Jane's Addiction – Summertime Rolls

• 0
  My Interpretation:I always like to think of summertime rolls as just playing in the summertime in the waves. Surfing, doing drugs and being a young and lively person. This song is easily my favorite by JA and one of my favorite songs ever. The way it hits me is like a drug.

  Flag imhawton February 19, 2012   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:I listened to Jane’s Addiction in college, where in 1989 I heard this song for the first time and it blew my mind. I put this album in my top 5 all time. This song is the most intense on that record, so sublime and amazing – it comes at you in escalating waves of melody and images and power…just unreal.
  As to the “song meaning” and the purpose of this website – to interpret the meaning: This is way out there but this is one interpretation some others have agreed with me on. I think the song does quick cuts or flashbacks between two parallels. One is clearly a young man in love w/ his girlfriend, who’s nose is “painted pepper sunlight” (best-ever way to say freckles). The other one is the young man having been drafted to serve in a War. Bear with me on this…and try to keep an open mind. If you cut out the lyrics that obviously relate to his girlfriend, there are a few mysteries raised w/ lyrics that remain.
  For example, the opening paragraph, we all assume “fell into a sea of grass and disappeared among the shady blades” is another reference to playing, summer, etc, but it may be about a guy sent to Vietnam – he “fell into it” he did not choose it. “Sea of Grass” with shady blades so high that you can disappear among them? Easily could be said to be referring to the thick jungle in Vietnam.
  “The Children all ran over me screaming tag – you are the one!” Not exactly about a one-on-one loving experience w/ his girl. This could be said to be the Vietnamese children who did not know what to make of the soldiers, playing with them, maybe literally “tag” but maybe figuratively – since neither the Vietnamese children nor the American soldiers wanted to be in that pickle, pushing blame to each other regarding who started it.
  Then the lyrics change to the soldier hearkening back to his girl and their love, tripping, sandals, etc, mother’s pearl.
  Then, it switches back to Vietnam with “Yellow buttercup” (Asian children – try not to think racist in thinking of “yellow” as an Asian reference) seeing an American "helicopter", it shooting at them, suddenly they are bleeding, red blood mixes with yellow, forming Orange (orange buttercat) and the “yellow butterCUP” is now an orange “butterCAT” (cats have claws and teeth to fight). The war is making the "yellow" Asian children orange and butter cups into angry cats, now the orange buttercats are “chasing after” the flying entity that caused their pain for no reason –what is first called the helicopter is now called simply “the crazy bee mad about somebody” – which the children don’t understand. “Oh no” is how that ends.
  You may think this is out there, but how can you fit these “non-girlfriend” passages into the song when they have such imagery? And ending w/ "oh no".
  After the pain and reality of what the war is doing, the lyrics settle in permanently on the comforting images of the soldier’s love with his beautiful girlfriend. It even possibly references a return not only back to the relationship w/ her, but how they are walking naked – which could be a reference to the Adam & Eve story in the garden before they knew they were naked. The song then in effect ends up drawing the distinction between innocence/love/euphoria/eternal-life and knowledge/pain/conflict/awareness/mortality.
  Sorry, I know that is way out there and if Perry Farrell saw this he would laugh me out of the room. Maybe it’s just a song about a guy in love w/ his girl in the summertime. I am not a Vietnam vet or religious guy, just like to over analyze things, feel free to call me crazy.

  Flag adzreon June 05, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:I will never forget the first time I heard this song. Laying in bed stoned out of my mind, a mid-summer afternoon, everything outside deep lush green, this song was like a trance, I felt like I was slipping inside of it. The song definitely has a serene summer feeling to it, one of my favorites.

  Flag peppersunlighton June 24, 2010   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:this song is about the greatest feeling of love. It makes you feel at peace and powerful at the same time. Its probably talking about the love of perry and xiola likely

  Flag boozer11on August 17, 2008   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:perry knows what its like to cruise!

  Flag the jackalon November 14, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• -1
  General Comment:I'm with sci-fi too on this. If there's a heaven in the afterlife, this would be its theme.

  Flag oceansize86on June 20, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:i have always thought about perry and some chick ,, tripping in the park, just have a nice summer time day

  Flag ripfrippon March 14, 2006   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:The title of this song, and the lyrics, remind me distinctly of Ecstacy. The slang for X around here (North Carolina) is "Rolls"...and the best ones come in the Summer. The lyrics kind of represent a feeling you'd get from X...so this is either a weird coincidence, or my fucked up interpretation. And even though I'd never listen to Jane's Addiction while rolling (usually listen to DieselBoy)...great song for memories.

  Flag Filthon March 02, 2005   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:i was young, i was madly in love, it was summer of 1988. this song always takes me back to that time. i just love simging along to this song!

  Flag icexeon November 19, 2004   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• -1
  General Comment:I am now 33 years old. I started to listen to Jane's around 1991(13 years ago). They are by far in my top 5 favorite bands of all time. To this day this song almost HURTS in my chest because it's so incredible. No matter what I feel like, if I listen to this, I'm transported to another place........

  Flag IAmSciFion September 23, 2004   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!