Lyrics for 1979 as interpreted by Ice

1979 Lyrics
Shakedown 1979
Cool kids never have the time
On a live wire right up off the street
You and I should meet

Junebug skipping like a stone
With the headlights pointed at the dawn
We were sure we'd never see an end
To it all

And I don't even care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest to dust
I guess forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below

Double cross the vacant and the bored
They're not sure just what we have in store
Morphine city slippin dues
Down to see

That we don't even care
As restless as we are
We feel the pull
In the land of a thousand guilts
And poured cement
Lamented and assured
To the lights and towns below
Faster than the speed of sound
Faster than we thought we'd go
Beneath the sound of hope

Justine never knew the rules
Hung down with the freaks and the ghouls
No apologies ever need be made
I know you better than you fake it

To see that we don't care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest to dust
I guess forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below

The street heats the urgency of sound
As you can see there's no one around


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TREXOR
04-14-2005

Rated 0 
wha..?

justine was hanged for something she didn't do, "no apologies ever need be made" is something an outcast is saying to the "non-outcasts". justine and others will suffer for being misunderstood at times, but billy is saying he's not going to let it get him down. everyone has to die sometime, so he's just going to live and be himself. "i know you better than you fake it" is saying that he sees through the people who misunderstand him. the song is an anthem saying, "go ahead, conform to your world all you want, you can even try to pressure me to conform to it, i don't care"

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Lunarlife
04-15-2005

Rated 0 
sic n twisted

My sister loves the smashing pumpkins, one reason I got into them.
Guess what year she was born in?

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dorito
06-14-2005

Rated 0 
Ok, i picked this song apart line by line last night. I might be completely wrong bu heres what i think it means-

The main point of this song is not kids having fun, but growing up. "shakedown 1919", leave 1979, move on. "Cool kids never had the time", the cool kids didnt gro up because hey were to busy hanging out/groin to parties. "On a live... should meet", maybe going to a party? Or just hooking up, still not growing up.

"With headlights pointed at the dawn" looking towards the future ? "We were... end to it all" - same thing as other people have said, good times would never end etc etc.

"and u din't... zipper blues" - this one i couldnt rally figure out. Could be about clothes, mood, drugs, or sex. Either one you pick song still means the same thing.

"and we don't... our bones.. earth below" - Not having a plan for the future.

"double cross... the store" - Ok well this one im completely guessing on, double crossing the vacant/empty and the bored could mean that the speaker will bring excitement, in some way.

"we feel... thousand guilts" - tempted to do wrong things? Land of a thousand guilts could also be hell.

"faster than we... sound of hope" - life went by too fast, what they wished for didnt happen.

"justine never knew the rules" - justine made bad decisions, "hung down.. the ghouls" - Life didnt turn out well for her because of the people she hung out with.

"to see that we don't care to shake these zipper... into the earth below" - The speaker/his friends hasn't changed into and adult

What i came up with when i forgot the whole song and just concentrated on the lines. Im only 15 so i might not know enough about music/english/billy corgan so any critisism is welcome ;)

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ZeroGenerator
06-18-2005

Rated 0 
This song for me is one of those songs that sums up feelings for a certain time in your life, at the moment, this is it. Before it's been stuff like No surprises by radiohead, so here we are by bloc party. I think it might just be about Billy as a teenager, but i could be wrong. and i agree with alot of what dorito said

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aicdirt27
06-21-2005

Rated 0 
i hope people go to mtv.com to read the news that Billy is getting the Smashing pumpkins back together!..finally some new in the rock world.

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vincent h.
06-24-2005

Rated 0 
I just rediscovered this song, and it is so great. Definitely one of the best songs of the 90's. I bought this CD in 1995 when I was 11 yrs old and hated it (except for Tonight, Tonight) but recently got it again on a whim and can't believe how good it is. Not as brilliant as Gish or Siamese Dream IMO, but for a double album, it's great.

