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


Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 243 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
CaptainPat
03-20-2008

Rated 0 
Is it true this song was written when the lead singer was 12 years old? i head that he wrote it when he was 12 but i never heard if it was true or not

Log in to reply
TheyMightBeAwesome
03-22-2008

Rated 0 
This is definitely one of their calmer songs.

Log in to reply
TheyMightBeAwesome
03-22-2008

Rated 0 
This is definitely one of their calmer songs.

Log in to reply
jigsawyouth
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2007/09/free-smashing-pumpkins-bootlegs.html


here, he was twelve. don't look too far into it.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
IlikeBosch
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
On Storytellers Billy mentioned that he wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes, a clue-in that they don't really have particular meaning..still it's their most listened-to song. This song reminds me of when I was a kid. I used to listen to it on road trips up the east coast when I was about 8 or 9. My musical interests bloomed very early and I'm grateful! Bring back James and D'Arcy!

Log in to reply
killers94
05-03-2008

Rated 0 
i like the vibe of this song, it sounds so relaxed and just hangin out with ur besties or cousins or something...just relaxin and havin a good time

Log in to reply
samaritancrimes
05-06-2008

Rated 0 
I like how there's references to frames of youth, free love so to speak, getting numb so to keep your sanity. 1979 was probably a cool time because kids didn't know what to expect in the 80's. It's sounds like a narrative.

Log in to reply
samaritancrimes
05-06-2008

Rated 0 
I like how there's references to frames of youth, free love so to speak, getting numb so to keep your sanity. 1979 was probably a cool time because kids didn't know what to expect in the 80's. sounds pretty narrative to me.

Log in to reply
mouseman77
05-19-2008

Rated 0 
I remember very clearly the first time I heard this song while still in highschool. Being nostalgic when you're young is a strange thing, but this song helped me realize just how valuable those times were. I guess that I was a cool kid who had no time, and no love for the world, it was just my friends and I, living for the day. WE rode around like gypsies, and wherever we stopped, we were like a scourge to that land, but we didn't see that. It just us, against the world, and we were gonna win.

Log in to reply
carrebear
05-30-2008

Rated 0 
For me, this song captures being in a car packed with all my friends, down the shore as high school just ended, watching the world pass by at full speed, and for that single moment forgetting about the looming future. That lovely belief that it could never end. When you're running fast towards adulthood, its easy to forget the beauty of being a restless, careless teenager. This song was made to remind us of that.

Log in to reply
makers
06-01-2008

Rated -1 
way to be brilliant at 12 years old.

Log in to reply
izze90
06-14-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's about the struggles of being a teenager.About making choices and getting into trouble.For me it's like wow, was this song written about me?One of my all time favorites.Long live Billy!

Log in to reply
RatInACage10
06-22-2008

Rated 0 
Billy didn't write this song when he was twelve...he said he had a memory from when he was 18 years old, he was driving in the rain near his home in Chicago, and thats what the memory of this song is. Heres the link, if you don't believe me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9-vpkxPlqo

Log in to reply
music=stressfree
06-29-2008

Rated 0 
I love this song.The meaning to me is about being a teenager/young adult and just looking back..
not having the care in the world what people think about you..i love this song especially when im driving in my car on a sunny day when im going to the beach. -toodles

Log in to reply
aurora-adore
07-14-2008

Rated 0 
i agree with most of the comments, its about being young and not giving a damn basically. one of my favourite smashing pumpkins songs of all time :)

Log in to reply
steenhive
07-24-2008

Rated 0 
This is, in my humble opinion, one of the few perfect songs ever written.
I'm no Pumpkins expert, but I play this song myself every time I get onstage and it never loses it's magic.

I was 15 in 1979, my teenage years very far removed indeed from American suburbia, and the first time I heard the opening guitar riff of this song on the radio - even before the first word - I was slap-bang in the middle of being 15 again. Just listen to some early Cure records and you might catch the correlation. I would go so far as to say that musically 1979 is nearly a direct tribute to that band. As for the lyrics, the imagery easily transcends any narrow situational shackles and I think would connect with anyone who ever went through adolescence. A perfect song. A themic masterpiece.

