I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
Aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha,
Aha, aha, aha.
Well, I saw skies are red,
Well, I saw skies are red,
Well, I saw skies are red,
I was born and I was,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair.
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
Dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead.
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
Aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha,
Aha, aha, aha.
Well, I saw skies are red,
Well, I saw skies are red,
I was born and I was,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead.
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair,
I’m gonna give my despair.
Well, I saw mushroom head,
Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
I was born and I was dead,
Dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead,
Dead, dead, dead, dead.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
There's another possible meaning: in German the word Pilzkopf (mushroom head) means the haircut that the Beatles wore in their early days - the so-called "moptop". So the song might also be describing the profound effect that seeing the Beatles play had on members of Can: "When I saw the moptops, I was born (to new possibilities in music and life) and dead (to my old way of life).
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilzkopf
Psilocybin, nuclear war. Born, dead.
I think this is about being on the recieving end of a nuclear attack. the mushroom head is a big mushroom-cloud explosion. the narrator (perhaps the words of an infant) was born and dead in an instant. or something, i dont know :P
Great visual, right?
Great visual, right?
well i wouldn't doubt this concerns both a nuclear bomb aaaaand a magic mushroom hahah
Bought this when it first came out. Always thought it was "I'm gonna end my despair."
I'm thinking it's both the little shroom and the big cloud, yeah. Damo had room in his head for both.
Well, yeah, I get the "mushroom head" and the "skies were red" part, but what Mushroom was really all about was that there was a nuclear attack somewhere which was compared to the nuclear grenade dropped at the beginning of Oh Yeah. A lot of people have been posting that, anyway.
Well, yeah, I get the "mushroom head" and the "skies were red" part, but what Mushroom was really all about was that there was a nuclear attack somewhere which was compared to the nuclear grenade dropped at the beginning of Oh Yeah. A lot of people have been posting that, anyway.
@futatorius Although your lyrics make sense, there is a pretty hard "g" sound after "gonna" that makes it unlikely that he was saying "end". It sounds almost like "I'm gonna get my despair". Not that Damo's mumbling English is reliable in any way.
@futatorius Although your lyrics make sense, there is a pretty hard "g" sound after "gonna" that makes it unlikely that he was saying "end". It sounds almost like "I'm gonna get my despair". Not that Damo's mumbling English is reliable in any way.
I've listened to this song so many times but have never really looked into the lyrics. Given that "oh yeah" starts with atomic-bomb-like sound, I would imagine that the song is about a nuclear attack and/or maybe the aftermath: death, destruction, loss of culture. Damo Suzuki, the vocalist, was from Japan and was born into post-WWII Japan, shortly after the bombings. "I was born, and I was dead." Man this album is amazing, especially with this song leading into "oh yeah", with its backwards lyrics and cyclical beat.
PS the Jesus and Mary Chain do a tight cover of this on Barbed Wire Kisses
hmmm... i know this influenced the Flaming Lips track "Take Meta Mars"
other than that I think It's about a mushroom head?
Actually, I think the line is "I'm keep my distance". not "I'm gonna give my despair". I think this is just a by-ear transcript, so...
I dunno. Maybe he saw a guy who ate too many psilocybin mushrooms? Maybe HE ate too many psilocybin mushrooms? Maybe it's about a mushroom cloud? All three? Pretty muffled, weird. paranoid song. Truly awesome, though.
Nah, it's about being on the wrong end of a nuclear attack, as seen in the nuclear bomb dropped at the beginning of Oh Yeah, before it morphs into a thunderstorm...