Yes

Manic Street Preachers

You can buy her, you can buy her
This one's here, this one's here
This one's here, and this one's here
Everything's for sale

For sale?
Dumb cunt's same dumb questions
Virgins?
Listen, all virgins are liars honey
And I don't know what I'm scared of or what I even enjoy
Dulling, get money, but nothing turns out like you want it to

And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you
Puking, shaking, sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out

I 'T' them, 24/7, all year long
Purgatory's circle, drowning here, someone will always say yes
Funny place for the social, for the insects to start caring
Just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff

In these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For 200 pounds anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I can still say thank you
Puking, shaking, sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, I hurt myself to get pain out

Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
The only certain thing that is left about me
There's no part of my body that has not been used
Pity or pain, to show displeasure's shame
Everyone I've loved or hated always seems to leave

And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For 200 pounds anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
Don't hurt, just obey, lie down, do as they say
May as well be heaven this hell, smells the same
These sunless afternoons I can't find myself


Lyrics submitted by malegna, edited by Crane42, acedia

Yes Lyrics as written by Kristin Hudson Percell Holmes

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Yes song meanings
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42 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment
    Whilst many of you are correct in taking this song to be one about the obvious reality of being a prostitute, gsmith is also right, as this song is one of a few off the holy bible album (PCP comes to mind) that has double meanings. Richey himself said that it was about selling yourself out, for whatever reason. As he puts it in his album notes: "The majority of your times is spent doing something you hate to get something you don’t need. Everyone has a price to buy themselves out of freedom. Say Yes to Everything." That very much sums up what he was getting at with this song.
    matt675on November 24, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    The soundclip at the end of track says (I think) "Two dollars you rub her tits Three dollars you rub her ass Five dollars you can play with her pussy Or you can lick her tits Choice is yours"
    gsleithon August 24, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    Prostitution doesn't just mean "selling yourself for money", it also means "act or an instance of offering or devoting one's talent to an unworthy use or cause". In a sense it isn't about prostitution sexually wise, but in the sense that Richey lacked being able to say no to anything. i think just about everyone can relate to this song in a sense.
    xpwoppaon July 06, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    intro "You can buy her, you can buy her, this one's here, this one's here, this one's here, and this one's here. Everything's for sale" riiiight...i think that line in the chorus is pretty damn disturbing but maybe it's just me(?!)..and wtf does "for $200 anyone can conceive a god on video" mean?
    Cherub Rockon April 03, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I mean, his inability to say NO
    the kittenesson November 25, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    "just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff " refers to a story involving a childs playground at the top of a cliff, people were worried that the children would fall off and die, but instead of erecting a fence they put an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff so that they could get them to hospital quickly. I havn't a clue if this is a true story but i think it reflect a lot in soceity and its twisted logic. Has anyone else heard this story and remember it more complete than myself?
    LongVodkaon December 20, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I've heard that story, and I also wondered if it was true. What I read was that kids kept playing near the cliff and falling off, and the town decided that putting up a fence would be too expensive, so instead they'd put an ambulance at the bottom. So it was like just waiting for people to get hurt, instead of doing something to prevent it. Pretty sick.
    the kittenesson December 23, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    sprocket: It's not a true story; it was used as an example in a psychology book, and wasn't meant to be a euphemism in the original context. Though it may have been in this song.
    the kittenesson December 13, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Don't mean to be sadistic, but it's actually 'tear' off his cock, not chop. Ouch.
    manic4manicson August 27, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    "Prostitution of The Self. The majority of your time is spent doing something you hate to get something you don't need. Everyone has a price to buy themselves out of freedom. "Say Yes to Everything"" (Richey James; The Holy Bible-Tour Book) "It looks at the way that society views prostitutes as probably the lowest form of life. But we feel that we've prostituted ourselves over the last three or four years, and we think it's the same in every walk of life. Marlene Dietrich said that she'd been photographed to death. Red indians believe that every time they're photographed, a piece of their soul goes. We came to a point when we felt a bit like that. I don't want to come across like Eddie Vedder or something, because we've always made an effort to make our pictures fairly aesthetic. But you just come to a point where you think, 'Why are we doing this?' it must come with maturity. There's a line in there: 'tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want'. You do get to a position when you're in a band where you can virtually do anything you want, in any kind of sick, low form. It's not something we've particularly indulged in, but it is a nasty by-product of being in a group." (Nicky Wire; Melody Maker, 27 August 1994)
    manic4manicson October 23, 2012   Link

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