They headed southward from San Francisco,
To be with chuckles and the others.
With electric in the air and peroxide in their hair,
They looked like golden brothers.

They drove a Datsun, an automatic,
The radio blaring static,
He made a face into the light and burst out laughing at the sight.
The hysteria ensuing would dominate the night.

From all the candy, the seats were sticky,
As they were drawn into the grapevine.
Then "introduce yourself" came on as they barreled through the fog.
The demon puffing madly on a mentholated log.

They were tired, they were sleepy,
So they parked behind the Roxy.
Adam left to use the phone, so he sat there all alone,
When Adam's voice come beaming through on the radio,
He started laughing...


Lyrics submitted by knate15

Over The Electric Grapevine Lyrics as written by Reid L. Iii Lalonde Les Claypool

Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Over The Electric Grapevine song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    This song is about this AS SAID BY LES Claypool: That song is about a trip that I took to Los Angeles with Adam Gates who actually is the artist who did the picture that we're going to use for the record. He's just an old friend of mine and he had a band called Monkey Rhythm a while ago and they were going to shoot this video down in L.A. Some college students that they knew were going to do it as a project so he and I drove down to Los Angeles one night in his Datsun and we were fried on acid. So there were many very interesting things that happened to us on the way down. It was a full on Hunter S. Thompson experience. So I couldn't really tell the whole story in the song because there was just so much shit that went on but there's little references to different things. But I remember, we're driving along and it would be completely dark and every now and then I would lean up and grab the little map light thing that folds out and aim it at my face and click it on and go--like some crazy face and he'd start freaking out because it was the most hilarious thing in the world to us. And we pulled into some truck stop to get gas and I bought a pack of cigarettes. I hadn't smoked in years. I bought some cigarettes and I stole a lighter and we bought a bunch of candy and, being idiots, bought a bunch of stuff, got back in the car and I started smoking all these cigarettes just to be a bastard filling the car with smoke. We were just fucking with each other the whole way down. I had this gum that when you bite it, the stuff squirts in your mouth, you know? And I didn't realize it was that kind of gum 'cause I hate that stuff. So I had this gum and I took it and I was squeezing out the juice and I was sitting there just squeezing it onto his shoulder while he was driving, the juice from this gum and I ate it. And he's like, what are you doing? And somehow the whole car seemed like it was full of this sticky stuff. It was everywhere. It was like the most horrible feeling. So we ended up in L.A. and there's references to us flying over the grapevine through the fog and hearing--Faith No More's new song had just come on the radio, from the Introduce Yourself record, which was my favorite Faith No More record. It came on the radio and it was the total perk me up and we go flying over the grapevine. And we get to L.A. and we had been listening to this radio station, I guess Deep Purple was coming to town or something so that whatever heavy metal station down there was playing Deep Purple all the time. And we were going back and forth from that station and this college station where these people were talking on the radio. It was like Howard Stern type stuff. They were bullshitting. So we're driving along and it was too early for us to show up at this video shoot, but it was late and we were tired and we didn't have a hotel or nothing, we didn't have any money. So Adam goes, "Well, we played the Roxie before." 'Cause I didn't know L.A. at all. He says, "Well, we played the Roxie before. Let's pull in behind the Roxie." So we pull into the parking lot behind the Roxie and we park and I'm lying there and he takes off. And I'm flipping through the channels and some Deep Purple song comes on so I'm listening to it on that station. I'm just lying there kind of half asleep kind of still frying and the song ends and I flip the radio back to the college station and I hear Adam's voice on the radio and he's all, "Yeah, when you think of acid, think of Monkey Rhythm." Click. "That was Adam calling from a phone booth. His friend is asleep in the car right now behind the Roxie. And they've driven down here..." and I was like whoa. It was like total mindbender, you know. Pretty soon Adam comes walking back around the corner. I told him, I just heard you on the radio. He goes, "No way, they played that over the air? " So that's what that song is about. It was just one of those crazy weekends. Hunter S. Thompson would be proud, I think, of that weekend.

    pipewagonon August 09, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    a mentolated log would be a cigarrette most likely

    afreelancesporkon April 04, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is my personal favorite Primus composition. I think it is representing a life experience of some sort, choosing a road trip as a metaphor. Or some life-death thing. Or maybe its just an acid trip. I don't know. These lyrics are much less direct than most primus songs.

    JofaGuhton August 12, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think the song is about runnin' the boarder because of drug use. "demon puffing madly on a mentholated log" has to mean something. also it has the line: From all the candy, the seats were sticky. Which could be a metaphor cocaine. Plus with all the insane laughter that seems to be through out the song. It just seems to be about drugs. I could be wrong though. Songs are really just how you interpret them, there really is no correct answer.

    Sodamanon March 12, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is about an acid trip which was taken by Les Claypool and Bob Cock.

    "Introduce Yourself" is the name of a Faith No More album.

    The whole story is somewhere on primussucks.com

    AlkalineCharlieon May 10, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    you can find an accurate interpretation near the end of this article mama.indstate.edu/users/primus/html/primus_through_the_years.html ...unfortunately, bob c. cock was not present

    IsitLuck?on April 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    oops...adam gates = bob c. cock

    IsitLuck?on April 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Thought I'd chime in to, the article is correct for those who don't wish to check, the story is about a night les and adam had where they were on a shit l;oad of acid in the car. Also in the album T.P.B. were this song appears it should be noted that the lyric's illistration was done by Gates.

    GreenAndyon March 24, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Live once he was talking about journeys as if the song was more than simply about an actual journey he made, it could be interpreted abnout different ways but as one of the album's last songs I think it has a broad meaning. When applied to life, and reading that interview to see what certain things meant - it's a journey taken with friends, it's wierd and full of treats, horrors and surprises, equality/similarity between seperate entities/lives, enjoying it etc.

    Baudson August 11, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    youtube.com/watch

    well you heard it from the man himself. It's about a trip he once had.

    abomb990on June 03, 2007   Link

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