Crash Into Me

My OpinionLike most song interpretations, it's interesting to see other individuals' take on the lyrics.

I often wonder about the backgrounds and upbringing and experiences of many people who comment here; their comments, (and mine too), are telling of who they are, what they value, what their worldview is, religious or spiritual beliefs, etc.

This song isn't "dirty." It's sensual.

I really feel sorry for those who don't live in the sensual world, who regard lyrics with even a hint of sex as "dirty."

"Hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me" is purposefully adolescent in its frankness, but it is also the words of a sensual, full grown adult. You can be reactionary and holler it's dirty, but that would be premature. Or, you can chill out and think of the slow love, the sensual love, and the mystery that is a woman.

Your pick.

Have a nice day.

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My OpinionIn my opinion, this song is about a man who is so unashamedly in love with a woman that it's practically an adolescent infatuation - like something you'd find "in a boy's dream".

He shares the weight of her responsibilities, feels her pain, hears the beating of her heart; he loses himself in the beauty of her movements, desires to see the glow of love in her eyes but mostly he lusts after her in a way that is almost apologetically base.

This song is delicate, intimate and dirty - it's an honest and playful celebration of lust. And why not?

Crash into me girl.

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General CommentOne of my favorite DMB songs. In reading the comments, I have a few of my own. Firstly, I do agree that it's more than adolescent fantasy, because it's deeper than that. You can't just assume it's about a boy's fantasy because of the lyric "In a boy's dream" Secondly, it might not be ALL about sex, but sex is a big part of it, and of Dave's music in general. I read somewhere that he said that "all of his songs are about sex, even the ones that aren't".

Anyway, my interpretation. It's definitely not an admiration from afar... it's to someone he knows extremely well as a person and a lover. What gives the idea that it's about a past relationship? I didn't get that at all. I got it as a song about being IN a love affair, and just being so consumed by it that you never want it to end. "You've got your ball, you've got your chain/ Tied to me tight, tie me up again" is about being totally enthralled by someone, and only wanting to be even more so. I don't get the s and m reference out of it... the ball and chain tied to the person is just inescapable emotion, be it love or lust.

Just my two cents.

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General CommentThis song always makes me a little misty eyed. When I got married, I had a small backyard wedding. We hadn't planned anything like music or decorations. My husband decided the music that I was going to walk to and it was this song. For me, for us, this song represents absolute devotion and that kind of lusting for another person that never goes away.

It's like a little game of cat and mouse. Him chasing and her running because he chases. I always loved the opening line:

"You've got your ball you've got your chain, tied to me tight, tie me up again"

I see it as being happily bound to another person. It's so poetic and touching in it's expression of love and attraction.

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My InterpretationAlthough this song is written from the perspective of a “peeping-tom” imagining that he is making love to a woman, as it is laden with sexual innuendo, I believe it is a beautiful love song written by a man for the woman he loves.

You’ve got your ball
you’ve got your chain
Tied to me tight tie me up again

When a ball and chain is tied to a person by another, it means that their relationship is strong. When it is tied to them tightly, and it is repetitively tied to them again and again, it means it is even more than that: it is unbreakable.

Who’s got their claws
in you my friend
Into your heart I’ll beat again

Something is holding her back in a negative manner from him. Either it’s another relationship or set of ones, not necessarily romantic, or something else. Thus, the reference to claws, which generate the image of these sharp nails piercing the skin, and not letting go. This has nothing to do with him, but it is something external that affects her for one reason or another, that is not allowing her to be open or honest with him. He sees her as a friend first, which is a precondition to a love-based relationship, but he also knows that he’ll always be within her heart as more than that. Previously, something may have removed him from her heart, and it may have been due to whatever had their claws in her. But, he is optimistic that he will regain his presence inside of it.

Sweet like candy to my soul
Sweet you rock
and sweet you roll
Lost for you I’m so lost for you

Just like candy is revered by a child, in particular, a boy, whichever way she moves, while sleeping or otherwise (yes, even sexually), he is completely smitten with her.

You come crash into me
And I come into you,

When something crashes into you, it causes a “boom”, and it’s usually unexpected. That’s how he feels about these feelings he’s having for her. When someone crashes into another, both affect each other, and so he also “comes” into her. This part of the song is also sexually suggestive, and I won’t go into detail how.

Touch your lips just so I know

As the lips are suggestive of love as they are what we kiss with, he’s making a request to her to give him a sign on whether she feels the same way about him as he does about her by requesting her to touch her lips.

In your eyes, love, it glows so

As the eyes are the “windows to the soul”, he can see and feel that she loves him too, even though he desires a sign like the one requested in the previous verse.

