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I Want It Back Lyrics
I lost the thread, I lost the map
It's not a feeling, it's a fact
I had it once, I was on track
Why won't it stay? I want it back
I see you there in that magazine
You're looking smart, you sound supreme
You got such lip, you know the street
You been around, you took some heat
You mighta killed, you might be cruel
You might be stupid but we love you
You're in the paper, you're in the air
You're in my head, you're everywhere
I want it back
You're so extreme, you're feast or famine
You got one mission, just like a salmon
You said in life, mistakes are many
How come you never admit to any?
Are you for real or are you bluffing?
You really get me, famous for nothing
And every morning you got a name
In a world where people all look the same
I want it back
I can't give love, I don't know how
I write in code so you won't know
I was on drugs, I took a nap
I didn't mean it, I want it back
I dreamed again of paradise
I floated steady, it felt so nice
to sell your soul, just think of that
I'm halfway there, I want it back
I want it back
It's not a feeling, it's a fact
I had it once, I was on track
Why won't it stay? I want it back
You're looking smart, you sound supreme
You got such lip, you know the street
You been around, you took some heat
You might be stupid but we love you
You're in the paper, you're in the air
You're in my head, you're everywhere
You got one mission, just like a salmon
You said in life, mistakes are many
How come you never admit to any?
You really get me, famous for nothing
And every morning you got a name
In a world where people all look the same
I write in code so you won't know
I was on drugs, I took a nap
I didn't mean it, I want it back
I floated steady, it felt so nice
to sell your soul, just think of that
I'm halfway there, I want it back
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well, actually this aint much of my fave song from the album.... but its still easy listening.
"You said in life, mistakes are many / How come you never admit to any?"
That's a fucking fantastic lyric.
The song is about Bill Clinton. Some feminists were appalled when allegations of rape started popping up in his early days as President. Most feminists covered for him. I believe it was Steinem who said something like he was a bastard but he was our bastard. Others like Colvin and later Maureen Dowd (who won a Pulitzer for her work on this topic) regretted their initial support for him. This song is about that regret.
To me it rings clearly about having a sense of path, certainty and clarity about your life values and to some extent, personal direction....but then having some or all of that shredded in the whitewater's of life experience and in that process losing your map but longing to regain your previous sense of clarity.
Makes me think of an early scene in a bugs life where a leaf drops in the path of a trail of ants and it throws them into pandemonium because they've "lost the thread".