Dead Flowers Lyrics
In your silk upholstered chair
Talking to some rich folk that you know
Well I hope you won't see me
In my ragged company
You know I could never be alone
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave
In your rose pink cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day
I'll be in my basement room
With a needle and a spoon
And another girl can take my pain away
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the US mail
Say it with dead flowers at my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave
No I won't forget to put roses on your grave
I could see how the "dead flowers" thing can be interpreted as junk use, though I don't think this song's about that.
I think the song is about someone who thinks they're above you, treating you like shit at every turn, hence the " send me dead flowers in the morning, by the mail, at my wedding ", basically saying at every opportunity this person is sending an insult to the reciever. To send someone flowers is generally taken as a message of love, beauty and vitality, where to send someone "dead" flowers is a message of completely the opposite, one of disdain, negativity and contempt, and insult on the lower ebb of things.
And the resolution of the song is in the lyric " and I wont forget to put roses on your grave ". Basically a way of saying " screw you " but with class. The writer is saying two things : He is going to outlive the subject and he's not going to lose his class and/or integrity and will still put "roses" on their grave.
There's my 2c anyway. One of my all-time fav. stones tracks! :)
I think this explanation is best. She insults him over and over and he promises to return the favor.
I think this explanation is best. She insults him over and over and he promises to return the favor.
I really agree w/ 99% of this, but I think that the 'dead flowers' (have you ever sent live flowers? you can't, once they are picked, they are dead) are not an insult, but the speaker's way of mocking the idea of courtly love. live is meant to be enjoyed, but Susie's notions of love consist of unimaginative gifts of flowers, rather than a living flower (herself)
I really agree w/ 99% of this, but I think that the 'dead flowers' (have you ever sent live flowers? you can't, once they are picked, they are dead) are not an insult, but the speaker's way of mocking the idea of courtly love. live is meant to be enjoyed, but Susie's notions of love consist of unimaginative gifts of flowers, rather than a living flower (herself)
@gretsch54 Yeah, i am inclined to agree with you. I have actually been in this position before, sans the needle and the spoon in favor of ones' olfactus, but very little else was different. Women and even friends or acquaintances such as this are a real drag to be around and I suspect he was trying to get that message out vis a vi his feelings for her. It seems as though his former, what I assume to be former, as it ain't much of a leap, is a snob, a real loud mouth, up the nose bore. He is telling...
@gretsch54 Yeah, i am inclined to agree with you. I have actually been in this position before, sans the needle and the spoon in favor of ones' olfactus, but very little else was different. Women and even friends or acquaintances such as this are a real drag to be around and I suspect he was trying to get that message out vis a vi his feelings for her. It seems as though his former, what I assume to be former, as it ain't much of a leap, is a snob, a real loud mouth, up the nose bore. He is telling her that as he has no doubt had his last dose of criticism from this woman and hopes never to see her darken his door again, a thought that he apparently deems rather pleasant judging by the upbeat tenor of the tune compared to, let's say, Star Fucker. Now that's one where a particular broad left a bad taste in somebody's mouth or mind or all of the above! It is however another superb Rolling Stones Song. Nobody makes music like the Stones and no one ever will, particularly if you throw in their longevity. In closing, I recall riding in my Dad's car and The Last Time came on the radio, my Dad was mighty cool, definitely not a radio nazi, however nor was he a rock and roller, and remember this is being played contemporaneously so it's roughly 1964, and my Dad says they're not too bad but they won't last, in two years you wont remember the name. I always kidded him about that, them being my favorite band my entire life, even when he was 93 years old in the hospital we joked about the day before he passed on. Good band, great Dad.
yeah i love this song. i can play it aswell. i always sing it bitterly, not on purpose. i think its like 'you can have a perfect life and ignore me. your lucky you dont have pain to numb by harming yourself'(heroin and casual sex). favorite part of the song is 'I'll be in my basement room With a needle and a spoon And another girl can take my pain away'.
This song is Keith Richard's "ode to heroin."
"Little Susie" is a reference to the "brown-eyed susan" which is a metaphor for brown heroin, one of the more common forms of the opiate.
"Roses" is yet another flower which has been used as a metaphor or "street slang" for many years to allude to heroin.
"Dead Flowers" in general means "poppies which have been harvested and from which the opiate has been derived."
The power of heroin to kill pain is legendary -including the emotional pain from a broken relationship.
In the 1960's and 70's one way to deliver heroin was to place small amounts in a letter and use the US Postal System. Back then, before the days of technology to detect narcotics in the mail, and in the days when the American political system actually observed people's rights to 4th amendment privacy, heroin could be sent through the mail virtually risk-free to either the sender or the receiver.
"Dead Flowers" actually has to do with Keith's buddy Gram Parsons' wife sending him flowers while he was in England. By the time they tracked him down, the flowers were, of course, dead. I remember reading this from perhaps the book by Rolling Stone editor and writer Ben Fong-Torres. Maybe another source? Anyway both Keith and Gram found it funny.
"Dead Flowers" actually has to do with Keith's buddy Gram Parsons' wife sending him flowers while he was in England. By the time they tracked him down, the flowers were, of course, dead. I remember reading this from perhaps the book by Rolling Stone editor and writer Ben Fong-Torres. Maybe another source? Anyway both Keith and Gram found it funny.
Um, I know this is a 5 year old post, but it needs to be said, Little Susie/Brown-Eyes Susan are not terms associated with H. Neither is "roses". I think you're really stretching here. While yes, there is a common drug theme throughout the entire song, you cannot make up drug slang on the spot. First thing to remember, is this is a country song. It was written with the intention of being played as a straight country song. I think you'll have more luck finding a reason for "Susie" keeping that in mind. You didn't mention "another girl can...
