Switch Opens Lyrics
Draw your names among their ashes
Lay your children on their thrones
Gather 'round and fall right down
Everything is all right
Switch opens
Opening around and let's the garden rise
Switch is on
Where's your surgeon
Left with your
Insides open
Left your heart out
On the table
Gather 'round and fall right down
Stumbling and wander in the moonshine
Switch opens
Opening around and let's the garden rise
Switch is on
This is my favorite Soundgarden song, and i am a HUGE HUGE fan. This never really is talked about at all, especially when seeing the comments so few on so many of the best soundgarden songs.
I honestly have tried so hard to understand this song, but I can't. My best guess is that it is about just changing things. The slaves hanging the owners, the patients STOP getting surgery. Think about hollywood and how many people give up their hearts and pride just to look beautiful. "Feel the air now, stumbling and wander in the moonshine" basically is saying now that you've had surgery, feel the changes, can you live with it?
When the switch is on, things change.
yah its about role reversals, slaves for masters, children in roles of authority(thrones) do we need those above us the second verse shows that they have important roles and without those above us we would be in chaos like a patient without a surgeon left with your insides open it is a graphich description to emphasise the point that those above us have a purpose.
i am not saying u should not aim high but don't condemn those doing their jobs which can be seen as being above us. its the way of the world.
I think this song is about rising up and taking action. Not against anything in perticular, just moving forward. It's like it's your time to do something. "Hey you slaves, your switch is on. Go do somthing." I think that it's about action. "Hey you slaves, go hang your owners. It's your time." then there's the second verse. To me, it's about not doing anything. You've got your heart out on the table, and you let somebody else put it there. Why aren't you doing anything.
And then there's the chorus. I've been clueless on this part for a long time, but I'll try and take a shot. "Stumbling and wander in the moonshine" = Confusion. You don't know what to do, either because you've acted and broken free from whatever was holding you back (be it your masters, or just your daily routine). "Nothing is when everything is all right." Normal is not alright. It's nothing. It's average. It's a daily routine (like in PJ's Slight of Hand)
I think this song is about self-awakening. About coming to life. About turning your switch on, and letting the gears in your head work. It's about breaking free, and living.
To me, it's about living.
I love that second verse. The whole song has this surreal quality that makes me think it's about being confused and you just need to stop everything ("Switch opens") to figure it out.
This song, put simply, means 'waking up'. It's about changing the status quo of your own mind. Changing your perspective, sometimes painfully, in order to break free from an old, obsolete, damaging part of your own identity.
As opposed to 'closing the switch' and letting the current pass through, instead 'open the switch' and move through the gate to see what possibilities await on the other side.
It's about destroying the old familiar and stagnant in favor of the new and unknown possibilities. Kinda like being born, it's a terrifying process. But literally everything awaits on the other side of this barrier.
Just listen to the lyrics with all of that in mind and everything about this song falls into place.
this song does have a sort of surreal quality to it..that may be why i like it so much....it tends to stand out againts their other songs, but fits perfectly onto this album...i believe its about re-evaluating upon whom you rely on...
i'd guess you DO understand this song...
This song seems like it would be something some meth user would get high to but other than that this song a good song
love this song! One of my favorites of Soundgarden. Without being really specific, I think it's about making life changes.
I think this song is about fighting against oppressors. The "switch" is actually a whip. "switch opens" = a whip opens. And in the "Switch is on" part you can hear Chris doing a whipping sound.