Alice in Chains – Frogs

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  My Interpretation:Song is called Frogs because there were frogs outside the recording venue, as someone previously mentioned.. and they put them in the recording.
  
  My interpretation of this is that someone he trusted and cared about was screwing him over and lying to him. They probably partied together, would sit around and be messed up together, and this person would start bullsh*tting him. "Rapid brown avoid clear blue" is a reference to eyes. Someone with brown eyes wouldn't look him straight in the eye, kept looking elsewhere, darting away, as people do when they lie. (Layne Staley often refers to his eyes as clear blue eyes)
  
  "Why's it have to be this way" is pretty obvious. He's not happy with the way things are.
  
  The childhood verse is a reference to himself and the person he's singing about. They both went through things as children that "ruined" them.
  
  The end of the song, where he's speaking through the distorted microphone, I interpret as he's alone and talking to himself, either out loud or this is his conversation in his head. He's thinking about himself, and how he's not too old to start again, clean up, and make himself happy. "clean slate" etc. He's going to do it to "show" that person for making him upset. As in, "I'll show you!" Then they won't "fuck with me again."

  Flag herpderp1on February 07, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:My perception of the first verse is based on my own experiences.
  
  What does friend mean to you?
  A word so wrongfully abused
  Are you like me, confused
  All included but you
  Alone...
  
  It seems as if Layne was calling out for help to everyone and everyone seemed to avoid him instead of helping him with his addiction. I always questioned if jerry cantrell and Sean kinney(friends) put enough, or any effort into helping Layne with his addiction or emotional problems like his girlfriends death. I feel as though they got tired of dealing or hearing about it and simply avoided him because of his addiction/problems; leaving him to be alone with himself without.
  
  This verse reminds me of the same questions I ask myself all the time.
  Are these people really my friends? I'm feeling confused because my friends are never there when I need them. Isn't a friend supposed to be there for you?
  
  You have, so called, friends, but they are never there for you when you need them.
  It doesn't mean theyre your friend just because you hang out with them.
  All included but you is in regards to how friends can ditch you when your going through shit, when your down, and they avoid you because they dont want you to bring them down with your problems. So they never invite you when everyone is getting together. So your alone. And you feel more alone and secluded because of this. Its fucked up. This line is one I can totally understand.

  Flag DipshitAssHoleon June 24, 2012   Link

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• +1
  Song Meaning:it begins by explaining how 'friendship' is abused by people who are a-holes, because they would have to not value friendship to defile their own 'friends', also how this had happened to Layne.(alone....)'Sounds of silence" often soothe, because hes all alone 'popping' which is better than being belittled by peers his sort of escape from all the bull, things shift as his mood goes from sad,down, to high as f'in s- and what occurs during this such as: widening pupils-tends to happen only when youve been 'hit' as i like to say, then rapid brown avoid clear blue because base heroin has to be mixed w/ water and an acid so.. water being blue and heroin being brown its obviously his preparation as well. He asks why it has to be 'this way' which is over as in terms of a friendship, how he is 'confused' as to why it must end for worse.the flowers he talks about are his peers moving on, unaffected as he(outcast usually) he watches all this in fear hence wide eyes.-child sings an unclaimed tune- means originality which is obviosly him,Layne,cuz while they hate and destroy lives he can only love all people.Being a lover and not hater as his peers, his innocence(love) spins a cuccoon(barrier) blocking him from those who hate.but to be socially healthy you must reach out, which would mean conforming to others views while exposing his own which would seem off to his 'friends' as they hate rather than love, he grows to see this spread of hate young which brings him pain for the way others live.Then,again with his constant confusion to why they hate unprovoked. The end of the song f-ing clearly goes to show the situation which the broken friendship occured upon how he(layne) has much to look forward to in life but is held down by needy 'friends' how he cant sleep cuz of em and how helping them (even though they suck) will make them see error in their ways and end their hate,also how he knows they never will stay pure or loving in nature.how they must be responsible for their unconditional love and how he is betrayed once again. His fate is changed because he accepts this person through life who only f's him over then feels hate towards them because what theyve done how he never wants to see this person again, wants to start his life anew.
  THIS song is to that person that hurt layne and is titled frogs because thats how he felt after the ended friendship he could hardly 'croak' words to anyone being lonely. The end is all fragments with .... dots trailing because this is him rethinking what just happened all stoned which would make one sound tired and sort of frog-like. Basically dont be a jerk because the simplest negative idea can hurt one soo much more than the effort put into it. "Sometimes the only way, to change my day?, is to play..., inside the fray." ME-out

  Flag LTSlive69on March 28, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:Why in god's name is everyone think that this song is about heroin use and Layne talking to heroin??? First of all heroin makes your pupils constrict not dilate.... Cocaine and crack how ever do make them dilate so I think there are some references to that in there. As far as who he is speaking of I believe it to be Mike Starr again I say I think I am not 100 percent sure...He might not be speaking of or to anyone...I think that it could be a reference to him knowing that AiC is near the end...Or just the media in general when saying "dont fuck with me again...my own clean slate"...Think what you want but that is my opinion of what this song is referring to or about. But its defiantly about someone that did him wrong,cocaine and or crack...and people and life just being fucked in general.

