the guy upstairs is such a freak
five years now i've had a leak
and what does he do up there?
all day long, he sleeps all day
and he goes out and comes home in the most intoxicated way
as far as i can tell, he juggles bowling balls
and he's not good at it
he moves his furniture
and at six a.m. he pulls out the vacuum cleaner to suck his room
the guy downstairs is also crazy
he spent some time in an institute
it did him not much good
he's off his medication
and he starts screaming 'virgin mary, you fucking alien.'
according to him, jesus christ smokes crack
and other sundry things
but it's the man upstairs who pulls the strings, won't let me sleep

please, kill that man upstairs
if you ever loved me, you'll do this one thing won't you sweetheart?
please, murder that man upstairs
if you want to be my friend, you'll have to prove you mean it

i used to think that rent control was a good idea
until i moved in here
now i'm the only sucker paying more than a hundred bucks a room
and i'm surrounded by lunatics who don't even need a moon
but it's the man upstairs who pulls the strings, won't let me sleep

please, kill that man upstairs
if you ever loved me, you'll do this one thing won't you sweetheart?
please, murder that fuck upstairs
if you want to be my friend, you'll have to prove you mean it

then there's a lady across the hall, who always knows what's going on
and machu pichu down the stairs
who's selling crack from door to door
14b are refugees, 14a transvestite whores
but you know who is coming home
he's falling up his drunken stairs

please, kill that man upstairs
if you ever loved me, you'll do this one thing won't you sweetheart?
please, murder that fuck upstairs
if you want to be my friend, you'll help me get a good night's sleep


Lyrics submitted by faust

The Man Upstairs song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I think that most people would be able to relate to this if they lived anywhere with a wall between them and another person.

    Consequenceson August 25, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Maybe heaven has dust bunnies.

    I couldn't resist. Maybe all the noise could be compared to the various kinds of weather. Thunder being the bowling balls, vacuum being tornados and the like, the leak being rain.

    traviswrdunbaron May 05, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I wonder if the "man upstairs" and "guy downstairs" are references for god and satan?

    GothicBladeon April 28, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think Con might have missed the deeper meaning of this. I'm pretty sure that the "Man Upstairs" is referring to God and similarly the downstairs neighbor would be the Devil and those on the same floor as the guy who's point of view represent us kooky humans!

    Reveon April 29, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I concur.

    CÆTon February 27, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yes, that may be an interpretation. Its more likely he just had a bad apartment.

    I've had some crazy neighbors, too.

    X324324324on March 20, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    while it may seem like this song is just allegory, i seriously doubt it.

    the only part that would make sense there is the man downstairs talking about jesus doing sundry things.

    i mean, seriously, what could using a vacuum be allegorical to?

    Yttriumon November 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I've always thought that if it was an allegory, it was a prelude to 'God Thinks', only before Voltaire realizes that it's humans and not God abusing religion. Until that realization, God's just the noisy neighbor whose followers (in this case, the annoying sounds) just won't let Voltaire get a good rest.

    I love the intro to this song. Panicky vocals, shuffling rat-like drums, a cello that goes bump in the night - it's the toy shop of the damned at midnight!

    LisaCharlyon October 24, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yeah I also think it's about god and devil comparisons, mainly god, the man upstairs... (The followings are my opinions, what i get from this song and how I interpret it)

    All day long he sleeps all day, its because "god" the personified being doesn't do apparently anything he doesn't comes down and tries to help anybody, you can't see it....Juggling bowling balls means that he has hard, heavy problems to solve, but he's not good at solving them...... I thinks that he's "room" is in some cloudy place up there, so he needs to vacuum... =P

    The guy downstairs would be satan the fallen angel, the institute was heaven, and obviously he hates the Virgin Mary and Jesus

    "but it's the man upstairs who pulls the strings, won't let me sleep please, kill that man upstairs"

    Christians state that all that happens in this universe is ruled by god, not even a single atom would move in a missed direction if it was not god's intention, so god rules in someway all our lives, BUT christians think that we all have the right of free thinking. In any case every person should be freaked out if all it's controlled and predetermined, leading to anxiety and lack of sleep, the worst would be suicide, why wouldn't anybody wish to stop that control over our lives?

    Well for now it's all..got to get some sleep.... hope somebody comment here soon..... I'll be sending corrections to the songs I know... most of the songs uploaded are wrong in some words... Cya

    PS: DOES ANYBODY KNOWS THE LYRICS FOR DRACULA DISCO (the one in French)??????? ..... I just get some words and phrases....T_T.... I want to know them!!!!

    xxwildfangxxon April 17, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Um, I happen to be Catholic, and we don't believe that God makes every little thing happen. How would we have free will if He did?

    As for the meaning of this song, I found not one thing in it that could even possibly represent anything about God or the Devil. And being that this is the humorous Voltaire, I believe this really is about bad neighbors. If it was about them, what would all the other weird neighbors in the song represent?

    kittieroxsohardon June 26, 2008   Link

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