I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Buffalo and bison
Bison and buffalo
Cannonball and rifle
Rifle and cannonball
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
Rumbles
Down on your knees again
Saying please again yeah, yeah, yeah
Kangaroo and chipmunk
Chipmunk and kangaroo
Ballyhoo and bedbugs
Bedbugs and ballyhoo
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
Bumbles
Down on your knees again
Saying please again no, no, no
No
Down on your knees again
Saying please again
Down on you knees again
Saying please again no, no, no
(No, no, no)
Buffalo and bison
Bison and buffalo
Cannonball and rifle
Rifle and cannonball
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
Rumbles
Rumble
Rumble
Bison and buffalo
Cannonball and rifle
Rifle and cannonball
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
Rumbles
Down on your knees again
Saying please again yeah, yeah, yeah
Kangaroo and chipmunk
Chipmunk and kangaroo
Ballyhoo and bedbugs
Bedbugs and ballyhoo
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
Bumbles
Down on your knees again
Saying please again no, no, no
No
Down on your knees again
Saying please again
Down on you knees again
Saying please again no, no, no
(No, no, no)
Buffalo and bison
Bison and buffalo
Cannonball and rifle
Rifle and cannonball
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
That's the way the thunder rumbles
Rumbles
Rumble
Rumble
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Golgotha, just because people haven't commented on the songs doesn't mean people haven't LOOKED at the lyrics. Thanks for putting them in!
This song is saying that sometimes you find yourself having to take the subservient role, to have to get down on your knees or to say please for something. Sometimes you have to lower your head and take it, and it sucks but, "that's the way the thunder rumbles/bee bumbles" (he avoids saying "... cookie crumbles" but that's what we think of because of the rhyme.)
The stuff about buffalo/bison--rifle/cannonball is about hunting animals in the wild. sometimes innocent animals get shot by hunters, and that's the way the thunder rumbles. i don't know if cannonballs are used for hunting, but it fits in with the rhythm better than, say, "bullet".
kanagaroo/chipmunk, and bedbugs/ballyhoo. bedbugs and ballyhoo are opposites. bedbugs means poverty, uncleanliness. Ballyhoo means opulence, extravagance. Kangaroo and chipmunk are kinda opposites in that there's a big size difference. kangaroo happens to rhyme somewhat with ballyhoo; otherwise a better opposite might have been "elephant" or "hippopatamus". That verse might mean: sometimes things good happen, sometimes things bad happen. Hard times, rich times: either way you get what you get, that's the way the bee bumbles.
It's a depressing song about the inevitability of hard times and humility, disguised ironically as a fun, upbeat tune with animals in it.
@mliem411 This is more likely going to sound like internet slang to you, but this is the very best comment I've read on this site about any song.
All four of the animals named here are native to countries that the United Kingdom colonized, but not to the UK itself. That doesn't seem like a coincidence.
The British arrived with guns in those countries and used the guns to dominate the locals (on their knees). They also hunted those animals with guns.
There's a distinct, but not very elaborate, comment negative on the British colonization of North America and Australia.
The voice behind "that's the way the thunder rumbles ... bee bumbles" is downplaying the evils of that, an ironic dismissal that the song doesn't espouse.
@rikdad101@yahoo.com <br /> <br /> I agree it’s clearly in reference to UK colonization era, also bedbugs and ballyhoo (a garbage bait fish) are what the sailors had to endure then.
Drugs innit?
An interviewer asked McCulloch why he used so many animals in his songs and Ian responded that animal names were handy when he couldn't think of a word. Ha. I don't know if Ian says things like that because they're true or he just doesn't want to delve into lyric explanations. I suspect it may be a combo of both.
I HATE GOLGOTHA!!! who's with me??!!