Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Ever since I was a child
You always said that I should understand the rules
You take some and give less
Sit high above the rest...don't you
As I ask a simple question
Cuts me off with his reply
He's been practicing for decades
Now he thinks I have the time
He flows in and out of riddles
Looking me straight in the eye
But it seems like something's missing
From the days when he was more my size
[Chorus:]
Ten years older and I've finally found my pride
This old man comes rolling home to die
Old feelings make it hard to decide
Just what it means to me
Everything exists 'tween black and white
You can twist and distort the most blatant of lies
Or just offer up solutions
Practiced only in your mind
You always said that I should understand the rules
You take some and give less
Sit high above the rest...don't you
As I ask a simple question
Cuts me off with his reply
He's been practicing for decades
Now he thinks I have the time
He flows in and out of riddles
Looking me straight in the eye
But it seems like something's missing
From the days when he was more my size
[Chorus:]
Ten years older and I've finally found my pride
This old man comes rolling home to die
Old feelings make it hard to decide
Just what it means to me
Everything exists 'tween black and white
You can twist and distort the most blatant of lies
Or just offer up solutions
Practiced only in your mind
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Cajun Girl
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
I Can't Go To Sleep
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This song is always in my head. The singer has a very nice voice.... it kind of reminds me of that cats in the cradle song, from back in the day.
i think this song is just so honest and powerful. people can relate to it on so many different levels, thats why i like it.
good song
I believe this is about a the guys who is losing his dad. And wasa jerk to him when he was a kid but now that he is older he has realized how bad he treated him but it is too late to rebuild because the father is on his death bed.
very touching and emotional song
good song...makes me happy when im happy...and sad when im sad. perfect.
The song is about a man and his dying father, as Emericanskater put it. However, I think it was both the father AND the son who had acted harshly toward each other. The father treated the son badly, and the son reacted, creating bad blood between them.
The song picks up with the father on his death bed asking forgiveness of the son. The song paints a vivid picture of the father on the death bed in tears witht he son at his side apprehensive and confused about what to do. He needs time to think about it, and he has to take in many factors. This is the first time he's seen his father cry ad he is finally listening to what the father has to say, but his old feelings from his bad memories make it hard for him to decide whether to forgive him or not. He's bitter and surprised at what the father is asking.
Later, though, when the son starts to ask a question, the father cuts him off with what seems to be a plea for forgiveness that he sems to have been practicing for decades. The son finally listens, and he realizes that his father finally realizes what it was like "to be his size," or what how the father really affected his son.
Though a resolution is not declared in the song, the repetition of "Just what he means to me" seems to imply that he forgave his father before he passed, and he now seems to actually miss him.
It's a bittersweet ending to quit a sad story. This song is full of emotion and fueled by great vocals. The lyrics are masterfully crafted and the story is told to perfection. 8stops7 shoukd have found much more success with this song. It is an awesome song and I'd reccomend it to anyone.
yeah this song is so powerful, the music, lyrics, his voice, everything. I wish I had known about this band sooner.
I really think these guys were overlooked by the media and under-appreciated when this album was released. My band played with them once in San Fran two years ago. I commented to the singer how great a song this is and how much I identified with it. He was very gracious, shook my hand and told me "thank you" in a very heartfelt way.
I wrote an essay on they lyrical interpretaion of this song so i will just post part of the essay:
This song is about a dysfunctional relationship between a son and father. It is written from the son’s point of view, when his father comes home to die and is on his deathbed. The father is asking his son for forgiveness for the years of bad feelings between the two, the son does not know what to make of the situation.
“This old man comes rolling home to die Old feelings make it hard to decide just what it means to me.”
It is not easy for the father to talk about his feeling like this, and the emotions from the father surprises the son, because he does not usually see an emotional or sincere side from his father, as seen in the following lines: “If I seem surprised to see you lying here in front of me Just consider what you're asking and give me a little time I'm still having trouble breathing 'cause up to now I've never seen you cry” The father has wanted to articulate his feeling for years, but has never been able to, especially because of the distant relationship between the two, and the alcoholism by the father, but the son is ready to hear what his father has to say now. The wall he puts up through drinking has always fogged the truth. “He's been practicing for decades But I am listening this time He flows in and out of riddles Stories change without the wine But at least he seems much clearer on how it feels to be my size” A lot of time has passed since the two have had feuds, but it is not completely clear if the son forgives his father before he dies. The repetition of “Just what he means to me” at the end, makes it seem as though the son forgave him, and his father is more important to him that he first realized.