(The truth is, I thought it mattered)
(I thought that music mattered)
(But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter)
(We'll be singing, when we're winning, we'll be singing)

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

(Pissing the night away, pissing the night away)
He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
(Oh Danny Boy, Danny Boy, Danny Boy)

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

(Pissing the night away, pissing the night away)
He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
(Don't cry for me, next door neighbor)

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (ooh)

I get knocked down (we'll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we're winning)

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Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery, edited by kenneth115

Tubthumping Lyrics as written by Nigel Hunter Judith Abbott

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Tubthumping song meanings

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50 Comments

+6
General Comment
This is the text for this song that was ommitted from the North American version of the "Tubthumper" album: "Tubthumping" is Shouting to Change The World (then having a drink to celebrate).It's stumbling home from your local bar, when the world is ready to be PUT RIGHT... "Don't let my unseriousness make you think it isn't serious..." --Phil, anti-road protestor; From The Observer, January 1997 "It is essential to be drunk all the time. That's all: there's no other problem. If you do not want to feel the appalling weight of Time which breaks your shoulders and bends you to the ground, get drunk, and drunk again. What with? Wine, poetry, or being good, please yourself. But get drunk. And if now and then, on the steps of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the glum loneliness of your room, you come to, your drunken state abated or dissolved, ask the wind, ask the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, ask all that runs away, all that groans, all that wheels, all that sings, all that speaks, what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, will tell you: 'It is time to get drunk!' If you do not want to be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk, always get drunk! With wine, with poetry or with being good. As you please." --Charles Baudelaire, 1866 "I declare a permanent state of happiness" --Grafitti, Paris 1968 "DRUNKENNESS, noun: A temporary but popular cure for Catholicism." --Charles T Sprading "Knock hard, life is deaf." --Mimi Parent Yorkshire TV Interviewer: "It's said that you're sick on stage, you spit at the audience and so on. I mean, how could this be a good example to children?" Malcolm McLaren: "People are sick everywhere. People are sick and tired of this country telling them what to do." --YTV, 1976 "Don't let the bastards grind you down." --Joseph Stilwell, translation of 'Illegitimati non carborundum' "In 1990 McDonalds sued two London Greenpeace activists, David Steele and Helen Morris, for distributing a leaflet critical of McDonalds. The two were denied both legal aid and a jury trial; and it was quickly revealed that McDonalds had used spies to collect information on them before the trial. The trial became the longest in British legal history. Despite the Judge ruling against the McLibel Two - but awarding McDonalds only a tiny fraction of their costs - the trial showed that two anarchists could take on one of the biggest capitalist corporations in the world and come out with the vast majority of public opinion on their side. This, in effect, was where the trial was won - as a showcase victory for the notion of People Against Profit." --Sally Skull, 1997 "I'm a human being and I've got thoughts and secrets and bloody life inside me that he doesn't know is there, and he'll never know what's there because he's stupid. I suppose you'll laugh at this, me saying the governer's a stupid bastard when I know hardly how to write and he can read and write and add-up like a professor. But what I say is true right enough. He's stupid, and I'm not, because I can see further into the likes of him than he can see into the likes of me. Admitted, we're both cunning, but I'm more cunning and I'll win in the end even if I die in gaol at eighty-two, because I'll have more fun and fire out of my life than he'll ever got out of his." --Alan Sillitoe, from 'Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner', 1959

