So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Hoo, Lord
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
The farther west, the farther out
Yeah, that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
Just don't show me anything 'cause that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust
I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't kill coyotes
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
The farther west, the farther out yeah, that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse Through the Hollywood hills
Just don't tell me anything 'cause that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon Through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
The farther west, the farther out
Yeah, that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
Just don't show me anything 'cause that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust
I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't kill coyotes
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse through the Hollywood hills
The farther west, the farther out yeah, that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
Well, I'm gonna ride a saber tooth horse Through the Hollywood hills
Just don't tell me anything 'cause that's the way I feel
Well, I dig the dirt an' I dig the dust I barbecue my meals
Ridin' wild on a paisley dragon Through the Hollywood hills, yeah
Huh, Hollywood hills
Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes
He can taste his blood
An' blood never lies pale face die
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
True men don't kill coyotes
True men don't
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This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
never heard it but chilli peppers rule! so it must be good, right?
Theres obviously the struggle between native americans and white settlers (pale face die), but i think its also about the struggle to stay, for want of a better word, normal, while everything becomes the same (Hollywood), and the bands decision not to buy into the Hollywood scene (ride... THROUGH the Hollywood Hills)
@rock_bunny <br /> You are right a bit, but lacking some major detail....<br /> <br /> 14 YEARS AND I'VE RISEN FROM THE DEAD TO TELL YOU WHAT THIS SONG MEANS IN FULL.<br /> <br /> IN THE 1980's (til today), HEROIN ADDICTS HUNG IN THE HILLS. "Riding the dragon" is a colloquial phrase that means shooting dope (in this case, the PAISLEY (white skinned/scaled) dragon... Paisley means pure white... Dragon, in reference to China and the related phrase "chasing the dragon", which is to suck the escaping fumes of smoke that rise when heating dope on tin foil or a plate... The ball or little mound of powdered dope heats up and melts... Because it is hot, it has nearly no viscosity, so it moves like a bead of water, and will create trails of smoke resemblant of a "dragon's tail"... In addition, CHINA WHITE heroin is the whitest of the paisley dragons... To ride it is to feel the drug course through ones veins... Riding the dragon, one basically can't dismount... Once it goes in, it starts taking over... Chasing it is one step away, shorter lasting, and people can likely exert a greater control over it...<br /> <br /> So, we've got the fucking paisley dragon part covered... What about the sabertooth fucking horse?<br /> <br /> Well, smack is so strong that one sniff of it, one light of it, one shot of it, will put one in a daze as if they've drunk a full pint of whiskey... Or for the liars, one fifth.<br /> <br /> He equated it to "riding a sabertooth horse", because heroin makes people have opiate like dreams... So he starts the song with "HOO! LORD!", describing the rush he gets right after injection and the sudden ability of his mind to travel anywhere in space, to any fantasy...<br /> <br /> REAL MEN DON'T KILL COYOTES... Literally. The starving heroin junkies were LITERALLY EATING coyotes... and at the same time, they became the wild coyotes themselves, "Passion dripping from the coyote's eyes", perhaps an unintentional double-entendra.<br /> "He can taste his blood<br /> An' blood never lies pale face die." Right, they've infiltrated the hills, and the coyotes were sad, killed, displaced, with a bunch of heroin addict piece of shit Californians.<br /> <br /> Yes, you got thing, a hint to the Native Americans... but it is the Native in Kiedis being the only reason he summons or speaks for the Indians... He carries their spirit. Yes, to never venture into the hills but go under the bridge. The sabertooth his envisionment of the animal that could gobble up those junkies... while shooting dope himeself... That's Hollywood. It's a shit town overall.
this is a sweet ass song. i love the intro. and the part where he says "and blood never lies"... but yeah. thank you rhcp for making such awesome music. <3<3<3
kul song about anthony being part native american.
Where did you see the video cause i can't find it anywhere on the Internent??
this song is obviously saying not to kill coyotes, or hunt any animals. ired somewhere that flea is an enviromentalist, so that could be one reason 4 this song. anthony kiedes is half native american, so that too could also be a reason, and i saw an interview somewhere and flea sed that him and anthony were at a cafe when anthony randomly sed "if you shoot me i'll fall all oakey, but true men don't kill coyotes". i no that sounds dumb but i remember hearing it on an interview
Anthony wanted their first album to be named after this song, but their label wanted it to be called The Red Hot Chili Peppers. :( poor swan, sorry they didn't let you have your way, but hey that's why you can do whatever the fuck you please now!
ha i love this song so cool and cat chy the video for it is hilarious its like so cool and they are soo crazy... iwant some of that paint they have and yeh the songs pretty darn good, i really love the bass line
I know there are some interpretations about native Americans, primarily through the line 'Pale face die.'
But for me, this is a song about a man who wants to get out of the artificial life one might encounter in Hollywood. He wants to get back to the roots: Dig the dust and do barbeques in the hills.
But he seems delusional. Maybe he took some drugs because he's still not in the vast lands. He's just talking about his plans while still being stuck in his old lifestyle. After all, he wants to ride a saber tooth horse or a paisley dragon.
He's looking for the ultimate encounter of being eye to eye with a coyote hoping that this will make him a true man. But it's weird, and I think it's just a man talking big without really pulling through.
this song is amazing and catchy. its all about this incredible fantasy and the battle between native americans and white settlers "pale face die" the red hot chili peppers just rock and we'll leave it at that
this is such a classic songs, so good i say. The definate best of that album