This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Starin' at the boob tube, turnin' on the big knob
Tryin' to find some life in the waste land
Fin'ly found a program, gonna deal with Mary Jane
Ready for a trip into hate land
Obnoxious Joe comes on the screen
Along with his guest self-righteous Sam
And one more guy who doesn't count
His hair and clothes are too far out
While pushin' back his glasses Sam is sayin' casually
"I was elected by the masses"
And with that in mind he starts to unwind
A vicious attack on the finest of grasses
Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight, alright)
Misinformation Sam and Joe
Are feeding to the nation
But the one who didn't count counted them out
By exposing all their false quotations
Faced by a very awkward situation
This is all he'd say to save the day
Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight alright)
You waste my coin Sam, all you can
To jail my fellow man
For smoking all the noble weed
You need much more than him
You've been telling lies so long
Some believe they're true
So they close their eyes to things
You have no right to do
Just as soon as you are gone
Hope will start to climb
Please don't stay around too long
You're wasting precious time
Tryin' to find some life in the waste land
Fin'ly found a program, gonna deal with Mary Jane
Ready for a trip into hate land
Obnoxious Joe comes on the screen
Along with his guest self-righteous Sam
And one more guy who doesn't count
His hair and clothes are too far out
While pushin' back his glasses Sam is sayin' casually
"I was elected by the masses"
And with that in mind he starts to unwind
A vicious attack on the finest of grasses
Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight, alright)
Misinformation Sam and Joe
Are feeding to the nation
But the one who didn't count counted them out
By exposing all their false quotations
Faced by a very awkward situation
This is all he'd say to save the day
Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight alright)
You waste my coin Sam, all you can
To jail my fellow man
For smoking all the noble weed
You need much more than him
You've been telling lies so long
Some believe they're true
So they close their eyes to things
You have no right to do
Just as soon as you are gone
Hope will start to climb
Please don't stay around too long
You're wasting precious time
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This song is pretty straightforward. Steppenwolf is criticising the U.S. government for making marijuana use illegal.
Catchy song, by the way...
It's a shame that we're still eating the same bullshit forty years later.
yeah i totally agree with hammer. This song is about how some government dick-weed (sam refrencing uncle sam) starts spewing out lies about how grass is adicting abd it will corupt america....What an ass. Thye should be worrying about real drugs like extacy, crack, and heroin.
If you liked Steppenwolf's original version... then you'd absolutely love the version with Warren Haynes (Govt Mule)!! It really does do this song a little justice! In my opinion anyway...
When Gov't Mule played this tune, Warren Haynes' guitar tech, Brian Farmer, would lead the audience in the call-and-response chorus march across the stage during the with signs with the lyrics printed on them. Brian passed away a couple days ago, but I'll always associate this tune with him.
thats true hammerhead..... I cant believe I'm the second comment!
Hammer's got it all the way
I love this song, really just pumps me up on my views on weed and makes want to flip off the government for misjudging all the truth about weed
'Obnoxious Joe' refers to Joe Pyne, TV and radio show host. Sam refers to LA Mayor Sam Yorty. What I do not remember is who the "guy who does't count" refers to. But the song is about a Joe Pyne show where marijuana was discussed.
Surprised nobody has mentioned the hilarious ending of this song, with a faux police raid bursting into the recording studio where the song's being recorded. Complete with the studio engineer barking at the cops to "get out", and a woman screaming in fake shock as the cops bust their way into the toilet room where she's frantically flushing the pot down the drain.
Well,we’ll,y’all, why hasn’t this song been the national anthem for legalizing weed from the beginning? I remember when this song came out on Steppenwolf’s 2nd album ( with magic carpet ride), one of the first albums I bought. Anybody remember The Pusher? I heard them about 5 years ago (2015), and they sounded better than back in the day! If you wuz a long haired freaky people you loved this song! I wuz and I did. Somebody needs to play this song to the pres, Congress, and the DEA, and ask them,”ain’t it about time y’all figure out what he’s talkin’ a-bout!!!!!!!