The speaker had big dreams and chased after fame all his life. There was this girl he liked, but she wasn't really around, so he slept with a bunch of random girls but then she came back into his life. He wants to give up his playboy ways and get married, and her friends are nervous that he'll leave her.
"All my life, I was swinging for the fence
I was looking for the triple
Never playing good defense"
I feel like he's using baseball as a metaphor for fame - "swinging for the fence" = hitting the ball out of the park = hitting the big time. But "never playing good defense" = making bad life choices.
"gunning for the glitter" = reinforces that idea. Glitter = glamourous lifestyle of fame
"She was never really there so I couldn't really get her" = the girl he liked was never around, maybe on business, always busy, or maybe she wouldn't come with him on tour.
"She was good for getting there but not so much for round trip" = maybe she's afraid to commit to him because he was a player
After I thought about this song, I didn't know what the "is just a medicine" part meant. But then it hit me. Is this song about Johnny Cash and June Carter? I may be overanalyzing but hear me out. The only explanation about "factually I, is just a medicine, makes you wanna cry, why don't they let us in?" that I could come up with is people are trying to get into a country and they wouldn't let them in because they had drugs, but the speaker claims that it's just his medicine. This did happen to Johnny Cash when he came back to the USA from Mexico.
Also "fishing for a hook" = he did fish, and in the movie Walk the Line, he and June went fishing, she had just gotten divorced, and he was looking to start a relationship with her but she wasn't buying it so he "took a little trip" and went on tour, "opening up the book" for other girls.
The search for fame would also apply to my clearly overanalytic explanation of this song.
The speaker had big dreams and chased after fame all his life. There was this girl he liked, but she wasn't really around, so he slept with a bunch of random girls but then she came back into his life. He wants to give up his playboy ways and get married, and her friends are nervous that he'll leave her.
"All my life, I was swinging for the fence I was looking for the triple Never playing good defense" I feel like he's using baseball as a metaphor for fame - "swinging for the fence" = hitting the ball out of the park = hitting the big time. But "never playing good defense" = making bad life choices.
"gunning for the glitter" = reinforces that idea. Glitter = glamourous lifestyle of fame
"She was never really there so I couldn't really get her" = the girl he liked was never around, maybe on business, always busy, or maybe she wouldn't come with him on tour.
"She was good for getting there but not so much for round trip" = maybe she's afraid to commit to him because he was a player
After I thought about this song, I didn't know what the "is just a medicine" part meant. But then it hit me. Is this song about Johnny Cash and June Carter? I may be overanalyzing but hear me out. The only explanation about "factually I, is just a medicine, makes you wanna cry, why don't they let us in?" that I could come up with is people are trying to get into a country and they wouldn't let them in because they had drugs, but the speaker claims that it's just his medicine. This did happen to Johnny Cash when he came back to the USA from Mexico.
Also "fishing for a hook" = he did fish, and in the movie Walk the Line, he and June went fishing, she had just gotten divorced, and he was looking to start a relationship with her but she wasn't buying it so he "took a little trip" and went on tour, "opening up the book" for other girls.
The search for fame would also apply to my clearly overanalytic explanation of this song.
Also, some of the artists within RHCP covered Johnny Cash songs in the past. Yes, I know, this is probably way off, but...
Also, some of the artists within RHCP covered Johnny Cash songs in the past. Yes, I know, this is probably way off, but...