, as well as some new tracks mixed in.

    Add it up was put together mostly to meet obligations to their record company at the time, i believe it may have been Rhino but im not positive. Gordon Gano's father would lock him in the basement in an effort to prevent the 17 year old then from obtaining Heroin. (maybe he was 18, I'm doing this from memory and i researched this band many years ago so my facts may be a little of, but they are close enough)

    "let me go on" clearly a refence to complaining, teen angst type shit im sure. "like i blister in the sun" you ever have a sun burn with blisters? It's fucking hell! you complain a lot about the pain. maybe Gordon was cleverly using this as a metaphor for being dope sick.

    As for the masturbation reference? "Body and beats /I stain my sheets / I don't even know why / My girlfriend / she's at the end / She is starting to cry" Body n beats is whacking off, stain my sheets with cum stains. his girlfriends frustrated with him, either because he's shooting up and a junky, or it may be because When you use Heroin it can mess with your sex drive. and he's jerkin off instead of banging his girl. (cum stains on his sheets could have tipped her off possibly, or she thinks hes cheating, maybe he is cheating. He does mention getting high strutting his stuff and possibly, "checking you out"

    i will share this, i personally was addicted to Heroin for 10 years, (clean 5 + now) i would often prefer beating off to having sex with my girlfriend, I would think about how messed up it was, and wonder what was wrong with me, why wouldnt i just have sex with my girlfriend, this could be what Gano was going through,, only he truly can explain. WHICH THE FEMMES DID DO!

    This is where i have to leave it to you to decide what he is saying, The femmes themselves claim it is about a bald woman they saw or maybe knew, im not sure. All they said about its meaning were these exact words "Its about a bald woman" They may have been fucking with us or not.

    It could possibly be that she is the blister in the sun and bitching, and Gano used this line to describe the Bald woman. "Going on like a blister in the sun"

    Staining his sheets could be caused from pissing his pants from laughing sooo hard, and his girlfriend's in tears from laughing so hard.and we all know when you are high things are a lot funnier. He might have been "checking out" the Bald woman which they claim this song is about.

    Now, Knowing how clever Gano is and having obsessed over this band since i first started liking music, it could be a safe bet he may have found a clever way for this song to be about all the things i talked about.

    mr1man2on January 25, 2015   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This song is so about masterbation. You can't deny it. I knew the first time i really listened to the lyrics.

    jermsteadon June 24, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    no posts on this song? hehe this song reminds me of when i was younger...o well good song rock on

    KDCurly87on January 26, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Well, "Blister in the Sun" does rather imply swelling, does it not?

    :)

    tehanuon February 13, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    for all of you who don't think it's about masturbation consider "Big hands I know you're the one"..... I bought this album when it was released and read in an interview( been too long to remember where) thhat it is definitely a tounge in cheek ode to masturbation.

    papaear6902on May 08, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Sure, it's about masturbation. Not to be too graphic, but I think the whole whispering verses are done nicely. He sings it very quiet "when I'm out walking.. etc" very quiet, very quiet, (the buildup) then he BURSTS into "LET ME GO ON..." like something else that "bursts" lol

    TAYsteTheRainMOon June 24, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    According to lead singer Gordon Gano, this song is not about masturbation as popularly thought. He wrote this song about a girl he had a crush on in high school.

    Gordon was sensitive about his small hands, and on the first day of school a girl came up to him, held his hands in the air, and exclaimed "LOOK WHAT SMALL HANDS HE HAS". So, he wrote the song from the perspective of a girl lusting after a boy with big hands. This would explain the "big hands I know you're the one" line.

    ^not an opinion, what he really said^

    ilikestuffandyouon December 24, 2005   Link

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