Thinking 'bout the people gone by
Screaming that I don't want to die
Well you can push your head
But don't you push it too far

Thinking 'bout it's here and it's real
Wondering how I really should feel
Well you can sell your soul
But don't you sell it too cheap

Hang on to your life, oh life, oh life, oh life, oh life
Hang on to your life

Thinking 'bout betraying a friend
Thinking 'bout delaying the end
Well you can ride the wind
But don't you ride it too high

Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life, life, life, life, life,
Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life, life, life, life, life
Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life, life, life, life, life
Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life, life, life, life, life
Hang on to your life
Hang on to your life, your life, your life, your life, your life, your life
Your life, your life, your life, your life, your life, your life, your life

They gaped upon me with their mouths
As a ravening and a roaring lion
I am poured out like water
And all my bones are out of joint
My heart is like wax
It is melted in the midst of my bowels
My strength is dried up like a potsherd
And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws
And thou has brought me into the dust of death


Lyrics submitted by kevin

Hang on to Your Life Lyrics as written by Kurt Winter Burton Cummings

Lyrics © Alchemical-Music Co, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Hang On To Your Life song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment

    why does no one post on these awesome songs??

    dwfp99on February 06, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    idk but it sure is a good song i love the psalm reading i think its about how to get through life it would be cool if we all took their advice :p

    the_Williamon May 18, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is about an incident that occurred in New York City in the summer of 1970. Three young men ages 19,24 and 27 left Florida to visit NYC. The 2 older young men knew some people in the city and that's where they all stayed. Everyone was into drugs there marijana, heroin and speed etc. Well, one night they are all in the basemnt apt. and a woman offered the 19 year old a drug which looked like a ball of clear wax with flecks in it. She said it was the same thing as truth serum and that he should try it. The 19 year old took the drug. When the he started feeling the efects of the drug his 2 friends and one other person stood around him and told him that he should give his soul to the one that they held allegiance to. When the young man heard this he felt an evil presence all around him. One of the men who was kind of the leader said the he needed to give him self over to the one that they worshipped. At that moment the young man screammed,"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!!! ("Screaming that I don't want to die") And then he said "Is this really real" They said yes this is really real.("Wondering if it is really real") The men that surrounded him said that you need to give your soul to the one that we follow. The young man screamed and said, "yes, I'll give you my soul but please don't kill me, you can have my soul but please don't kill me!" ("You can sell your soul but don't you sell it too cheap"). The whole time this was happening to him he was thinking about all his family and friends ("thinking bout the people gone by") and how he would miss them if he were to die. The young man who was being persecuted looked at his older friend and said, "I thought that you were my friend" "You betrayed me!" ("Thinkin bout betraying a friend") The man replied, "A lot of you long hairs (hippies) are joining us" When this hapened the young man's upper lip swoll up like a balloon from the stess of his situatiom. After a while everyone backed off from the young man and left him alone. After a few minutes the young man bolted from the apartment and jumped in his car and went back to florida leaving his so called friends behind. The boy returned home and knew he had sold his soul to an evil power just to save his life. He decided to join the service right after that. Before he went in the military, about 6 monthas after the incient, he was riding in a friends car and they were listening to the radio and the song "Hang on To Your Life" came on. When the young man heard the words it was an exact description of what had happened to him 6 months prior. He was shocked to hear the lyrics and now he knew that he had sold his soul for sure and panicked. The young man remembered that the 2 friends of his really liked the Guess Who. Now he put it together in is mind that he had some kind of evil supernatural experience. Theyoung man went on with his life for 11 years thinking that he had sold his soul and tried to forget about it. In 1981 he was befriended by a Christian and the Christian told him to read Psalm 22. When the young man read it he realized that Psalm 22 was what was at the end of the song "Hang on to Your Life". The Christian told the young man that Psalmm 22 foretold the cruicifiction of Christ a 1000(?) years before it happened. The young man became convinced of the existence of Jesus and that Jesus was and is the Son of God. The Christian then led the young man in prayer and unto salvation thus ransoming the young man's soul unto the Lord God.

    There is a Psalm, Psalm 35, which depicts a similar incident that happened to King David when he was betrayed by a friend. "I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother, I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother. But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together against me. Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me and I knew it not, they did tear me and ceased not. With hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon with their teeth. Lord,how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their desctuctions, my darling from the lions.

    In gratitude to God for saving him he also said in Psalm 35: "All my bones shall say, who is like unto you which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him that robs him"

    The Lord God is the only one that can take a soul--not anyone else, and no matter what you have done, the Lord God will save you if you want to be saved and sometimes He will save you even when you don't want to be saved!

    webfoot24on March 15, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The Guess Who had a song called "Friends of Mine". It is very eerie. It talks about a man going to the gallows and plunging into the depths of hell. In one part of the song Burton is improvising and says about the hippies, "and they are all going to end up down here (hell) with us someday"

    I honestly believe that the Guess Who, Burton especially, had some supernatural connection with sometheing really bad---the ultimate bad.

    webfoot24on March 15, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Webfoot you are an idiot. How could this song be based on this incident exactly if the guy had no contact with the Guess Who? You dont' just write about an incident word for word by sheer happenstance, youre either experiencing something or not. The Guess Who had no idea about this incident. Also, Friends of Mine is a tribute to the ranting of The Doors' frontman Jim Morrison, its a not Burton cummings posessed. My god you are an idiot.

    A_Mickon May 16, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is quite the kickass song! i'm an atheist so i don't think it's word-for-word describing the true story of one guy selling his soul to satan or anything. but it's catchy as fuck and i could probably listen to it for hours on end, so whatever.

    BB10DANisthebesthgon October 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    A very strange song. After listening I would say its based on a real event. What we see and hear is only a surface veil of reality.

    oriathelon March 19, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    You can live a good fun life. do drugs, be a bit wild, ect. just remember moderation. simple as ythat

    gary62on June 19, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    You can live a good fun life. do drugs, be a bit wild, ect. just remember moderation. simple as ythat

    gary62on June 19, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is intriguing to me especially because of Psalm 2 appearing at the end. 30 years ago I was way into Psychedelics and this song was one of my favorites to hear in that state of mind. Now in my life I am more centered around Christ and see the tie ins. I thought of Jesus in the garden sweating blood Just trying to wrap his head around what he was going to do asking his father to take this cup from him if he could (screaming that I font want to die, wondering if this really is real, thinking what I'd really should feel. Then I think of Judas with lines like "Thinking of betraying a friend, You can sell your soul if you want to but dont you sell it to cheep!" Sounds like advice Jesus would have gave to Judas. He betrayed his Lord for 30 pieces of silver. He sold his soul to cheep. It could mean something else completely but thats my 2 cents.

    MeenoMoeon April 04, 2021   Link

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