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iluvusp
06-25-2005

Rated 0 
i think 4 me, it is growing up in a small town. Being confussed about growing up. the ultimate summer song. It about being bored having nothing to do with your life. and going with the flow of things.

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EBSWO820-e
07-13-2005

Rated 0 
How many times have I seen a comment in here that mentoins, summer, teen, bored, and "going with the flow".
Accually, I dont go with the "flow". Thats like taking orders from the man! Go out throw napalm moltove cocktales for gods sake! Do something! You people make me sick! Being a teen isn't boring unless you make it!

I hope you people liked my testimony... ok.. maybe not...

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smashing ihas
07-14-2005

Rated 0 
a car ontop of a hill facing a city (with the headlights pointed at the dawn)---- a loss of innocence (we were sure we'd never see an end to it all
and i don't even care to shake these zipper blues)

sexual activity on top of the hill? (morphine city slippin dues down to see
that we don't even care as restless as we are
we feel the pull in the land of a thousand guilts
and poured cement, lamented and assured
to the lights and towns below
faster than the speed of sound)

he was trying to convince her to "do it" (justine never knew the rules,
hung down with the freaks and the ghouls
no apologies ever need be made, i know you better than you fake it
to see that we don't care to shake these zipper blues
and we don't know just where our bones will rest
to dust i guess
forgotten and absorbed into the earth below
the street heats the urgency of sound
>>>as you can see there's no one around

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abbym
07-27-2005

Rated 0 
This song makes me shiver its very good...But also kinda depressing I am 16 nearly 17 the best year of my life was last year but now I lost contact kinda driffted apart from all my friends and I moved school a lot of them are working my summer's just started and I am kinda bored but I dunno it gets me thinking how crappy this summer is going to be and makes me think I am wasting it all .. This song reminds me a lot of the film stand by me..Anyway lets not let me carry on with myself amazing song though!

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beautifulstranger
11-10-2005

Rated 0 
Actually, the song has a really suprising meaning. When I was watching VH1's Storytellers, Billy was talking about '1979.' I was shocked to hear the meaning. '1979' is about (I am NOT kidding.) Billy sitting at a red light, in 1979. He said that when recording Mellon Collie, he had this idea for a song, and they told him to bring it in tommorw, or it wouldn't be on the record. Billy had one night to write this, and look what it turned into. He said that when he was writing this song, he remebers when he was 19, (pretty sure it was 19) he was sitting at a red light. He also said that it was one of those really gloomy, gray, dark day. it's crazy, sitting at a red light, turns into what it is.

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friscle
12-23-2005

Rated 0 
hot very hot

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premier
12-25-2005

Rated 0 
[shakedown 1979, cool kids never have the time
on a live wire right up off the street
you and i should meet
junebug skipping like a stone
with the headlights pointed at the dawn]
= living life as a teenager, doing teenage things, seeking out bf/gf, living life careless and free, hanging out with friends etc.


[we were sure we'd never see an end to it all
and i don't even care to shake these zipper blues
and we don't know
just where our bones will rest
to dust i guess
forgotten and absorbed into the earth below]
= never considered the fact that one day this will all end,


[double cross the vacant and the bored
they're not sure just what we have in the store
morphine city slippin dues down to see
that we don't even care as restless as we are]
=living life careless and free(vacent and the bored), teenagers start to experiment(not sure wat we have in store, morphine city..)


[we feel the pull in the land of a thousand guilts
and poured cement, lamented and assured
to the lights and towns below]
= as assured experiementation with drugs causes a bad event to happen, guilt follows etc.


