This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
The chromosomes divide,
multiply and thrive
And the strong survive,
and the strong survive
And a spaceman fucked an ape
then cut out on the date
and now it's much too late
The space ship has escaped
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
The chromosomes divide,
multiply and thrive
And the strong survive
And the strong survive
And the grandson of an alien
wears his snake skin boots
And shows his reptile roots
He shows his reptile roots
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
Boom tick tick
and who skipped
the long play
Who skipped the record
and who amped what you say
I want to sing a song that's my own
I want to the DJ
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
And it's alright,
It's a long night,
a long night,
It's a long night
multiply and thrive
And the strong survive,
and the strong survive
And a spaceman fucked an ape
then cut out on the date
and now it's much too late
The space ship has escaped
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
The chromosomes divide,
multiply and thrive
And the strong survive
And the strong survive
And the grandson of an alien
wears his snake skin boots
And shows his reptile roots
He shows his reptile roots
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
Boom tick tick
and who skipped
the long play
Who skipped the record
and who amped what you say
I want to sing a song that's my own
I want to the DJ
We're lacking something,
something good
Is this all for nothing,
Show me the goods,
something good
And it's alright,
It's a long night,
a long night,
It's a long night
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Darwin Lyrics as written by Stephan Jenkins Arion Salazar
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Just A Little Lovin'
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None of this shit is about finding God, people. Stephan's an atheist, and this song, I think, is about coming to terms with that atheism, realizing that the world isn't magical, and in a way that kind of sucks, but that's just how it is.
"And the grandson of an alien wears his snakeskin boots And shows his reptile roots"
That seems to be somewhat of a Bowie reference to me.
Surprised nobody commented on the last two minutes of the song... 18:50 there's a 2 minute ending to the song. Lyrics are kind of hard to understand, but it's pretty awesome nonetheless.
I believe the end of this song is an add on to the end of "The Red Summer Sun". The end of that song is very much alike this one, most of the words are even the same.
I want to be the DJ! Life is really simple but humans really like to complicate everything. Money, and economies and politics. It all comes down to happiness, you just need to ask yourself, are you happy?
Are you sure this proves he believes in evolution? I kind of interpreted it as being a questioning of evolution. Like it is too simple or something. A feeling that there has to be something more, or a reason for life.
Just like to be the nerby biology student and say he's got his evolutionism mixed up. Chromosomes multiply or replicate, THEN they divide, not the other way around.
Wow I'm such a geek.
this song is saying that extra terrestrials came to earth, mated with early humans, "and the strong survive", forming who we are today. im taking this literally, but i honestly believe that evolution did have a huge part in life and will continue too but we jumped millions of years, a sort of blurry "gap" occured, it doesn't add up correctly according to scientists and the bones they've discovered. im convinced that aliens had an enormous part in making us who we are today, and i absolutely love third eye blind, so this song just makes my life happy
? aliens..? wtf
Yup Yup
ignorance is bliss
lolsydneyy...Bingo! I am totally with you.
If you look up the meaning of what the third eye is, then you know what the name Third Eye Blind means as well.
In Genesis 6, the Nephilim are spoken of, and how they procreated with the "daughters of man" on the times when they were on earth. The Ancient Sumerian texts have more records of creating "Edama" in their image using surrogate mothers with the cross breeding between their kind and the Genus Species that is known to us today as "Homo Erectus". Then they took off in their flying "Shems" and have actual artistic murals of things that look like space ships. Zecharia Sitchin may not be correct on every translation for Sumerian Sanskrit, but I believe he is spot on for most of it. It's all starting to come out on discovery channel and history channel around Christmas time about how the Angels may have been extraterrestrials...also that these angels and "God" spoke directly to mankind, and God says "man has become like one us" in genesis 4 (I think). It's all there in the old testament. I have been reading on this stuff since I was 19 and I am about to be 31 in a few days...so 12 years. Been reading on this stuff for a long time. The books Holy Blood Holy Grail and the Messianic Legacy, have had one line here and there mentioning things relating to those Sumerian gods and biblical ties with them as well as their ties with Jerusalem and the time of Jesus...and the Knights Templar and the FreeMasons as well. Also, the Kolbrin Bible which is another collection of stories of creation and destruction written by the Celts, talks about "Heavenman" being reborn of the "she-ape" in the Cavern of Woe. Homo Sapiens made an evolutionary jump of being apes to humans in 35,000 years which is an evolutionary milisecond, and they keep thinking they find the link only to find humans living simultaneously with these other humanoid primates. It's all written in history, one must be open to it's understanding. Third eye blind has been one of my favorite bands since I was in high school, and their music can never get old to me.
I was reading a little bit about 3EB and it occurred to me what the ending of this song means. First off, I look back and wish S Jenkins and K Cadogan wouldn't have split up, because their best work came from these two. But Cadogan was kicked out of the band because he wouldn't agree to accept $1 Mil from the record company to come out with an EP centered around Slow Motion with lyrics.
Boom tick tick who skipped the long play Cadogan skipped the EP who skipped the record and who amped what you say? Jenkins saying why is cadogan's voice more important than the rest of the band I want to sing a song that's my own, I want to be the DJ Jenkins wants control of the music-doesn't want a partnership
So in the end Cadogan is kicked out of the band and Jenkins becomes the main creative force in the band, which sucks because they were so great with the two together.
This song is an expression of disenchantment with life. When you break down human existence to the smallest level, its just multiply and divide. He's wondering, "Is this all for nothing?" Theres also a satiric fantasy of the human race being created by extraterrestrials impregnating apes. The references to skipping records and skipping the long play are about an almighty being (God) who runs the discoteque of life from above. He expresses desires to create something as well, maybe thats the good thing he's lacking.