Jack and Edie lying across my bed
Flying high like the spirits of the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead

Our Lady of Sorrows and the long dark night
How many candles could I light
For the living and the dead, the living and the dead?

What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead

I think about you Jack watching the TV
And drinking booze, shame on you, shame on me
But how can we help it there was no where else to go
I sent Julie and Billy out on that long hard road
On that long hard road, on that long hard road

I'm just back from Mexico city
I came back north to Texas to rest my weary head
My true love is fresh from the battle field
Sewing up the dying and carting off the dead
My baby don't stand no fighting amongst the living or the dead

What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead



Lyrics submitted by ksf1102

Mexico City Lyrics as written by Jolie R Holland

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Mexico City song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

3 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    I first heard this song on NPR like at 5 in the morning. I just randomly tuned in and they played this and Old Fashion Morphine. I'm glad I caught her. No comments though? But why??

    Franny96on October 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion

    This song sounds beautiful but I couldn't understand what it was about.

    altr9on September 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "Jack" is the American Beat Poet Jack Kerouac (On The Rode, Dharma Bums, etc). "Edie" is his first wife, Edie Kerouac-Parker who married him to gain access to an inheritance that would allow him to post bail having been incarcerated as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Lucien Carr's murder of David Kammerer. "Billy" is William Burroughs (Naked Lunch, etc) who was also part of the "Beat" circle. "Billy" Burroughs, noted junky, is also mentioned in Holland's song "Old Fashioned Morphine". "Julie" is the daughter of Burroughs' wife Joan Vollmer, who Burroughs shot and killed in a drunken game of "William Tell" in 1951. Mexico City is tied to Kerouac in several ways, most notably in his poem "Mexico City Blues" wherein he said later he wanted to write "as a musician plays jazz". Additionally, Kerouac traveled to Mexico regularly in his frequent road trips. Death and alcoholism ("Drinking booze/shame on you/shame on me") figure heavily in the lives of the people mentioned in the song (Kerouac himself died from complications due to alcoholism).

    bhagition November 18, 2011   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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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."
Album art
Gentle Hour
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,
Album art
No Surprises
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.
Album art
Plastic Bag
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.