[faster than the speed of sound
faster than we thought we'd go, beneath the sound of hope
justine never knew the rules,
hung down with the freaks and the ghouls]
=faster than they considered a (justine's) life ends to drugs(never knew the rules, hung with freaks and ghouls)


[no apologies ever need be made, i know you better than you fake it
to see that we don't care to shake these zipper blues
and we don't know just where our bones will rest
to dust i guess
forgotten and absorbed into the earth below]
=a life ends (justines) no body learns from this(to see that we dont to shake zipper blues)


[the street heats the urgency of sound
as you can see there's no one around]
= teenage life (the streets) needs guidence and help etc. doesnt happen ( you can see no one around)

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orangebeaker
01-02-2006

Rated 0 
Not many people realise this but mixed into the guitar loop billy repeats "I'm 12 again" all the way through the song during the verses. It sounds a bit like a weird effect but listen closely next time you put this song on, it's definitely Billy saying "I'm 12 again". Billy was 12 in 1979.

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dirt_dusted_angel
01-23-2006

Rated 0 
its a great song and its about growing up and theres references to death in there:
'and we don't know
just where our bones will rest
to dust i guess
forgotten and absorbed into the earth below'
but not really caring when they die, just as long as they live life to the fullest while their here on earth and not having any belief in god and just making their own rules as they go

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whoDER
01-23-2006

Rated 0 
preeeetty much an amazing song.

SP = my heros

197777777779

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B100dredsummer
01-24-2006

Rated 0 
i met my best friend through this song.
he was playing it on guitar under a tree and asked if anyone actually knew what he was playing, and of course i did. we've been close ever since. and then we dated and it was our song and then we broke up. and its still our song. the first few lines meant so much to me. "live wire straight up off the street/you and i should meet." idk why but i still get sad when i listen to it.
the song has to be about growing up and meeting new people and expierencing new things.
"that we don't even care as restless as we are/ we feel the pull in the land of a thousand guilts
i feel like that is talking about destructive decisions made during the summer. its summer you don't care. you can do anything with out consequences. like you only live once, so live life to the fullest. thats just how i take it. the song must be about sex, drugs and living life. its just seems right. idk why.

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tearsonyurprettyeye
01-29-2006

Rated 0 
Man. As always with SP, I had these lyrics all messed up. xD I thought it was "Forgotten as we are, but we just know we're home" and "morphine city, slip in, induced, to see" and "street heats the urgency of now" And it makes more sense to me the way I thought it was. O_O
Anyways, I don't think this song is really about what people think it is. I think it's about one of the biggest questions in life; where we will end up when we die. And possibly about good friends who you don't want to care about this stuff when you're with them, you just want to have fun. LoL So, I guess it is kind of about being a bored teenager, but it's a little more then that.

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tsarzan
02-03-2006

Rated 0 
The year I was born! It came out when I was in my last year of High School & just seemed to fit so well with being an angst-ridden teenager wanting to break free. Felt like it was written just for me.

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tsarzan
02-03-2006

Rated 0 
The year I was born! It came out when I was in my last year of High School & just seemed to fit so well with being an angst-ridden teenager wanting to break free. Felt like it was written just for me.

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M3LL0NC0LL13
02-04-2006

Rated 0 
It's kind of weird, this song seems to be about having a good time as a teenager, and one of the first times I heard it, I was at an amusement park with some friends having a great time.

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MikeyT
02-05-2006

Rated 0 
Especially poignant for me -- I was 16 in 1979 the year my mother passed away. Still hurts.

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Lita08
02-15-2006

Rated 0 
I can't understand that people don't get this song. The whole vibe of it is very nostalgic, and a lot of the metaphors make perfect sense to me, and I like that the song isn't laid out plainly for you to see.

This was the firsg song of theirs which I discovered, and although it was only 2 years ago, hearing this song just fills me with nostalgia for what seems (now) quite a carefree time.

I don't think the year is important. I think this song is fantastic because it captures a feeling and a mood.

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randamanae
02-20-2006

Rated -2 
this song sucks....but my mom likes it!

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quietandangry
02-23-2006

Rated 0 
"double cross the vacant and the bored, theyre not sure just what we have in store " could be about how all the bored kids in the 90's just wanted pure emotive rock and after siamese dream they expected another grungey album but the got a really beautiful and original one instead. Billy might feel like his audience has changed.

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