Lyrics for We Want A Rock as interpreted by Irrational

We Want A Rock Lyrics
Where was I? I forgot
the point that I was making
I said if I was smart that I would
save up for a piece of string
and a rock to wind the string around

Everybody wants a rock
to wind the string around
Throw the crib door wide
let the people crawl inside.
Someone in this town
is trying to burn their playhouse down.
They want to stop the ones who want
a rock to wind a string around,
string around.

If I were a carpenter I'd
hammer on my piglet, I'd
collect the seven dollars and I'd
buy a big prosthetic forehead
and wear it on my real head
Everyobdy wants prosthetic
foreheads on their real heads.

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Emily1014
04-20-2004

Rated 0 
I think this song I hilarious... and catchy

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Burninated
12-07-2004

Rated 0 
I always thought of this song as being about stupid fads...
Like pet rocks... with little string leashes.. Heh heh.
And don't forget prosthetic Klingon foreheads!

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Rodan2000
12-30-2004

Rated 0 
agreed. its about fads and how stupid they are and how quickly they shift.

Rodan2000

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qseep
01-27-2005

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Don't take this too seriously, but someone once claimed it was predicting the Persian Gulf war:

"Everybody wants Iraq to wind up peace around spring."

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chillisunfire
03-11-2005

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i was one of those with the klingon foreheads

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forgotten_once
04-30-2005

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this song is about fads, but one specifically...

the ku klux klan:

rock = head, string = noose
playhouse = churches
prosthetic forehead = pointy white hats

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sparticus150
06-20-2005

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well said about fads indeed

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sparticus150
06-20-2005

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well said about fads indeed

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CoryGreenwell
07-22-2005

Rated 0 
interesting theory on the KKK, but...

I'm not sure this theory aligns with these lyrics

"they want to stop the ones who want a rock to wind a string around"...if the people who want the rock to wind the string around (OWWRTWSA) are the KKK, wouldn't it be the OWWRTWSA being the ones burning down the playhouses?

I do think there is something in the hiding in the churches though...I hadn't given it much thought before.

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forgotten_once
08-07-2005

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"Throw the crib door wide
let the people crawl inside.
Someone in this town
is trying to burn their playhouse down."

this would be black people, someone is trying to burn their "playhouse"

"They want to stop the ones who want
a rock to wind a string around,"

the black people want to stop the KKK. yes, this makes sense. i think you misread the lyrics.

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atquinn
12-29-2005

Rated 0 
This song is about baseball.
a rock to wind the string around = a baseball
prosthetic foreheads on their real heads = baseball caps
Obviously, not everyone in the town is a baseball fan, but the singer is.

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ndo
02-16-2006

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Naw...it's written from the point of view of a trend follower (or slaesman) about how cool the trend is. The middle part expresses the narrator's worries about people who make fun of trends.

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mumboman
03-09-2006

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I think its about fake people who jump on the band wagon when something is currently "IN" via 'Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around.' The line, "They want to stop the ones who want a rock to wind a string around" to me refers to the media or corporate america or whatever trying to get people off the latest trend and hooked on something else. They'll spend so much on marketing, subliminal messages, etc. to convince people that the current thing is out of style and the new thing is where its at now.

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janusmaguszeal
03-21-2006

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Going really deep here and I don't know if anyone's going to buy this but here's my two cents:

The first lines, "Where was I? I forgot the point that I was making" The singer is lost in life or doesn't know where s/he's going like an adolescent freshly out of high school maybe, and hasn't yet decided what they're doing.

Then "if I was smart that I would save up for a piece of string and a rock to wind the string around" is refering to being "smart" as in going to college, getting a degree and a good job. The string is refering to life and buying it means establishing it with the money you'd have from your great job (I'd agree that that's the typical view of the average american out of highschool; to go to college and make lots of money). The rock having the string around it would be the central point where your life is wrapped around such as a spouse, children, large investment, deity ...etc (the focal point of your life and money).

"Everybody wants a rock to wind the string around" means just that; everybody wants what was described above.
Now this is where it gets deep and religious... In Christianity teachers (pastors, priests, what have you) all proclaim the gospel of Jeses who refered to people (especially those who believe in Him) as His sheep, His lambs and His children. That's to say, they are like children and lambs; they really have no idea what's going on sometimes and need protection and guidance. "Throw the crib door wide let the people crawl inside." is refering to how people are like children and need to be in their "crib" for protection from themselves (nod if you agree people are pretty self-destructive in their life style if they don't have some guidance). That crib would be a religion or guidance of a deity with teachers (in this case Christianity and the Christian God Jahova).
Now this is tricky and a little up in the air; "Someone in this town is trying to burn their playhouse down. They want to stop the ones who want a rock to wind a string around." I think is refering to the cults who hide under the guise of Christianity. The cults would be those that proclaim to be the way to Christ if you follow their religious rules (a false doctrine) consciously or unconsciously misleading the people (children). The "playhouse" could be interchangable in this case with the "crib."

