You know there ain't no end to man's desire
To steal your water, steal your fire
Snakes in the garden, apples on the tree
All of this looks easy, none of this is free

You might get lucky, got the world to win
Need a little failure to thicken your skin
Everybody's talkin', they promise you the moon
It's made of paper and you find out pretty soon

Who owns this place?
Who owns this place?
I'm talkin' to you, now look in my face
And tell me who owns this place?

But time passes, things change
You might get restless, I might get strange
But everything you do says always
Who owns this place?

Monkey see, monkey do
You're watchin' him and he's watchin' you
You think he's funny, he think you're funny too
You'd get in there with him if you only knew

Who owns this place?
Who owns this place?
What makes you think that you're a special case?
Who owns this place?

Time passes, things change
Shut down the city, fence off the range
Make everything into a fancy place
Who owns this place?

Push, pull, push, pull, push, pull
Push, pull, push, pull, push, pull

You always take, you never give
So busy runnin' you've forgotten where you live
A million miles, a million malls
Pretty soon you'll be bouncin' off the walls

Screamin', "Who owns this place?
Who owns this place?"
Too much ambition, too little grace
Who owns this place?"


Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher

Who Owns This Place? song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

1 Comment

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    In life, you will wish to succeed, but success is harder than you think. Experience will repeatedly humble you. After you have been humbled enough times, you will ask "Who owns this place?" (Who actually does have power in this world?) There's no answer in the song, as to whether it's god, mortals, or no one at all.

    This is from the Color of Money soundtrack and might be considered loosely the message that the older pool player tries to convey to the young hotshot.

    rikdad101@yahoo.comon August 12, 2017   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
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
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.