Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, bulbs grow in my latest garden
Warm, warm, warm, warm, warm sun-fingers wave
In my latest garden
Flowers dance, their faces brave

Come talk freely in the garden of my lady
Her hominy smile, her hominy snatch
Only a crow would peck and a chicken would scratch

Her lips turned up to kiss
I see ya, Phoebe, baby, in your bonnet
With the sunset written on it
In the shadow of a tree curled around her knee in color

And just behind ya was the sea of negativity
Tinklin' like mercury in the wind
Her feet kept by the ground, her toes bare brown

Her carriage, she'd abandoned like a hand-me-down
She walked back into nature, a queen uncrowned
She had just recognized herself to be an heir to the throne

Her garden gate swings lightly without weight
Open to most anyone that needs a little freedom
For God's sake
Oh, come as many as you can

In dark or light you're free to grow as flowers
Share her throne and use her toothbrush and spend some interesting hours

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Sweet Sweet Bulbs Lyrics as written by Don Van Vliet

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Sweet Sweet Bulbs song meanings

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A few notes:
- The repetition throughout the first verse is very evocative. Not only the repeated words ("Sweet, sweet..." and "Warm, warm...") but also repeated vowels: the long 'a' in "latest," "wave," "latest," "faces," and "brave." Also the repeated consonant 'r,' especially 'ar': "grow," "garden," "warm," "fingers," "their," and "brave"-- nearly half of the words in the entire verse.
- In the second verse "hominy" is a play on 'hominy,' meaning corn kernels prepared as food (traditionally eaten by native Americans of course, and maybe reminiscent of Thanksgiving) as well as 'homine' which is a variation of 'homo,' latin for 'man' or 'human.'
- Phoebe is a Greek name meaning "radiant, shining one." It was an epithet used to refer to Artemis, goddess of wilderness, wild animals and the moon. It corresponds to the male name Phoebus, which was an epithet for Apollo, the god of light and also Artemis' twin brother. Phoebe was also an early Christian deacon known for being a 'prostatis' to early Christians (a female guardian, protectoress or patroness; generally one who cares for others and offers her resources for them to share).
A few notes: - The repetition throughout the first verse is very evocative. Not only the repeated words ("Sweet, sweet..." and "Warm, warm...") but also repeated vowels: the long 'a' in "latest," "wave," "latest," "faces," and "brave." Also the repeated consonant 'r,' especially 'ar': "grow," "garden," "warm," "fingers," "their," and "brave"-- nearly half of the words in the entire verse. - In the second verse "hominy" is a play on 'hominy,' meaning corn kernels prepared as food (traditionally eaten by native Americans of course, and maybe reminiscent of Thanksgiving) as well as 'homine' which is a variation of 'homo,' latin for 'man' or 'human.' - Phoebe is a Greek name meaning "radiant, shining one." It was an epithet used to refer to Artemis, goddess of wilderness, wild animals and the moon. It corresponds to the male name Phoebus, which was an epithet for Apollo, the god of light and also Artemis' twin brother. Phoebe was also an early Christian deacon known for being a 'prostatis' to early Christians (a female guardian, protectoress or patroness; generally one who cares for others and offers her resources for them to share).

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iThinkMaybeon March 06, 2019 Link
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@iThinkMaybe
I posted by accident before I was done writing.. somehow twice. Here's a few things I wanted to add. 

A phoebe is a bird common to California and the wider US. “… only a crow would peck/ and a chicken would scratch/ her lips turned up to kiss/ I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it/ in the shadow of a tree.” Phoebe is contrasted with the pecking crow and the scratching chicken, perhaps with her “ lips turned up to kiss.” The sunset colored Says phoebe might have been particularly familiar for van Vliet: they are prevalent in the arid southwestern U.S., where van Vliet spent much of his life, and also are found seasonally in California. Also a phoebe baby bonnet is a popular type of bonnet that babies wear. 

“I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it” is a striking and affective line A powerful way to introduce the darkness and drama which obsesses this part of the song. The first three verses are free from any hint of darkness or trouble. But the six consecutive lines that follow introduce and focus solely on looming darkness and negativity, an almost predatory, serpentine force, which endangers the sweet and innocent Phoebe baby. There are easy parallels to draw here to the garden of Eden: so far the song describes only a garden paradise, until the sudden introduction of “in the shadow of a tree/ curled around her knee in color/ just behind ya was a sea of negativity.” 

Mercury is really toxic. It's also used for fuel in fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent lightbulbs are an antithesis to sweet, sweet bulbs, and everything else that is garden-like and decent about life. 

“Lips turned up to kiss” also makes sense as the garden’s lips, turned up to kiss. This means that Phoebe is introduced more dramatically, in a place of uncertainty and endangered, totally passive. Not yet a “queen uncrowned.” 

Phoebe’s bonnet is suggestive of a baby bonnet. The sunset written on it symbolizes mortality, foreshadowing, creating conflict, drama. Every image prior has only suggested fertility, germination and growth. Phoebe under the shadow of the tree is reminiscent of Eve, beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Like Eve, she's presented with, or confronted by, evil (in the shadow of the tree “wrapped” serpent-like around her knee) and she must make a choice. Unlike Eve, though, who’s fate was exile from the garden, Phoebe's is a return, triumphant, back to the garden. Nature’s queen uncrowned. The “gate swings lightly without weight;/ open to most any one that needs a little freedom,/ for God’s sake, come/ as many as you can.” Eve's hand-me-down to humanity was more or less shame and sin for all eternity. Phoebe's a beacon and a queen of freedom. Phoebe Baby is more ore less anti-Eve. 

iThinkMaybeon March 06, 2019