Could you whisper in my ear?
The things you wanna feel
I'll give you anything
To feel it coming

Do you wake up on your own
And wonder where you are?
You live with all your faults

I wanna wake up where you are
I won't say anything at all
So why don't you slide?
Yeah, I'm gonna let it slide

Don't you love the life you killed?
The priest is on the phone
Your father hit the wall
Your ma disowned you
Don't supposed I'll ever know
What it means to be a man
It's something I can't change
I'll live around it

I wanna wake up where you are
I won't say anything at all
So why don't you slide
Ooh, slide

And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete
Little pieces of the nothing that fall
Oh, May
Put your arms around me
What you feel is what you are
And what you are is beautiful
Oh, May
Do you wanna get married or run away?

And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete
Little pieces of the nothing that fall
Oh, May
Put your arms around me
What you feel is what you are
And what you are is beautiful
Oh, May
Do you wanna get married or run away?

I wanna wake up where you are
I won't say anything

(Yeah, slide)
And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete (yeah, slide)
Little pieces of the nothing that fall (yeah, slide)
And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete (yeah, slide)
Little pieces of the nothing that fall (oh, oh slide)
Yeah, slide between the sheets of all them beds you never knew (yeah, slide)
Why don't you slide into my room
Just slide into my room
Oh, we'll run away, run away, run away


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Slide Lyrics as written by John Rzeznik

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Slide song meanings
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168 Comments

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  • +9
    General Comment

    John Rzeznik has said this song is his "Catholic school teenage sex-anthem" (or something along those lines).

    Catholic girl finds a guy, fall in love, he gets her pregnant, she is thinking about aborting the baby... the Catholic church abolishes her, her parents are pissed... but the guy loves her and gives her a choice: "do you want to get married" (please the parents, do it the traditional way and stay out of trouble) "or run away" (who gives a flying fizuck what they think? let's get the hell out of here and live our life together, we don't need them! that'd be my choice).

    Yep.

    punkynoisethingon June 02, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    The song is about a girl (May) who gets pregnant, has an abortion and is sent away (to a place for troubled teens?) by her Catholic parents. The guy, still madly in love, wants to run away with her & get married (if she's up for it) so they can be together.

    'Do you wake up on your own? And wonder where you are...' (she's obviously not waking up in her own bed)

    'Don't you love the life you killed' (the abortion she had) 'The priest is on the phone' (self explanatory) 'Your father hit the wall' (as most fathers would) 'Your ma disowned you' (self explanatory)

    'Don't supposed I'll ever know what it means to be a man' (he wanted to get married & be a father but she had the abortion)

    'I wanna wake up where you are' (she's off someplace else)

    'What you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful' (she doesn't feel too good about herself but he still thinks she's beautiful)

    'Do you wanna get married, or run away?' (self explanatory)

    Of course... I could be totally wrong!

    StainlessSteel1982on January 06, 2009   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Clearly in the stanza "Don't you love the life you killed/ The priest is on the phone/ Your father hit the wall/ Your ma disowned you", the girl had an ABORTION ("the life you killed"), and her parents and parish priest are on her case about it. Generally, the song is about growing up, naivity, falling in love, and the overwhelming powerlessness you feel in those years between being a child and becoming an adult. Terrific song, great lyrics, achingly real.

    dewdropon May 13, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Or maybe not about abortion, per se, but at least about unplanned pregnancy. "The life you killed" could be her own life... as in the way things used to be before. I could see her parents and priest being really upset about her being pregnant. As for the guy's side, he says he'll marry her, but the whole tone on his part is uncertainty ("I don't suppose I'll ever know / What it means to be a man"). He says he will marry her and give her the world, but he seems pretty unsure about that himself. Best lines of the song -- "And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete / Little pieces of the nothing, that fall". So poetic. Also one of the more mysterious ones, but I'm inclined to think it's about his promises to take care of her when/if they get married.

    SweetestSirenon May 15, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Here's what I think..

    Don't you love the life you killed (she is pregnant and she is considering getting an abortion, it screwed up her life) The priest is on the phone (the church she goes to is upset) Your father hit the wall (her dad is upset) Your ma disowned you (her mom is really upset and disowned her)

    Don't supposed I'll ever know What it means to be a man Somethin' I can't change I'll live around it (he's not sure of himself, that he can make a good life for her and her baby if he keeps it.. or if he'll have enough courage to keep the baby in the first place)

    and I'll do anythin' you ever dreamed to be complete Little pieces of the nothin' that fall (he's ready and willing to do anything he can do for the girl and the baby even though he's not sure of himself)

    Oh May Do you wanna get married, or run away? (do you want to keep the baby or abort it and run away from the responsibilities?)

    Probably wrong, but I tried!

    World of Noiseon May 30, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I thought the song was about a girl who slept with a bunch of different guys, one got her pregnant and because of this her parents "disowned her". She either has the baby or aborts it, and the guy who got her pregnant left her, or was never with her, and through out the entire song Rzeznik is just trying to tell her he loves her and will do anything for her, but she doesn't notice him.

    Epedemicalon October 26, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    the song is about Abortion..

    "dont you love the life you killed"

    "guess i'll never know what it means to be a man"...

    obviously...

    sarah27728on January 19, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    She had an abortion and now her life is all messed up and he's letting her know that he's there for her no matter what.

    HannesJoon November 17, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This about a young couple. The girl, May, gets pregnant and when the boy doesn't step up she gives up on him and gets an abortion. The boy, who is the narrator, is hard on both of them. First her: "You live with all your faults", "Did you love the life you killed?" and then himself: "Don't supposed I'll ever know what it means to be a man. Somethin' I can't change, I'll live around it". He regrets not dealing with the situation, leaving her to make a decision on her own, a decision that alienates her family and her church. He knows he'll never be able to make up for his abandonment of pregnant May. This will affect the rest of his life and his sense of manhood. However, he still desperately loves May and wants to do anything that will make her feel complete now: marriage or just going off together. He asks nothing of her, as he's been such a disappointment already, he just "wants to wake up where you are", and will never reproach her for the abortion as he knows he was equally responsible: "I won't say anything at all".

    I love this song (maybe mostly the singer), but I have my doubts about the boy. He loves May, but he found a pregnancy too much to deal with. Is he just as happy now that she's not pregnant? Would he act the same again if he had it to do over? Let someone else make your hard decisions? He sounds selfish.

    PS I know a few couples who ended early pregnancies because of timing issues. None of them stayed together, even after having other children, but then most couples don't last anyway, do they?

    PPS I get exhausted with people trying disappear the abortion at the center of this song. It happens. I don't know if this is Johnny's history. I don't blame him for saying May "considered" abortion on "Storytellers". What's he suppose to say in this country? And May did consider it and then acted on it. Scheesh!

    tovangar2on December 03, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song, to me, means that there is a girl with a lot of problems (her father went crazy and her mom left her) and the guy is there for her, wanting to give her anything she wants to be able to help her and he's her escape from all this, b/c everything that happened was her fault (dont you love the life YOU killed...) so he's her getaway from it all saying he doesnt care what happened, he wants her and wants to be with her

    ellemouson April 23, 2002   Link

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