Lyrics for Big Eyed Fish as interpreted by antifox64

Big Eyed Fish Lyrics
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.

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Ms. Hoity Toity
01-07-2002

Rated 0 
saw this one live...great great song..makes me kinda sad that proudest monkey ends up drunk and half dead in the street...yep, Dave was definitely not having a high point in life when he wrote this one...but we love him anyways =)

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Lissy Ratz
04-09-2002

Rated 0 
I don't claim to have be inside Dave's head when he put it on paper, but this is just what i got. It seems like it's a song about regret...sort of. If you skip ahead to the part about the monkey:
"See this monkey sittin’ in his tree, decided one day to climb down and run off to the city, look at him now; tire and drunk, livin’ in the streets, as good as dead, see a monkey should know stay up your tree"
Anyone else get an Anti-Proudest Monkey vibe from that? I got very sad the first time I thought to listen to it closely b/c it almost seems like he regrets his
childhood wonder, viewing them as foolish and trite in retrospect. Or somehow like a defeat. As though written immediately after the failure of a project you put time, effort and energy into, at that stage where you think “Why did I think that would work? Why did I even bother? Why bother trying to change anything?”
Proudest Monkey I believe generally has an ‘Experience Life, you’ll be better for it’ moral. Using the same monkey=people analogy, One Eyed Fish (or Big Eyed Fish) insists that that kind of thinking is foolish. Personally, I’ll stick to Proudest Monkey.


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kon104
04-13-2002

Rated 0 
I think this song is mainly about change... The man, monkey, and fish all decided to change their life and died for it... The whole brighter on the otherside adds to that idea... In other words, When things change, it might not come out the way you want it to (in these cases, they died)... Still, I love this song... I don't even know why...

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reeny
04-24-2002

Rated 0 
I love this song, I think the lyrics are so clever. I think that the song is about how life seems so hard sometimes, and we spend so much time wanting to be something else and being jealous of what others have. We don't apreciate who we are and what we have going for us. So we try to be something we're not and it costs us. Or at least thats what the song has always said to me.

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BigEyedPhish103
04-25-2002

Rated 0 
I agree, I think this is about trying to be something that you aren't to please yourself or other people and you end up runing your life. Great song.
*peace*

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Mixiblob
05-02-2002

Rated 0 
this song is great the lyrics are amazin ... i agree with you guys about there meaning......... way to go Dave Matthews Band xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Mixiblob
05-02-2002

Rated 0 
this song is great the lyrics are amazin ... i agree with you guys about there meaning......... way to go Dave Matthews Band xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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FamiliarNoise
05-14-2002

Rated 0 
This is just my opinion but it is based on something Dave Matthews himself said in an interview. I believe that Big Eyed Fish and most of the Lillywhite sessions songs are about Dying. Big Eyed Fish in particular is about making the wrong decisions in life and going too far. I think dave was very depressed when he wrote this song and didn't know what would happen if he changed this about his life.. I think this song was born from years and years no the road and feeling like he had to please all the people who had grown used to his style of music.. --Thats Just my opinion...

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Jonny Kane
05-15-2002

Rated 0 
It is a great song, but I think kon104 got it pretty good. All of the analogies are about people or animals trying to do something impossible, a fish trying to live out of water, a monkey trying ot live out of his tree, a man trying to live without breathing. I think we as people take for granted what we have, don't appreciate it and want more. We eventually want something that is impossible to have, and I don't think we die for it, I think it is actually the dream that dies.

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Jonny Kane
05-15-2002

Rated 0 
It is a great song, but I think kon104 got it pretty good. All of the analogies are about people or animals trying to do something impossible, a fish trying to live out of water, a monkey trying ot live out of his tree, a man trying to live without breathing. I think we as people take for granted what we have, don't appreciate it and want more. We eventually want something that is impossible to have, and I don't think we die for it, I think it is actually the dream that dies.

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MSansone
05-22-2002

Rated 0 
I think that overall this song gives off the message off losing hope and that life is hard. I think dave uses the 3 different metaphors to dispay this message. The "fish" trying to following his dreams and being something it's not and failing. The "monkey" running off to the city and failing in life. And finially the man who seemed hung up on refusing to change and died an unhappy man. This song is basically saying that life is hard and at times things do seem "brighter on the otherside"

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dmbgirl
05-27-2002

Rated 0 
This song is awesome. I think its so amazing that Dave can just sit down and write lyrics like these that have so much meaning to them. He is so right; there is "no way out of life." You have to face each and every day and just be yourdelf. You cannot run from your problems to try to make things better; it will only become worse.