This is the text for this song that was ommitted from the North American version of the "Tubthumper" album: "Tubthumping" is Shouting to Change The World (then having a drink to celebrate).It's stumbling home from your local bar, when the world is ready to be PUT RIGHT... "Don't let my unseriousness make you think it isn't serious..." --Phil, anti-road protestor; From The Observer, January 1997 "It is essential to be drunk all the time. That's all: there's no other problem. If you do not want to feel the appalling weight of Time which breaks your shoulders and bends you to the ground, get drunk, and drunk again. What with? Wine, poetry, or being good, please yourself. But get drunk. And if now and then, on the steps of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the glum loneliness of your room, you come to, your drunken state abated or dissolved, ask the wind, ask the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, ask all that runs away, all that groans, all that wheels, all that sings, all that speaks, what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, will tell you: 'It is time to get drunk!' If you do not want to be the martyred slaves of Time, get drunk, always get drunk! With wine, with poetry or with being good. As you please." --Charles Baudelaire, 1866 "I declare a permanent state of happiness" --Grafitti, Paris 1968 "DRUNKENNESS, noun: A temporary but popular cure for Catholicism." --Charles T Sprading "Knock hard, life is deaf." --Mimi Parent Yorkshire TV Interviewer: "It's said that you're sick on stage, you spit at the audience and so on. I mean, how could this be a good example to children?" Malcolm McLaren: "People are sick everywhere. People are sick and tired of this country telling them what to do." --YTV, 1976 "Don't let the bastards grind you down." --Joseph Stilwell, translation of 'Illegitimati non carborundum' "In 1990 McDonalds sued two London Greenpeace activists, David Steele and Helen Morris, for distributing a leaflet critical of McDonalds. The two were denied both legal aid and a jury trial; and it was quickly revealed that McDonalds had used spies to collect information on them before the trial. The trial became the longest in British legal history. Despite the Judge ruling against the McLibel Two - but awarding McDonalds only a tiny fraction of their costs - the trial showed that two anarchists could take on one of the biggest capitalist corporations in the world and come out with the vast majority of public opinion on their side. This, in effect, was where the trial was won - as a showcase victory for the notion of People Against Profit." --Sally Skull, 1997 "I'm a human being and I've got thoughts and secrets and bloody life inside me that he doesn't know is there, and he'll never know what's there because he's stupid. I suppose you'll laugh at this, me saying the governer's a stupid bastard when I know hardly how to write and he can read and write and add-up like a professor. But what I say is true right enough. He's stupid, and I'm not, because I can see further into the likes of him than he can see into the likes of me. Admitted, we're both cunning, but I'm more cunning and I'll win in the end even if I die in gaol at eighty-two, because I'll have more fun and fire out of my life than he'll ever got out of his." --Alan Sillitoe, from 'Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner', 1959

Reason:

king nothing2on April 15, 2004 Link
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@king nothing2
+4
General Comment
Everyone has their own interpretation when it comes to music. Some may think this song is about drinking but to me it is quite different. As a recovering alcoholic I do tend to fail from time to time. During these times i feel that there is no hope for me to ever recover. "I get knocked down, But I get up again. You're never going to keep me down" is pretty much how it goes for me. It more or less is me saying to the world that you will never keep me down. I won't give up.

Everyone has their own interpretation when it comes to music. Some may think this song is about drinking but to me it is quite different. As a recovering alcoholic I do tend to fail from time to time. During these times i feel that there is no hope for me to ever recover. "I get knocked down, But I get up again. You're never going to keep me down" is pretty much how it goes for me. It more or less is me saying to the world that you will never keep me down. I won't give up.

Reason:

mike4321on December 11, 2008 Link
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@mike4321
+3
My Interpretation
It's about a sincere believer in an ideology that is no longer mainstream, like socialism or anarchism. Maybe a former dock or factory worker that was layed off during the Thatcher years. But he's still convinced he can win against the 'powers that be', they'll never 'keep him down'. But deep down he knows he's lost it, and so he pisses the night away as an alcoholic old man in a new era dominated by neoliberalism.

It's about a sincere believer in an ideology that is no longer mainstream, like socialism or anarchism. Maybe a former dock or factory worker that was layed off during the Thatcher years. But he's still convinced he can win against the 'powers that be', they'll never 'keep him down'. But deep down he knows he's lost it, and so he pisses the night away as an alcoholic old man in a new era dominated by neoliberalism.

