The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
I got my back to the sun 'cause the light is too intense
I can see what everybody in the world is up against
You can't turn back you can't come back, sometimes we push too far
One day you'll open up your eyes and you'll see where we are
Sugar Baby get on down the road
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty good stuff
Plenty of places to hide things here if you want to hide 'em bad enough
I'm staying with Aunt Sally, but you know, she's not really my aunt
Some of these memories you can learn to live with and some of them you can't
Sugar Baby get on down the line
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
You might as well keep going now
The ladies down in Darktown, they're doing the Darktown Strut
You always got to be prepared but you never know for what
There ain't no limit to the amount of trouble women bring
Love is pleasing, love is teasing, love's not an evil thing
Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Every moment of existence seems like some dirty trick
Happiness can come suddenly and leave just as quick
Any minute of the day the bubble could burst
Try to make things better
For someone, sometimes you just end up making it a thousand times worse
Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain't got no brains no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Your charms have broken many a heart and mine is surely one
You got a way of tearing a world apart, love, see what you done
Just as sure as we're living, just as sure as you're born
Look up, look up seek your Maker 'fore Gabriel blows his horn
Sugar Baby, get on down the line
You ain't got no sense, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
I can see what everybody in the world is up against
You can't turn back you can't come back, sometimes we push too far
One day you'll open up your eyes and you'll see where we are
Sugar Baby get on down the road
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty good stuff
Plenty of places to hide things here if you want to hide 'em bad enough
I'm staying with Aunt Sally, but you know, she's not really my aunt
Some of these memories you can learn to live with and some of them you can't
Sugar Baby get on down the line
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
You might as well keep going now
The ladies down in Darktown, they're doing the Darktown Strut
You always got to be prepared but you never know for what
There ain't no limit to the amount of trouble women bring
Love is pleasing, love is teasing, love's not an evil thing
Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain't got no brains, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Every moment of existence seems like some dirty trick
Happiness can come suddenly and leave just as quick
Any minute of the day the bubble could burst
Try to make things better
For someone, sometimes you just end up making it a thousand times worse
Sugar Baby, get on down the road
You ain't got no brains no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Your charms have broken many a heart and mine is surely one
You got a way of tearing a world apart, love, see what you done
Just as sure as we're living, just as sure as you're born
Look up, look up seek your Maker 'fore Gabriel blows his horn
Sugar Baby, get on down the line
You ain't got no sense, no how
You went years without me
Might as well keep going now
Lyrics submitted by SquidOmelet
Sugar Baby Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Mountain Song
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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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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 believe nobody has written anything about this song. It's a great song. Then again I can see now that there's really not much to say about it It's pretty self-explanitory But it's just so good I had to give it the attention it deserves.
Me: Hi, song.
Song: Hi there.
Me: You're incredible.
Song: Thanks.
I can't figure out the references to Darktown, but overall this song seems to be about a man trying to get on with his life after having his heart broken by a Sugar Baby.
She's probably younger than the narrator (as suggested by him calling her a "baby"), and thus has less experience dealing with people with whom she's intimately involved. The narrator was blinded by her charms at first, but then he possibly had to turn "his back to the sun" because she just became too much to handle. Now that he's regained his sight and that his sense has returned, he can see what "everyone in the world is up against" in terms of resisting Sugar Baby's come ons.
I think before he reached the state of mind this song represents, he had "tr[ied] to make things better for someone," but he ended up "just making it a thousand times worse", perhaps by "pushing too far". He now realized there's nothing more he can do, so he's telling her to move on as well, but not without getting in some jabs and trying to get her to "see what she's done" -- that she's "got a way of tearing the world apart". The stanza about bootleggers hiding their stash and whether or not people can live with their memories may refer to some past event in Sugar Baby's that she has not confronted. He predicts that if she doesn't start doing something to change her ways possibly by "Look[ing] up, look[ing] up" and "Seek[ing her] Maker", she's gonna go through some personally apocalyptic experiences.
I think an older man narrates this due to his peacefully resigned attitude towards love. Even though he calls existence "a dirty trick" and laments that "happiness..can leave just [so] quick", he ultimately believes that "love's not an evil thing". However, you gotta appreciate the fact that Dylan didn't make the narrator so wise and settled that he couldn't resist telling her she ain't got no sense or brains.
The song is a lament for Christianity, the bride of the Christ, going her own way not asking for any real directions or feedback from her groom. Her brain and her senses have become stunted and lost their functions by not being used adequately.
The singer himself was one of the victims.
The advice is to "seek your maker before Gabriel blows his horn", i.e. to replace unquestioned beliefs by work on clarification without prejudice.
Discovered this song like an hour before. Being a big Dylan buff, whatever he does speaks to me. This song is pretty cool too. The song is pretty much self explanatory. Probably some Biblical references are hiding here and there, someone with a knowledge in that field might wanna enlighten us.
The theological character of this song becomes evident from the following line : Look up, look up - seek your Maker - 'fore Gabriel blows his horn<br /> <br /> This implies that there is a maker who will call to account in the future, which may happen unexpectedly even for those who believe in him. The judgment will be initiated by Gabriel blowing his horn. This refers to 1.Corinthians 15,52: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (This is also cited in Handel’s Messiah).<br /> <br /> The last book of the bible called Revelation describes in mysterious pictures a plan of God, represented by a book sealed with seven seals that could not be realized before Jesus died, which is expressed as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals (chapter 5). Each seal opens a new phase of history. The seventh seal brings seven trumpets given to angels (chapter 8). Each trumpet brings a new type of global war. Gabriel’s horn stands for the last of these seven trumpets. Chapter 10,7 reads: but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.<br /> <br /> The believers are addressed as Sugar Baby. The bible speaks more of Christianity as the body of Jesus than of Christianity as his bride. For example 1.Corinthians 12,27: Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. - However, the characterization of Christianity as Jesus’ bride can be found in several more Bob Dylan songs: Sweetheart like you, When the night comes falling from the sky, perhaps Cry a While and the scenery of The groom’s still waiting at the altar.<br /> <br /> The initial report on creation in the bible (Genesis 1) ends with: Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. This is followed by a detailed view on the creation of Eve, where unexpectedly something was not good: It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him. This leads further to a statement cited by Paul in Ephesians 5,31 and characterized by him as a great mystery: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Paul understood it tentatively as a prediction of what Jesus did for not staying alone.<br /> <br /> I hope this is sufficient, though not too long.<br />
seems to say if you want to write hits for the sake of it go ahead on your way and i'll go mine
or maybe that you give love a bad name
I think it is about his son, jakob.
I can't blame you for not understanding this song. It's about my bust. Some clues sally is sally port bootleggers