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Story of a man,
Who decided not to breathe.
Turned red, purple, then blue.
Colorful indeed.
No matter how his friends begged,
Well, he would not concede,
And now he's dead.
You see, cause everybody knows,
You got to breathe.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side...
Lighter on the other side...
Another one: See this monkey sitting on a tree,
One day, decided to climb down,
And run off to the city.
Look at him now, Tired and drunk
And living on the street.
As good as dead.
You see, a monkey should know,
Stay up your tree.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side.
Oh, God,
But under the weight of life,
Things seem much brighter on the other side.
No way, no way, no way.... out... of here...
Another one: A big eyed fish,
Yeah, swimming in the sea,
Oh, how he dreamed.
He wants to be a bird,
Swooping, diving through the breeze.
One day, he caught a big blue wave,
Up onto the beach,
And now he's dead.
You see, a fish's dream,
Should stay in the sea.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side.
No way... no way...no way...out... of here...
No way out of life.
Who decided not to breathe.
Turned red, purple, then blue.
Colorful indeed.
No matter how his friends begged,
Well, he would not concede,
And now he's dead.
You see, cause everybody knows,
You got to breathe.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side...
Lighter on the other side...
Another one: See this monkey sitting on a tree,
One day, decided to climb down,
And run off to the city.
Look at him now, Tired and drunk
And living on the street.
As good as dead.
You see, a monkey should know,
Stay up your tree.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side.
Oh, God,
But under the weight of life,
Things seem much brighter on the other side.
No way, no way, no way.... out... of here...
Another one: A big eyed fish,
Yeah, swimming in the sea,
Oh, how he dreamed.
He wants to be a bird,
Swooping, diving through the breeze.
One day, he caught a big blue wave,
Up onto the beach,
And now he's dead.
You see, a fish's dream,
Should stay in the sea.
But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side.
No way... no way...no way...out... of here...
No way out of life.
Lyrics submitted by antifox64
Track duration: 05:04
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Dave was under an unthinkable amount of stress as he felt that he wouldn't be able to put out anything as big as his last 3 albums (Crash, Under the Table, Before... Streets) and he felt that he had become too big and now he was just going to disappoint his fans, media, the label... everyone. He got immensely involved in alcohol throughout the summer, and a lot of his songs were written while battling this stress.
Ok, so the song...
He is the man who decided not to breathe. Despite what everyone was telling him (friends telling him to breathe) he felt he "didn't listen" and just continued down his path of destruction.
He is the monkey who should have stayed in his tree, but he decided to venture out into the big time, and now he is WELL in over his head (his stress and depression talking). he felt he should have "stayed in his tree" and now he's "as good as dead".
He is the fish for the same reasons...
"Things seem much brighter on the other side" "No way out of here"... it's all about him going from a bar musician to the big time. He thought it was a good idea at first, but it ended up getting to him in the end.
Now finally, Busted Stuff... the title... When it was re-recorded, it was called Busted Stuff because of the abandoning of the original album (which turned into Lillywhite). It was titled Busted Stuff both for the fact that it was never finished and abandoned mid project and also for his depression and alcoholism and what he was going through at the time... he was busted up.
if you have any other questions, let me know... this is all true, it's not speculation, as much as some of you may disagree.
Hey, Me2 I just finished taking a dump (yes I squat and surf, and as I'm sure is apparent, this was a relatively long one) if I take a picture and email it to you, can you tell me if you see the virgin mary?
(2) Just wanted to add that everyone is on point with the whole change thing, but (unless I missed a comment) is completely missing the point. I refuse to think that someone as insightful as Dave Mathews would for a second suggest that change, or ambition are things that are pitfalls. While many people have suggested that ambition can be a pitfall, the comments all seem to glaze over the most important line in the chorus:
"but oh God, under the weight of life, things seem much brighter on the other side."
The song is not criticizing change or striving to make a change in your life. In fact, I think if you asked Dave whether or not he would condone taking ambitious risks, the answer would be an unequivocal yes. What it does criticize is the outright failure to recognize the beauty in what we have, because we chase some elusive concept of ideal that, by definition, is unattainable. The fish fails to see the beauty in the sea around him, so he runs off because life on land seems like it is so much better, and dies for it. The monkey too. The man is different, the man is the stubborn user, who fails to see the folly in his action. Instead of taking from this song the idea that changing your circumstance and striving to move on in life is wrong, I would take from it the message to stop, and "take a deep breath" and absorb the world around you for the beauty that it is. Enjoy the fact that you are a fish and revel in the fact that you can ride the currents in the sea, be proud of the fact that you are a monkey and can swing through the trees, and recognize when your stubborn faults put you and others around at risk.
the monkey representing the mammals desiring to live the life in the next level of ascension..ie the city.
the story represents the sovereignty of God over his creation.. the story of the image of man. man is created a spirit in heaven before time began in perfection. he represents his position in society inwhich God has determined him to fulfill. each in turn they are placed in human bodies. live out our life and work out our salvation in the prespective order in which we are originally created to fulfill. we are all saved. but we dont know our fate until it is unveiled. and it aint over until its over.
sometimes we discover we are the tail when we think were the head..and there is no way out of this plan!. it was predetermined by our sovereign creator to be fulfilled in its entirety.
its called fate.
3 groups of peoples. symbolized as birds, fish, and mammals. the word of God states three ages wheras people are saved and enter into the kingdom of God.
the birds represented as the firstfruits of christ., or the head or mind of christ. the second group are mammals represent the body of christ that populate the city of new jerusalem. and the third group as the fish representing the nations of the world which come to the new jerusalem to celebrate in the new jerusalem.
today the body or those religious types desiring to be saved and regenerated scream out of their proper order of being saved. they desire to receive knowledge of God only to fail and return back to orthodox ways in playing religon. their not the firstfruits or the birds which are being saved today.
the fish..well their the other religions and whomever else who are not interested in Gods business today. they will be saved after the body in the third age.
the birds, the mammals , and the fish.