Hello, boys and girls, my name is Fat Lip
And this is my friend, Sammy the Salmon
Today we're gonna teach you some
Fun facts about salmon and a brand new dance

Let me introduce to you a brand new dance
I know you're gonna love it if you give it one chance
It's not complicated, it's not too hard
You don't even have to be a hip hop star

See, anyone can do it, all you need is style
Listen up, people gang, I'm a show you how
Your hands to the side as silly as it seems
Shake your body like a salmon floating upstream

(I float upstream)
You know how we do it
You know how we do it again

All my peeps spend part of their life
In fresh water and part of their life in salt water
Wow, very interesting
They change round a couple of days after spawning then we die

When I first did the salmon all the people just laughed
They looked around and stood like I was on crack
I heard somebody say out loud
"What the fuck is that?
This nigga's dancing like a fish, while he's doing the snap"

But the more I kept doing it, the more they were feeling it
And then I heard some bitches say, "Yo, that nigga's killing it"
By the end of the night, everyone was on my team
And the whole club was dancing like a salmon floating upstream

(I float upstream)
You know how we do it
You know how we do it again

Most of our friends find their home waters by sense of smell
Which is even more keen than that of a dog or a bear
Wow, my family also rely on ocean currents, tides
The gravitational pull of the moon

(I float upstream again)
The moon? Fish pay attention to the moon?
Wow, who knew?

Did you know
What?
That I could go to Japan and back?
You're kidding me? Amazing, Geez

Polluted water can kill both baby salmon
That are developing and the adult salmon
That are on their way to spawn

Wow, what a shame, what a shame
Hey, kids, hey give it up for Sammy the Salmon
And his amazing salmon dance
What ya say? Alright, who's hungry?


Lyrics submitted by Bandai

The Salmon Dance Lyrics as written by Thomas Owen Mostyn Rowlands Edmund John Simons

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

The Salmon Dance song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

13 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    LOL what a wicked song. kudos to the chemical brothers- what legends :)

    nicole.xon November 04, 2007   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
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new. This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus. Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness". The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1. All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy. And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns) There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Album art
Spirit Within
Bertoldi Brothers
Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
Album art
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.