This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
You try to play cool like you just don't care
But soon I'll be playin' in your underwear
I'm like a mage with the magic spell
You come like a dog when I ring yo' bell
I got the money and I got the fame
You got the hots to ride on my plane
You givin' me all that I desire
'cause down with me I'm taking you higher
I'm the baddest of the bad
I'm the best that you've ever had
I'm the tops, I'm the thing
All the girls get up when I sing, yeah
I'm the meanest in the place
Step up, I'll mess with your face
I don't care where you are
Look up and follow the star
I, I'm gonna tear down the wall
I may not be here when you call
So best be givin' me your all
After the havoc that I'm gonna wreak
No more words will critics have to speak
I've got to answers to the tangled knot
Sleep tight in your cot
Oh baby, I've been told I'm goin' crazy
Oh baby, I can't be held down
Oh baby, somehow I'm keeping it steady
Oh baby, I'm tearing up this town
Hey, this is what I like
Cut my heart with a martyr's spike
Hey, this is nothing new
I've got more than enough for you
I can take on anybody
I can do my thing
I don't wanna hurt nobody
But a bee has got to sting
I'ma fix it if you mix it up
Talk smack, and I'ma gonna shut you up
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
I am the greatest man that ever lived, oh
Radioactive
Somebody said all the world's a stage
And each of us is a player
That's what I've been tryin' to tell you
In Act 1 I was struggling to survive
Nobody wanted my action dead or alive
Act 2, I hit the big time
And bodies be all up on my behind
And I can't help myself because I was born to shine
And if you don't like it, you can shove it
But you don't like it, you love it
So I'll be up here in a rage
'til they bring the curtain down on the stage
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give and give and give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radioactive
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
But soon I'll be playin' in your underwear
I'm like a mage with the magic spell
You come like a dog when I ring yo' bell
I got the money and I got the fame
You got the hots to ride on my plane
You givin' me all that I desire
'cause down with me I'm taking you higher
I'm the baddest of the bad
I'm the best that you've ever had
I'm the tops, I'm the thing
All the girls get up when I sing, yeah
I'm the meanest in the place
Step up, I'll mess with your face
I don't care where you are
Look up and follow the star
I, I'm gonna tear down the wall
I may not be here when you call
So best be givin' me your all
After the havoc that I'm gonna wreak
No more words will critics have to speak
I've got to answers to the tangled knot
Sleep tight in your cot
Oh baby, I've been told I'm goin' crazy
Oh baby, I can't be held down
Oh baby, somehow I'm keeping it steady
Oh baby, I'm tearing up this town
Hey, this is what I like
Cut my heart with a martyr's spike
Hey, this is nothing new
I've got more than enough for you
I can take on anybody
I can do my thing
I don't wanna hurt nobody
But a bee has got to sting
I'ma fix it if you mix it up
Talk smack, and I'ma gonna shut you up
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
I am the greatest man that ever lived, oh
Radioactive
Somebody said all the world's a stage
And each of us is a player
That's what I've been tryin' to tell you
In Act 1 I was struggling to survive
Nobody wanted my action dead or alive
Act 2, I hit the big time
And bodies be all up on my behind
And I can't help myself because I was born to shine
And if you don't like it, you can shove it
But you don't like it, you love it
So I'll be up here in a rage
'til they bring the curtain down on the stage
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give and give and give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radioactive
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
Lyrics submitted by whybother737
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) song meanings
Add Your Thoughts
73 Comments
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The spoken word is not supposed to be a reference from Macbeth, though it is. Rivers was heavily inspired by Elvis for that section, while Elvis was indeed referencing/quoting Macbeth.