Log in to reply
ilikefruchocs
07-29-2008

Rated 0 
to me, this song is like the summer of '07/'08/. Ever since I was a kid, my family and I have made a trip down to this little town by the beach. It's been a yearly ritual, and now basically all of my friends have gone for the past few years. I've made friends there as well. And this is the last summer we were able to do it - next year we'll all be heading off into various directions for university, so this song was our song. We were having fun and living for the moment, despite having the huge challenge known as year 12 lying ahead of us

Log in to reply
Maya15
08-03-2008

Rated 0 
Haha... idk what it means. I remember in May, me and my boyfriend were just sitting in the back of a Sunoco, drinking and what not, when this song came on his car radio. We decided way back that we wanted to get married when we turned 18, that maybe impulsive, but that's what we did, and this song, was almost kind of a realization. It was like we're always getting high or drinking because we're so bored in this town, and to me the song was like, right now its all about fun, all about the stupid shit we did as teenagers. Idk, it was just weird. It was just like the perfect song for that moment, and its almost become our song. It just reminded me then of the simplicity of my life, and how right then and sometimes now, I was just trying to get pleasure from the world and have fun. Haha, idk.

Log in to reply
mushroomfat
08-05-2008

Rated 0 
He's reminiscing on his teenage days

Log in to reply
eraser13
08-08-2008

Rated 0 
As with most SP songs, I could dissect each and every line, as many of their songs are not linear stories but rather are a hodge podge of lyrics that evoke images.

This song is really just getting at the carefreeness of youth and the coming of age. Understanding who you are, not necessarily as an adult, but the process of leaving childhood behind, adolescence. But I'm 31 now and this song still speaks to me. I think this one will prove to transcend all ages.

Well done Billy

As usual

Log in to reply
aaronmark
08-10-2008

Rated 0 
i've always loved SP ever since i was little, and since i am a teenager this song reminds me a lot of the weekends i spend out partying and having fun with my friends.
the song's imagery in the lyrics is astounding. "with the headlights pointed at the dawn" depicts what it reads.
"we're not sure just where our bones will rest. to dust, i guess" that lyrics reminds me of when i'm out with friends late at night when regular people in town are sleeping, we're partying and having fun, but yet, we don't really know where we will sleep that night, and at that moment we don't really care if we were to die, because we're having such a good time.

Log in to reply
logru
10-24-2008

Rated 0 
I'm not getting any of that "best time of your life" or "fear of rushing into adulthood" vibe from this song at all. To me it's a nostalgic look at a time that was pivotal, but not necessarily good.

To me it's about feeling trapped and apathetic in a suburban setting that really has no place for teenagers. I read "morphine city" figuratively, btw. That's certainly how the suburbs seemed to me at that age.

And then there's just the general unpleasantness of being a teenager, when you spend a significant portion of your time feeling bad about everything and nothing. The line about not knowing where our bones will rest sounds fatalistic, not happy-go-lucky. Kind of a morbid way to say you're feeling lost and adrift.

But sometimes you get together with your friends and you do something stupid, like you all pile in the car and leave the city limits and drive way too fast down a deserted road and just for a minute in the rush of adrenaline you forget everything that's wrong with the world and everything that's wrong with you, and the rush breaks through the apathy that protects you from all of that, and just for a little while you've escaped.

Log in to reply
oldeBlueEyes
10-29-2008

Rated 0 
its about looking back. its basically billy looking back on his teenage life and his train of thought then. its that simple. this song is a masterpiece. like all of sp's music. billy corgan for president or at least vice.

Log in to reply
elevatorface
11-14-2008

Rated 0 
I dont think it has anything to do with reminiscing about teenage years seeing as how Billy only would've been about 11 in 1979.

Log in to reply
MorrHouseCiggCo
12-01-2008

Rated 0 
Well, there is a DVD on the smashing pumpkins that features every music video on all of their singles in you have it or go out and buy it the band members comment on all of the videos and what the songs are about... you should all check it out

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here