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Into the Woods Lyrics
A kitten on fire, a baby in a blender.
Both sound as sweet as a night of surrender.
I know it ain't easy, but you do what you can.
If your livin gets weezy, you can follow this plan:
Put in more than you could ever get out.
I'm tired of the talking, I know what you're about.
Now open your mouth, here comes the spoon.
You're gonna eat what I give ya, and you're gonna like it real good.
A riddle: I went over the river, and into the woods, where did I go?
Where a wood buring stream flows up through the trees,
like the soul of the hottest kind of lover I've ever seen
One who lives to choose another fool's dream.
A good showerhead and my right hand,
the two best lovers that I ever had.
Now if you find you agree with what I just said,
you'd better find a new love
and let 'em into your head
Both sound as sweet as a night of surrender.
I know it ain't easy, but you do what you can.
If your livin gets weezy, you can follow this plan:
I'm tired of the talking, I know what you're about.
Now open your mouth, here comes the spoon.
You're gonna eat what I give ya, and you're gonna like it real good.
Where a wood buring stream flows up through the trees,
like the soul of the hottest kind of lover I've ever seen
One who lives to choose another fool's dream.
the two best lovers that I ever had.
Now if you find you agree with what I just said,
you'd better find a new love
and let 'em into your head
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Well, not to project my own neuroses onto this song, but to me, this is a song about being so tied up in your own head that you can't actually find the person you're looking for. It starts out really sarcastic with the baby/kitten/surrender analogy, like someone saying that they'd rather set a kitten on fire or stick a baby in a blender before they'd let their guard down and surrender. The second verse is advice to open yourself up and give more of yourself to people and relationships, even if you might not get it all back. The second, third, and fourth lines are about how he's tired of hearing the person he's singing to talking so much (maybe rationalizing why they're like they are and why they shouldn't be so open), and he's about to lay it out flat for them, whether they like it or not. The riddle is a clever little play on words about how this person might spend all their time conceptualizing the perfect person or relationship, or maybe being jealous/envious of people who found their 'person', thinking that they're lucky, when they actually might be miserable ("Another fool's dream"). The last verse is just pretty blunt: If you think you're shower nozzle masturbation or jerking off is better than an actual lover, then you need to get your ass out and let someone in your head.
Thank you for getting this one right. It seemed so obvious to me, but no one else seemed to get it until I read your post.
Thank you for getting this one right. It seemed so obvious to me, but no one else seemed to get it until I read your post.
Yes, thank you, this is how I've always interpreted the song too and like scottyp says, it seems pretty obvious to me.
Yes, thank you, this is how I've always interpreted the song too and like scottyp says, it seems pretty obvious to me.
i was talking to a fellow MMJ fan the other day about the meaning of the first two lines, which always seemed to catch me off-guard:
"A kitten on fire, a baby in a blender. Both sound as sweet as a night of surrender."
it seems so over-the-top, I could never quite wrap my mind around it. here is a theory we came up with by the end of the conversation, however wrong it may be:
He is playing with cultural stereotypes with the shocking imagery (kitten on fire, baby in a blender). Kittens & Babies typically signify innocence and sappy preciousness; they can also represent naivety. The lyrics destruct this innocence in order to represent how, analagously, first love and/or sex (forms of 'surrender' in the metaphor) destroy innocence as well. For instance, think of how idealistic & lofty your interpretation of 'love' was before your first physical relationship. This is what you ultimately 'surrender,' - that blissful ignorance.
The following line "as sweet as a night of surrender" is sarcastic. Of course a kitten on fire or a baby in a blender don't actually sound 'sweet.' He's being ironic. This forfeiting of ones innocence is actually a sad thing, though we don't quite realize until it's gone. At the time though, the action (sex, for instance) seems beautiful, but a part of us is ultimately being destroyed irrevocably.
Hope this makes at least a little bit of sense, but no, I don't put much validity in it. I'm interested to hear what other people think about it.
I've listened the album "Z" a lot but I never paid much attention to the lyrics. It kind of shocked and amused me to hear "a baby in a blender" and "A good showerhead and my right hand/ the two best lovers that I ever had.".
I think the song is encouraging actions over words. He is saying to stop complaining or talking about what you are going to do and just do it.
this song is about the killing of babies
Once in the midst of action 'Into the Woods" sounds literally as if you're walking deep into the woods on a storybook quest and surface able to write a soaring and motivational tale.
i think the transition from off the records long ending into this song is perfect on the album... the trip ends now.
ive searched the whole internet to see if anyone else suspected this but when he says "the soul of the hottest kind of lover I've ever seen, E, One who lives to choose another fool's dream." is he referring to E from the eels, sounds like him. Im a huge E fan so it meant so much to me when i heard this, Eels and My Morning Jacket are as good as it gets
He did commented on this when performing it live in 2007, saying that:
He did commented on this when performing it live in 2007, saying that:
"When I went to the UK college my roommate's name was Todd and he was very intelligent. We used to have this saying, whenever we would say something that we really liked we'd say eee. Like if a hot girl walked by, eee that girl is hot. So in this song, there's a place where I do that"
"When I went to the UK college my roommate's name was Todd and he was very intelligent. We used to have this saying, whenever we would say something that we really liked we'd say eee. Like if a hot girl walked by, eee that girl is hot. So in this song, there's a place where I do that"
should say "cultural symbols" not "stereotypes" in last post.
i always thought this song was about masturbation...at least the second half lol:
A good showerhead and my right hand, the two best lovers that I ever had. Now if you find you agree with what I just said, you'd better find a new love and let 'em into your head
like some other people above said, "into the woods" could symbolize the destruction of innocence orrrrr he could just be talking about his pubic hairs....whoo knows?
I agree with you NightNeverSleeps... most of the song sounds like a relationship gone bad. So many relationships turn sour after sex, especially when ur younger. The second stanza sounds like he/she is bitter about putting everything into the relationship and getting nothing out. "Here comes the spoon" might just be a way of saying the significant other is spoiled (born with a silver spoon in her/his mouth).
I don't understand the riddle part and how it fits in... anyone have any ideas?
The last part just seems to say that masturbation is best. Then the guy/girl really owns up and says that you have to keep trying to find love.