Strange Days Lyrics
Strange days have tracked us down
They're going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing
Or find a new town
Yeah!
Strange eyes fill strange rooms
Voices will signal their tired end
The hostess is grinning
Her guests sleep from sinning
Hear me talk of sin
And you know this is it
Yeah!
Strange days have found us
And through their strange hours
We linger alone
Bodies confused
Memories misused
As we run from the day
To a strange night of stone
I've always believed that the "strange" idea Jim is trying to get across in his songs (people are strange, etc) is depression and feeling hopeless. Depression will "destroy our casual joys", and in the end, we are simply lonely ("we linger alone") as we "run from the day to a strange night of stone" - we're always running from our problems just to feel worse by the end of the day.
A lot of these songs couldn't be created without a good bit of acid, so maybe it's just all about the drugs...
I read in John Densmore's book that Jim was depressed when he wrote this song, partially about the lack of contentment after fame struck. I have no idea if this is what the song is about, though.
I read in John Densmore's book that Jim was depressed when he wrote this song, partially about the lack of contentment after fame struck. I have no idea if this is what the song is about, though.
The last couple of lines I always find kind of chilling - I don't know about anyone else, but the "strange night of stone" means death to me.
Sounds great cranked up high on vinyl record... Jim's voice comes alive!.....
i really love this song ....well i 'll try to express my thought for the meaning of this song...we are at the half of the decade 60s those years rapping America the murder of a young president(jfk) a war(nam) the murder of black leader (mlk) the magnificent secret services..drugs,,suicides, kkk....these are the strange days about morrison talks..the days hit America and a man with intelligent mind like jim cant do anything else but look with horror and pessimism..
Well I ask myself, who's the hostess? Mother Earth? And we are the guests? She's grining, probably laughing to herself watching us. Strange eyes though always reminds me of dilated pupils, meaning halucigens, possibly explaining a trip?
The song has a definite sense of irony to it. The narrator (the voice who Jim Morrison is portraying) seems to be ignorant. When he says, "We shall go on playing Or find a new town Yeah!", you can really see the childlike mentality. The narrator is also contradictory, and they realize this. You can see this when he says, "Hear me talk of sin". You get the feeling of a person who moves around alot, someone of unstable emotions. Also, the narrator recognizes the evil in his enviroment, but he's aware that he is apart of it too. The hostess seems to have a sexual nature about her. You can see this when he says "The hostess is grinning Her guests sleep from sinning". Perhaps they have had sex that wasn't based on love and more a selfish act of abuse towards each other. When you look at hostess you connect her with someone whom is a caretaker, a helpful figure. There again we see this irony, she is more of a devil in disguise. He makes it seem like she manipulates these people and basks in their destruction. Essentially, the despair in this story centers around her. In the last verse of the song, we see the narrator talk of emotional destruction and a sense of being lost. The characters live their life running from the past, running from their true self, and ultimatly turning into stone (or in other words lifeless creatures). So the work of the hostess wasn't physical,but more emotional. Whom you consider the hostess can be varied, perhaps it was a mother figure to Morrison, a symbol for government or nation (a place which we call "motherland"), media, matrialistic views (often associated with women). However, the identity of the hostess may have been left open so the listener could connect with the song on a more personal level. It also has a very apocalyptic feel to it. Words such as; destroy, stone, confused, misused, sin, grinning, alone. The song has alot of layers that are unclear, and most likely Morrison was experiencing some personal feeling that the song relates too.
you sure put a lot of thought into one paragraph of a song you evidently dislike.
you sure put a lot of thought into one paragraph of a song you evidently dislike.
Freaking awesome song! Especially the first 20 seconds of this masterpiece have some timeless magic within.
It can be about so many things... drugs, depression... or it could be about things getting strange and new, loss of naivity, loss of innocence, things becoming twisted, in both positive and negative ways. And this can mean anything from puberty to the "new world" (including industrial revolution, globalization, new technologies, the disintegration of social norms, religion and other old authorities losing their authority - "God's dead" as Nietzsche puts it, etc. etc. etc.)
this song is so awesomeee.. anyone know anything about it?
i lvoe this song
It's more surreal than psychedelic, but its strained, experimental atmosphere and downbeat messages of loss and elusive human connections failed to capture the huge audience of the Doors' first record.