Reason:

Delmothoson June 14, 2012 Link
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@Delmothos

@Delmothos
(The truth is, I thought it mattered)
(I thought that music mattered)
(But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter)
(We'll be singing, when we're winning, we'll be singing)

That is someone waking up and noticing that the mindset and all the goods and services that neoliberalism brought to society were not a blessing.

Baconpieon May 02, 2022

@Delmothos
(The truth is, I thought it mattered)
(I thought that music mattered)
(But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter)
(We'll be singing, when we're winning, we'll be singing)

That is someone waking up and noticing that the mindset and all the goods and services that neoliberalism brought to society were not a blessing.

Baconpieon May 02, 2022
+2
General Comment
yeah, i liked this song, even when it was really popular. weird that it's about getting really drunk though. haha

yeah, i liked this song, even when it was really popular. weird that it's about getting really drunk though. haha

Reason:

weezerific:cutleryon June 14, 2002 Link
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@weezerific:cutlery
+1
General Comment
it's about spending a whole week in the work force and then letting go on the weekend. this is a political band, i think they accidentally got on the radio.

it's about spending a whole week in the work force and then letting go on the weekend. this is a political band, i think they accidentally got on the radio.

Reason:

phaty4on March 22, 2003 Link
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@phaty4
+1
General Comment
The-8, YOU IDIOT! "Danny Boy" is the song thats played @ funerals!

The-8, YOU IDIOT! "Danny Boy" is the song thats played @ funerals!

Reason:

Gothic Kingon April 27, 2003 Link
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@Gothic King
+1
General Comment
whoa!!! this song used to be pretty big. and i had no idea those were the lyrics. :o

whoa!!! this song used to be pretty big. and i had no idea those were the lyrics. :o

Reason:

severalwayson June 24, 2007 Link
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@severalways
+1
General Comment
Damn I remember when I was younger and this played all the time. Everyone loved this song just cause its so catchy and a good song. They even around anymore?

Damn I remember when I was younger and this played all the time. Everyone loved this song just cause its so catchy and a good song. They even around anymore?

Reason:

SilverSainton August 13, 2007 Link
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@SilverSaint
+1
General Comment
Does anyone not see that this is in the viewpoint of the Irish? "Danny Boy" is a traditional Irish song from father to son. "I get knocked down but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down"--this is the Irish through and through. They keep fighting the British off. "Don't cry for me next door neighbor" is a satirical message to the British, who are the Irish neighbors, saying don't waste you're tears on me...oh wait, you never did because you keep trying to overrule us.

Does anyone not see that this is in the viewpoint of the Irish? "Danny Boy" is a traditional Irish song from father to son. "I get knocked down but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down"--this is the Irish through and through. They keep fighting the British off. "Don't cry for me next door neighbor" is a satirical message to the British, who are the Irish neighbors, saying don't waste you're tears on me...oh wait, you never did because you keep trying to overrule us.

Reason:

dandoruinnon September 20, 2007 Link
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@dandoruinn
+1
General Comment
I can't help but think of a bloke who gets into a fight at his local pub. He gets his arse beat, but still comes back for more. *grin* I can't say that this is what the song is about, but it sure does bring up that image. And with the musical interludes such as Danny Boy...well, how many people do you know only sing when they are totally drunk? I can think of a few. *giggle* You have to love the imagery this song leaves. That and the fact that it is now going to be stuck in my head for the rest the day. (LOL!)

I can't help but think of a bloke who gets into a fight at his local pub. He gets his arse beat, but still comes back for more. *grin* I can't say that this is what the song is about, but it sure does bring up that image. And with the musical interludes such as Danny Boy...well, how many people do you know only sing when they are totally drunk? I can think of a few. *giggle* You have to love the imagery this song leaves. That and the fact that it is now going to be stuck in my head for the rest the day. (LOL!)

Reason:

ladygraceon August 15, 2009 Link
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@ladygrace