its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
Send away for a priceless gift
One not subtle, one not on the list
Send away for a perfect world
One not simply, so absurd
In these times of doing what you're told
Keep these feelings, no one knows
What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Send a message to the unborn child
Keep your eyes open for a while
In a box high up on the shelf
Left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight
What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Everyone's pointing their fingers
Always condemning me
And nobody knows what I believe
I believe
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45
And I'm swimming through the ashes of another life
There is no real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45 (45), 45
Staring down the barrel of a 45
One not subtle, one not on the list
Send away for a perfect world
One not simply, so absurd
In these times of doing what you're told
Keep these feelings, no one knows
What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Send a message to the unborn child
Keep your eyes open for a while
In a box high up on the shelf
Left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight
What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Everyone's pointing their fingers
Always condemning me
And nobody knows what I believe
I believe
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45 (45)
Swimming through the ashes of another life (another life)
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45
And I'm swimming through the ashes of another life
There is no real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45 (45), 45
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Lyrics submitted by forbiddenbeat, edited by autmn10485, NUGdunkster
45 Lyrics as written by Brent Smith Anthony C. Battaglia
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw
Glassjaw
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
The obvious interpretation is suicide, but couldn't it about a young man who has just fathered a child? "Everyone's pointing their fingers, always condemning me...", and the obvious reference to the "unborn child". Could that be an abortion reference?
Many people think this is about suicide, but the song is actually about hope, to fight against the odds. Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith told Foundry Music: "I think a lot of people kind of take a literal sense because of the lyrics - but the song is basically about the day that you wake up and you look at yourself in the mirror and you finally decide that you want to try to become comfortable in your own skin, and realize that you're gonna have to make yourself happy before you're going to make anyone else happy. And basically, the 45 isn't an actual literal term for a gun, I used it as a metaphor for the world, the 45 is actually the world and what it hands you every day of your life. When you get up, it's a gift to be alive to begin with. A lot of different people, when I've talked about it, they said, 'Do you really honestly mean that?' And I'm like, 'Well, yeah.' Because I've been in that situation where I didn't know if I wanted to continue going on and I didn't know how to necessarily make myself comfortable with who I was, trying to find a way of learning more about myself. And you come from a dark place sometimes, and that's really the reality of the song. It's about overcoming and about moving forward. And it's basically about understanding that it's not always going to be good, but you really have no one to blame for yourself if you don't move forward. That's where the whole, 'Nobody knows what I believe,' comes from because we're all individuals. So that's really where it comes from, it's about moving on, really.