  Flag MadSeasons358on December 11, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Well i think that this song maybe have some connect with the book: Lord of the flies...on the cd you can see a pig..something about problems with layne and jerry,or someone else because of different way of thinking,in the book you have a fight beetween two sides:Ralph who ideals society and Jack who don t who turns to inside depts and strugle with the demons that makes him crazy...head of the pig on the book...and little signature on the cd:Jack lord music....so you have this: pig in the book, pig on the cd of allice with lyrics,jack the protagonist of the book,jack lord music on the cd...and you have a movie with leonardo di caprio wich is based on idea of the book: Beach....in the film di caprio lick the frog...to fall in psihodelic trans.....so many things are very simillar to a book,i never read a book but once i saw a documentary about the book and remember abut the song...maybe is all bunch of coincidence i m not sure!

  Flag jacklordon November 18, 2010   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:I think this song is about someone being sociable and popular when they're young but then distancing themselves from people as they grow older because they're done wrong so many times.
  
  "What does friend mean to you? A word so wrongfully abused"
  -Meaning when you are young and naive, you think a lot of people are your friends when they're not. And he says next that he is confused.
  
  "Sounds of silence often soothe. Shapes and colors shift the mood"
  -It becomes more appealing to be aloof because different things you notice about people change your opinion.
  
  "Innocence spins cold coccoon. Grow to see the pain too soon"
  -When you're young and innocent, you are vulnerable to coldness because you're new to things. Having lots of bad experiences will make you grow old faster because you become more vulnerable.
  
  
  Well, this is how I see the song. I'm sure it could be interpreted several ways.

  Flag ILUVLAYNEon July 15, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:To me this song is about friends... the kind we have when we know we're doing bad things and there they are trying to show us that we are doing completely wrong. Everybody knows the drug problems Layne had and seemed that he had this so-called "friend" (A word so wrongfully abused... ) that accordin to Layne may be equally confused and alone just like he was. The references about shapes, colors and figures represent altered drugged states and the pupil being dilated I assumed it is a reference of Layne noting lies in his friend (pupil dilation is a lie detection technique), maybe not be a honest attitude.
  Layne talking about a child and innocense and saying that he's near his 28 and being "still young" probably means early problems from Layne's and a hope from him to get over them by himself.
  This friend seems to have hopes on Layne's improvement (drug problem) and says that Layne "can do it so well". Layne is upset and tells his friend "Don't fuck with me again" with this attitude (not so honest in Layne's opinion) because it "makes his pupil dilate" (lie).
  Well just my opinion...
  This is a great depressive song, one of AIC's best...
  

  Flag eye.4.an.eyeon May 27, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:The lyrics to this song have a symbolic connection with frogs. Frogs is another name for lsd and the effects of the drug are described in the song i.e. the trip is like being trapped in a cocoon, seeing colours and dilating pupils. Also frogs are symbols of the many values found in human friendship, particularly in imagery such as tattooing ( I recommend anyone reading this comment to research the symbolism of frogs as I wont be able to go further into it). This is reflected in the first line 'what does friend mean to you?', this will become clear if you decide to do what I mentioned in brackets. The topics of drugs and friends are related as drug use often caused tension between the band members, the relationship these subjects have with frogs ties the knot nicely because in some cases they are two sides of the same coin and if they were to face eachother there would be terrible consequences. The whole frog symbolism thing should bridge the gap as I have seen some differnces of opinion. I hope this comment was helpful to anyone who reads it.

  Flag MerryPocoyoon May 22, 2010   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:Do you guys think this song has anything to do with the relationship Layne had with his father?
  
  In case you do not know the story, his dad left when Layne was 8 or so. And then a few years later his mom or someone told him that his dad was dead, but Layne did not believe it so he went looking for him, without telling his family.
  
  When he found his dad, he saw he was an addict.
  
  He figured that if he became a rock star that his dad would try and find him and that is exactly what happened. Unfortunately, his dad used him for drugs and drug money and that's about the extent of their relationship.
  
  When Layne was trying to stay clean, his dad would still come by trying to score drugs or money for drugs. This also mirrors what happened with his longtime girlfriend, Demri.
  
  I was just throwing that out there to further the discussion about these lyrics and their meaning.
  
  

  Flag FogStaleyon March 15, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Looks to me like it might be about murder.
  A guy gets in a fight with another guy who used to be his friend, gets pissed off at him, see?
  
  "What does friend mean to you?
  A word so wrongfully abused
  Are you like me, confused
  All included but you
  Alone..."
  
  Then he goes and does drugs and gets completely fucked up and the great idea that that motherfucker should get fucked up for what he did.
  
  "The sounds of silence often soothe
  Shapes and colors shift with mood
  Pupils widen and change their hue
  Rapid brown avoid clear blue"
  
  
  
  "Why's it have to be this way?" Could be when he's questioning whatever he's thinking, refusing to believe the obvious truth in front of his eyes. But he learns and blooms into something darker, more sinister. He sees something beautiful but goes into a cold cocoon.
  
  "Flowers watched through wide brown eyes bloom
  A child sings an unclaimed tune
  Innocence spins cold cocoon
  Grow to see the pain too soon"
  
  He goes to confront him and ends up blowing his head off onto the wall on August 7th, and he scrapes him off the walls. He's still young, he'll live out his prison sentence. While trying to rationalize it he realizes he's still angry and decides to get high.
  
  This is all just what I get from the song. Its fucking badass. I love it.
  

  Flag tsax421on March 10, 2010   Link

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    0

    It wouldn't be August 7th. He is saying 7 AM on a Tuesday in August, and that next week he will turn 28. I looked up on a calendar for 1995, and his birthday that year (8/22/95) fell on a Tuesday, so he was speaking the week before that.

    Flag musicbankon April 05, 2010  

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    you have got to be the most ignorant person on earth.

    Flag MadSeasons358on December 11, 2010  

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