Um, I know this is a 5 year old post, but it needs to be said, Little Susie/Brown-Eyes Susan are not terms associated with H. Neither is "roses". I think you're really stretching here. While yes, there is a common drug theme throughout the entire song, you cannot make up drug slang on the spot. First thing to remember, is this is a country song. It was written with the intention of being played as a straight country song. I think you'll have more luck finding a reason for "Susie" keeping that in mind. You didn't mention "another girl can take my pain away", which is a direct heroin reference (golden girl).
Just listen to the song, the "too good" girl left the bad boy. She thought she was the queen of the underground, ie slumming it. She's gone, and the junkies are left self medicating like they always do. The lyrics don't seem full of hidden meaning, it seems straight forward, and (side note) I've definitely been in the same spot from which the narration comes... nonetheless, beautiful song.
I think it's quite straightforward too -though I'm not entirely sure that what I'm understanding is right- rather than it having a hidden meaning. But I have to say that to me it doesn't seem like she's left him rather he left her, otherwise, if he was so in love with her, why would he be saying "send me dead flowers to my wedding" and then "say it with dead flowers at my wedding", like she's pissed off at him? Although he does say he won't forget to put roses on her grave, to me it seems that what he's trying to...
I think it's quite straightforward too -though I'm not entirely sure that what I'm understanding is right- rather than it having a hidden meaning. But I have to say that to me it doesn't seem like she's left him rather he left her, otherwise, if he was so in love with her, why would he be saying "send me dead flowers to my wedding" and then "say it with dead flowers at my wedding", like she's pissed off at him? Although he does say he won't forget to put roses on her grave, to me it seems that what he's trying to say is that she will die before him because she's in deeper shit than he is. Also the red roses thing plus the "rich folk that you know" plus the "rose pink cadillac" make it sound like she's rich, an actress maybe.
To me it sounds like they're both junkies, and he's going to marry someone else, which is why she's sending him dead flowers, as if she's really hurt about it and hates him for it.
Again, I might be completely wrong about this, but it makes sense to me... If you think there's something I'm missing here please point it out; I would really like to know exactly what the song is about. And I agree, BEAUTIFUL song!
i think it's about him being rejected by a girl who thinks she's better than him because she's rich & upperclass. & no matter how much she thinks she's better than him & sticks her nose up to him, he'll always care abt her, so he turns to heroin to take the pain away. :/
This and Wild Horses are my two favorite Stones songs. I think this song is about someone who changed, like now they think they're better than a former lover or someone like that. But the two still kind of have a connection. I don't know, I'm probably wrong.
There are many songs credited to "Jagger-Richards" that were in fact written entirely by Keith Richards. I'm not sure if this is one of them but I suspect it is. I do know that the country turn they took in this song and a couple from Exile on Main St. were inspired by Keith's best friend at the time Gram Parsons.
I am a city feller transplanted in Arkansas. I always thought it would be hilarious if a DJ would slip this song into the middle of a classic country set. It is so country-western, but with these drug laced sarcastic laconic words and un-middle-american images. It also reminds me of a friend who strangely use(s)(d) needles, loves women, lived some time in Kentucky, and loves horses/gambling. He is smart, funny and "gets it" but is a real puzzle with the Thanatos thing. I always think about John for a minute when I hear this song...It is probably about as good as any great country-western song and that is just a side-line for the Stones!
i just recently discovered this song, and my first impression was that the term "dead flowers" is something like a girl saying "s still care about you, but i not enough to be with you." a dead flower. a nice gesture, but worthless in the long run. thats why he says "ill be in my basement room, with a needle and a spoon, and another girl can take my pain away." my impression was that the whole thing was that a girl thought it wouldnt work because they are from different sides of the track, but she still loves him, just not enough to get by that fact.
This doesn't sound very sweet... It's kinda mean of him to tell her he won't forget to put roses on her grave. How can he be sure she's going to die first? I think he's practically wishing her to die.
I don't think its meant to be sweet at all. Who would send their lover dead flowers? I agree with you, I think he is essentially saying that he is going to live a long, fulfilled life and return to place roses on her grave, which is a symbolic victory
I don't think its meant to be sweet at all. Who would send their lover dead flowers? I agree with you, I think he is essentially saying that he is going to live a long, fulfilled life and return to place roses on her grave, which is a symbolic victory
@Marquez My aunt at ages 79 went to her first love to put some roses in his grave. He didn´t have a right closure. They got married have a family but she never forgot him. Til this year when she tried to look for him to have that closure, she realize he was dead since 20 years ago. She keep thinking on him almost her whole life. She was crying just there, I was next to her. So it doesn´t seem that it could have just one meaning. It depends on.
@Marquez My aunt at ages 79 went to her first love to put some roses in his grave. He didn´t have a right closure. They got married have a family but she never forgot him. Til this year when she tried to look for him to have that closure, she realize he was dead since 20 years ago. She keep thinking on him almost her whole life. She was crying just there, I was next to her. So it doesn´t seem that it could have just one meaning. It depends on.
I could be wrong but girl is another very old (like me) slang for heroin,. so "another girl to take my pain away" is pretty obvious
@81lowrider we always called it boy. And if asking for girl would get speed.
@81lowrider we always called it boy. And if asking for girl would get speed.
@81lowrider Could be that - but it also could be literal.
@81lowrider Could be that - but it also could be literal.