"If I were a carpenter I'd hammer on my piglet, I'd collect the seven dollars and..." I believe this part is just symbolic. 1: Jesus was a carpenter. 2: Jesus cast the demons from a demon-possessed man into pigs which then ran off a cliff and died (that's refering to the piglet (I know that one's a bit of a stretch)). 3: "Seven" from the seven dollars is a symbolic number from the Bible that means wholeness, completeness, also one of God's favorite numbers.
"...I'd buy a big prosthetic forehead and wear it on my real head." The "big prostetic forehead and wearing it on your real head" I believe is refering to how in heaven there will be the 144,000 who have the name of God written across their foreheads and also God's children on Earth that others will all know them for their love and works. As for "buying" the "prosthetic forehead"; the cults often offer to "sell" salvation if you do the rules outlined in their religion, sadly; and doing those things will guarentee your spot in heaven.
Now having said that I'm not sure exactly what the "If" in "If I was a carpenter" means if it even has any relevance.

And there's my two cents. Thanks for listening.

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edguidry
10-15-2006

Rated 0 
I like the kkk idea, not sure if it's true. Definitely about fads, though.

As a Christian, I used to like to look for Christian messages in TMBG songs, but I think that's a red herring. At least one of the Johns has stated that they don't believe in God. Even if they do, any Christian meanings always seem kind of flimsy to me.

The KKK thing makes a lot more sense.

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zoltang
10-22-2006

Rated 0 
Censorship.

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Turkois
01-25-2007

Rated 0 
A friend once told me years ago that the rocks were pet rocks and the prosthetic foreheads were condoms. The reference to children is there to show that people are trying to stop the fun. In other words let people do what they want to do whether that be having pet rocks or using condoms.

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forgotten_once
03-19-2007

Rated 0 
pet rocks... condoms... christian symbols?... definitely not.

i like the idea of baseball, however the "throw the crib door... burn their playhouse down" seems ignored and unexplainable.

i'll still stick with the KKK, until i hear a better argument (for something else or against mine).

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forgotten_once
03-19-2007

Rated 0 
oh, i realise i never gave an explanation for:

"if i were a carpenter, i'd hammer on my piglet"

in metalsmithing, pig iron or pig lead (piglet?). is just raw metal. i think this is mostly meant as a pun/joke, but also to provide an image of a carpenter, perhaps working on a cross to be burned.

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Mr. Bacon
04-06-2007

Rated 0 
this is totally about fads and people doing whatever is considered "cool"

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reptile
05-06-2007

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Yeah, it's about fads...
I think the line "Someone in this town is trying to burn their playhouse down, they want to stop the ones who want..." is about the ones who want to "stop" the fashion trends, but they can't because "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads".

Oh... and maybe they sing about a rock to wind a string around (and prosthetic foreheads) to show how silly those trends are?
i.e. if you are a good salesman, you can sell a piece of shit to the people and they'll all buy it because it's "cool" to have it.

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chadd_vz
07-13-2007

Rated 0 
Piglet is a piggy bank. "If I were a carpenter" is a reference to an old song lyric (look it up), it's not a reference to Jesus (other than a second-hand reference). So, he smashes his piggy bank with a hammer to get the seven bucks he has saved to buy the fake forehead. Not complicated.

Burning down the playhouse is also a reference to other song lyrics that I think originated long ago in the blues community. I'm sure the phrase appears in many many songs. I believe it's a sort of threat to out-do or defeat someone, but I was also told once that it an allusion to infidelity -- to burn (or tear) someone's playhouse down is to sleep with his woman. Maybe sort of like mowing someone else's grass? It's not very obvious or literal, but I can see it.

TMBG used to twist up old rock and pop lyrics a lot. They don't do it much anymore, but their early work is full of mangled lyrics from well-known songs. A lot of younger fans miss the references and get really, really confused.

The baseball interp is very interesting but doesn't cover all the bases, so to speak. I've always taken this song to be about pet rocks, fads, and (obviously) a pun on "We wanna rock." I like to think the pun came first and the rest of the song was built around it.

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johnemint
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
Although I think you can make the argument for the Fad Idea, I think that is a shallow interpretation. I think that the rocks and foreheads are merely representations of childish toys and silly things. “Throw the crib door wide,” is an invitation to childish behavior. The song is about holding on to the spirit of childhood. “Someone in this town wants to burn the playhouse down,” they want to stop free spirited and freethinking people and want those people to grow up. The ones who want a rock to wind a string around are the ideal not the enemy, as is the case in the fad interpretation.

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Wolfpack1
03-06-2008

Rated 0 
The speaker is a dimwitted teenager who hears his freinds singing "We Wanna Rock" by ACDC and wants one too.

OK, maybe not.

The fad interpretation makes the most sense...but the string?

Prosthetic forehead represents a big brain and if you can get one with $7, it must be like a getting a degree from an on-line university.

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Mooseph
03-27-2008

Rated +1 
I really think this song is about getting married and having kids

-the first stanza is about forgetting, which is sort of like drinking, and probably picking up chicks. then, he said if he was smart he'd find a "rock to wind a string around" which sometimes people who are married feel like their spouse is a deadweight that they're stuck with.

The second stanza shows age progressing, it's a crib in the beginning, then turns into a play house, which is like a 2-3 year old

the third stanza is about a carpenter, which represents those shapes and hammers, or things like legos that kids play with and build things with. and i think the piglett represents either piglett from whinnie the poo, or the pig from the muppets

I feel the prostetic foreheads are implied for a large forehead like all the cartoon children from like the 70-90s with big foreheads and were always meddleing and the likes.

this probably diddn't make sense (really stoned)

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