In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
In yellow shoes I get the blues
Though I walk the streets with my plastic feet
With my blue velvet trousers, make me feel pink
There's a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers
In my paisley shirt I look a jerk
And my turquoise waistcoast is quite out of sight
But oh oh my haircut looks so bad
Vegetable man how are you?
So I've changed my dear, and I find my knees,
And I covered them up with the latest cut,
And my pants and socks all point in a box,
They don't make long of my nylon socks,
The watch, black watch
My watch with a black face
And a big pin, a little hole,
And all the lot is what I got,
It's what I wear, it's what you see,
It must be me, it's what I am,
Vegetable man.
I've been looking all over the place for a place for me,
But it ain't anywhere, it just ain't anywhere.
Vegetable man, vegetable man,
He's the kind of person, you just gonna see him if you can,
Vegetable man
Though I walk the streets with my plastic feet
With my blue velvet trousers, make me feel pink
There's a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers
In my paisley shirt I look a jerk
And my turquoise waistcoast is quite out of sight
But oh oh my haircut looks so bad
Vegetable man how are you?
So I've changed my dear, and I find my knees,
And I covered them up with the latest cut,
And my pants and socks all point in a box,
They don't make long of my nylon socks,
The watch, black watch
My watch with a black face
And a big pin, a little hole,
And all the lot is what I got,
It's what I wear, it's what you see,
It must be me, it's what I am,
Vegetable man.
I've been looking all over the place for a place for me,
But it ain't anywhere, it just ain't anywhere.
Vegetable man, vegetable man,
He's the kind of person, you just gonna see him if you can,
Vegetable man
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
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I reckon the lyrics are a bit out and sound more like this:
In yellow shoes I get the blues Though I walk the streets with my plastic feet With blue velvet trousers, make me feel pink There's a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers In my paisley shirt I look a jerk And my turquoise waistcoast is quite out of sight But oh oh my haircut looks so fair Vegetable man where are you?
So I change my gear, and I find my needs, And I cover them up with the latest cut, And my pants and socks are forms with a pox, Still it don't take long to buy nylon socks, The watch, black watch My watch with a black face And a date in the middle, And all the lot it's what I've got, It's what I wear, it's what you see, It must be me, it's what I am, Vegetable man.
I've been looking all over the place for a place for me, But it ain't anywhere, it just ain't anywhere. Vegetable man, vegetable man, He's the kind of family, you just gonna see him if you can, Vegetable man
@Black&GreenAchilles I always thought is was 'He's the kinda fella, you just gotta see him if you can' but you may be right, Anyway, the rest of it is the same as what I thought.
I heard in an interview with early Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner, that this was just about what Syd was wearing when he wrote it.
Hmm...This can only be heard on a bookleg, am I correct?
One of the best songs Floyd ever did. Absolute f*cking genius. If he hadn't already started to invent punk with Astronomy Domini this would have been the invention of punk.
It's like the lyric in Flaming that goes - you can't see me - but with much less yippee about it. So I agree it's autobigraphical, but it says much much more about how limited the rest of the band were and even more about how crap the Floyd audience, and 99.9% of people, are.
I really hope this will be officially released some day (along with scream thy last scream) because it's a damn good song
anyway I recon the lyrics sound more like this
In yellow shoes I get the blues Though I walk the streets with my plastic feet With blue velvet trousers, make me feel pink There's a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers In my paisley shirt I look a jerk And my turquoise waistcoast is quite out of sight But oh oh my haircut looks so bad Vegetable man where are you?
So I change my gear, and I find my knees, And I cover them up with the latest cut, And my pants and socks are caught in a box, It don't take long to buy darn old socks, The watch, black watch My watch with a black face And a date in a little hole, And all the lot it's what I've got, It's what I wear, it's what you see, It must be me, it's what I am, Vegetable man.
I've been looking all over the place for a place for me, But it ain't anywhere, it just ain't anywhere. Vegetable man, vegetable man, He's the kind of fellow, you’ve just gonna see if you can, Vegetable man
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
@WorkingClassLoser you're the first person i've seen get the lyrics correct. "with a black face and a date in a little hole" i knew i wasn't hearing the band playing a different tune. seems everyone but you and i was.
@WorkingClassLoser I always thought it said 'but oh, oh, my haircut looks so fair' but I may be mishearing things.
Hmm, I didn't know that Syd wrote this about what he was wearing that day. That's interesting. (Now I'm tempted to do the same thing with one of my own songs...)
This song has always struck me as being about the stupidity of fashion, and being judged by what you wear instead of who you are. The narrator (presumably Syd, though it could be somebody else) recites the clothes he is wearing, then says "It's what I wear/It's what you see/It must be me/It's what I am." To me, that stanza is expressing the assumption that what you wear indicates exactly who you are, no ifs, ands, or buts. And who hasn't at one point or another been frustrated because they were judged at face value and not because of anything they said or did?
But I'm probably overanalyzing it. Great song, overall. Trippy.
@Sandwich-Masta <br /> This is a cover version - It was originally written by Michael Stipe and Courtney Love as a duet
It was about what Syd was wearing at the time, pinkubus_floyd. It's pretty far out and nothing really deep during the first part. But look at the last part: "I've been looking all over the place for a place for me/ But it ain't anywhere, it just ain't anywhere" makes me think that Syd was talking about more then just a house. He was pretty far gone by this time, with drugs and his mental illness. Is he saying that he's just so different from other people, he can't find a place to belong, where there are others like him? He feels like he doesn't fit in with anybody? He doesn't sing it with any more emotion then the other parts, but it makes me wonder if he didn't feel different.
Dark, dark song
This is based around the theme song to the TV Series 'Car 54 Where Are You?' (1961-1963).
Obviously autobiographical, from Syd's point of view, and his rampant self-absorption, culminating in his mental 'breakdown', is written all over it.
Sad, no single potential, and the end of Syd in Floyd.
It's an autobiography. Syd was especially good at knowing just what was happening to him and how it will effect him.