So ambition cut you down
Ain't a love as perfect
Everybody knows it
Something drove you down

Something as good
Something new
Somebody good
Our ambition cuts you down

There's not a love that's perfect
But I, I live in hope

Somebody good
Somebody new
Something as good
Something that's mine

Ain't a love that's perfect
Everybody knows it
Ambition cuts us down


Lyrics submitted by Joekubrick

Ambition Lyrics as written by Henry Lee Porter Brandon Tavares Williams

Lyrics © Songtrust Ave

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Ambition song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

11 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    "Somebody new Something as good Something that's mine Ain't a love that's perfect Everybody knows it Ambition cuts us down"

    anybody else get chills when he sings that?

    i agree with InHerHand. everyone wants that perfect "someone", but everyone knows that there's never going to be a perfect someone.

    i love it.

    youcanbreathe_nowon December 03, 2006   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I'm thinking this song is about someone who is ambitious but in love, and has a difficult time choosing between the two, and what is more important to that someone.

    MarvanoFrancoon July 01, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    NO COMMENTS?! What's up with that?!

    This song is so beyond good. Its amazing. Its sweeping ambiance, and the distorted vocals are great.

    xdarkentrieson September 24, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    xdarkentries is dead on. this song is brilliant

    strokesmanon December 21, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I adore this song, it makes me cry like a baby.

    I think this song is simply about compromise, how you can't have everything you want and must sacrifice certain things to obtain them. If you want 'Somebody Good', you have to settle for 'Something as good', and not what you initially strived to obtain, and vice versa.

    InHerHandon May 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    chilled as they come, can be put on repeat and will send you into a harmonious semi-concious sleep

    lloydy007on March 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I get the chilled fuzzies whenever I hear it.

    Belongs in the top five greatest Dove offerings.

    BollyKnickerson October 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's stunning. It really is. It's the standout from Some Cities and for some bizarre reason it always has me thinking of Sam Tyler from Life on Mars :/

    BollyKnickerson December 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Maybe this song is about trying to find somebody good to be in your life but then when you do ... your ambition just cuts you down and you can't help but let them go. i really i love this song it's beautiful and sad all at once.

    AcrossTheDarkenSkyon June 23, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The sound of this song is so interesting in comparison to the title. You'd expect a song called 'Ambition' to sound a bit more...ambitious! But what we hear is regret, melancholy, and defeat. This song is not about the 'thrill of the chase', so to speak, but the consequences of getting exactly what it is that we want.

    The 'you' in this song has discovered the down side to chasing after his or her worldly goals. While striving for the fleeting contentments that our societies provide us, we easily forget about the things that truly matter in this life.

    To the narrator of this song, what matters most is love. Due to his ambitions he has lost touch with the love in his own heart. He fears that he may never find it again, though he still searches and remains hopeful that he will find it again.

    This song is a beautiful, (but achingly sad,) warning to the listener to hold firmly to the meaningful things we always had, and not pursue the things that are easily lost.

    Ambition cuts you down.

    KeepOnLivingon May 10, 2011   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Album art
Show Me a Little Shame
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
Album art
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone). And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Album art
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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."