I’m bare-boned and crazy for you

He’s completely open and naked (emotionally, psychologically, romantically, etc.), although even more than that, as the metaphor suggests even his skin is completely gone which is the first barrier against body damage from external elements. Also, metaphorically, we wear different skins to protect ourselves on an emotional level. He’s so in love with and is so trusting of her, he feels no need to wear any skins.

In a boys dream

The experience is so surreal, that it feels like the fantasy of a boy who is infatuated with that beautiful woman he sees as unattainable but has somehow captured.

If I’ve gone overboard
Then I’m begging you
to forgive me
In my haste

He’s thinking that maybe he revealed too much, or is being too quick and open with his feelings, and it has scared her away. If so, he’s pleading with her to not hold it against him because of this hold she has over him. It reminds me of Brian Adam’s lyrics “Please forgive me, I know not what I do. Please forgive me, if I can’t stop loving you. Don’t deny me, this pain I’m going through. Please forgive me, if I need you like I do.”

When I’m holding you so girl…
close to me

Although this holding can be seen as physical, it is also metaphorical. She’s very near to him, very close.

Hike up your skirt a little more
and show the world to me
Hike up your skirt a little more
and show your world to me

This is the most sexually suggestive part of the song, but it is more than that. He’s asking her to open up, to let her emotional guard down, to become naked, and uses sexual imagery to do so. Everyone knows what a woman’s skirt hides, so I will leave it at that. It represents something private, not to be given lightly, and treasured. What’s key in these lines, is he moves from the impersonal, as in a “boy’s dream” - “the world” - to the personal, as in reality - “your world” - when he requests her to essentially show everything to him.

Oh I watch you there
through the window
And I stare at you
You wear nothing but you
wear it so well

She not only looks physically beautiful to him when naked as he looks at her through the window, watching her through her eyes - again, which are the “windows to the soul” - he sees her soul as beautiful when it is bared. She’s beautiful without the front of clothing, and without her own self-imposed, personal barriers.

Tied up and twisted,
the way I’d like to be
For you, for me, come crash
into me

He doesn’t care if he’s all tied up and twisted with emotions for her, this emotional binding made explicit through the imagery of physical binding and coming full circle with the beginning of the song, it’s the way he wants to be. So he says, “crash into me” for the sake of both of us.

I’m the king of the castle,
you’re the dirty rascal

Playfulness is part and parcel of a love-based relationship.

THIS SONG OWNS.

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General Comment.. in response to gizelle369..

Yes, I did catch what you think are S&M references. "You've got your ball, you've got your chain, tied to me tighter, tie me up again.." .. and ".. tied up and twisted, the way I'd like to be.."

1) The former, as explained earlier, is a (what I also agree with, believe) reference to a previous relationship that he wants to be in again. The latter, I can interpret two ways.. well, three..

One, she's tied up. Probably not. Two, maybe a reference to clothing that she might've donned. Something sexy. Probably not. Three, she's modeling herself in front of a mirror. Maybe.

Or, hell, maybe it's poetic nonsense describing the glow of love? That's what I take "crash into me" as. I don't think someone is literally going to crash into me. Just that explosion of emotion and sensuality and passion.

Crash into me.

Basically, though, I see the song as a broken love that he wants to feel again.

I so want to play this song on my wedding night. The way the music builds up, it's so sexy..

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General Commentthis is from the cd CRASh which i consider to be daves last stand. this is one of the best cd's ive ever had, but i think its the last great dave CD. he didnt even write alll the songs on everyday and he plays an electric guitar. this song, however, is wonderful. i was wandering if anybody else has heard the version he sand on the cd with tim reynolds. on that ( somewhere towards the end) he uses alternate lyrics that go something like "ill be your dixie chicken if you be my tennessee lamb, and we'll walk together down in dixie land, crash into me" i think that is very cool

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General Commenti think this is just a song about a teen-age boy dreaming and lusting over this "girl in the window". on another note, i think only dave matthews could turn something perverted like ''hike up your skirt a lil more and show your world to me'', and ''i watch you there through the window vhere i stare, you wear nothing but you wear it so well'' into something poetic.

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General CommentDamn! Why is it that everyone instantly makes these ridiculous Freudian assumptions? Not everything is just about fucking. PsychoNavigator, you are on the right track. Gena, where the Hell did you get age 15 from? That's not in the song. The words ''hike up your skirt a lil more and show your world to me'' may be about sex, but sex doesn't have to be bad. One day you guys might learn that sex can either be an empty fluid exchange or a beautiful expression of love (not that there aren't many things in between). Look at lines like "You've got your ball, you've got your chain, tied to me tight, tie me up again." It seems pretty clear that he believes he is trying to return to some past relationship. When he says that he is staring through a window he is symbolizing what he feels when he wants something that he cannot have.

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General Commentramthar, if you got nothing good to say, don't. There's no need to bash a band.

SongMeanings Mod.

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