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Flychick773
06-13-2002

Rated 0 
I've only heard the song once but I fell in love with it...my brother then took the CD away and moved to Maine so I don't have the song anymore. Anyway, I think that Dave was probably depressed or at least not in the best of spirits when he wrote this song. It makes a lot of sense though. Maybe it's trying to be something you aren't or trying to change the kind of person you are. I'm not sure but just by reading the lyrics, this song is great. I love DMB.
Love you all! ~*~Tessa~*~

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dimitri
06-15-2002

Rated 0 
i think this song is dave regretting evolution into man...cuz life started in water..then slowly evolved into land creatures..then monkeys, then us...if monkeys didnt leave their trees, we wouldnt be here...its a very pessimistic song..and very depressing, ..but its one of dave's best ..i think

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MatthiasMaximus
07-18-2002

Rated 0 
Dimitri, I think while your outlook is unique, it's not very accurate. Dave is known to be a supporter of creation. So I doubt this song has anything to do with evolution.

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GraceOfDMB
07-26-2002

Rated 0 
All of the songs on Lillywhite are depressing, which is why it was never released. The Busted versions are much brighter. My opinion on this song is that it is about being a big dreamer and learning that you may fail. This is like a huge reality check for me because I have huge dreams and I am one of those people who wants to be a bird swooping and diving through the breeze. I look 5 steps ahead instead of one and that is what this song is about. The man, the monkey, and the fish all wanted to be something that they are not because they believed that things were better on the other side and in reality they aren't always but in their case it is because they died and moved on the that happier place which there is no way out of. Dave was indeed depressed when he wrote this song as he was for all of the songs in Lillywhite....but that is what makes the lyrics so beautiful.

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LisAAA
09-14-2002

Rated 0 
This song is deffinately about the consequences of discontent. The 3 subjects all attempt to excape who they are, because they are unsatisfied. However, when they become what they want, they end up losing their lives. And Dave says "But oh God, under the weight of life/ things see brighter on the other side." These subjects of the song just wanted a way out- to the brighter side. But then Dave also says, "No way out of here." There's really no way out. One must smply learn to live with who they are.

I think this song also goes along well wit Dancing Nancies, in which Dave wonders if he could have been anyone other than himself. Since these songs were written years apart, Dave seems to be vry discontent with who he is, or he is very curios as to who he could be.

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ili
03-28-2003

Rated 0 
First and foremost I absolutely love this song and I think the meaning is incredible so no one think im putting this song down..because it actually motivates me so now that thats been said: I can see how everyone can see this as a song of 'be only who you are and stop trying to be someone else'...but cant this song just be a song to evoke emotions so that you do what you want to be and follow your dreams? For example...in the line about a fish's dreams should stay in the water...Does that not offend anyone but me? Whose to say that the fish cant have dreams and atleast he tried..the fish could be like someone who dreams to be someone really well-known and established or something but someone tells them NO KEEP THOSE DREAMS TO YOURSELF..soo I think this song is saying..dont let anyone stop you from what YOU want to do..its supposed to make you angry in my opinon..well Im not a very good person of explaining what I have in my head into words clearly..but anyone understand me and agree??

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ili
03-28-2003

Rated 0 
First and foremost I absolutely love this song and I think the meaning is incredible so no one think im putting this song down..because it actually motivates me so now that thats been said: I can see how everyone can see this as a song of 'be only who you are and stop trying to be someone else'...but cant this song just be a song to evoke emotions so that you do what you want to be and follow your dreams? For example...in the line about a fish's dreams should stay in the water...Does that not offend anyone but me? Whose to say that the fish cant have dreams and atleast he tried..the fish could be like someone who dreams to be someone really well-known and established or something but someone tells them NO KEEP THOSE DREAMS TO YOURSELF..soo I think this song is saying..dont let anyone stop you from what YOU want to do..its supposed to make you angry in my opinon..well Im not a very good person of explaining what I have in my head into words clearly..but anyone understand me and agree??

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evilemice
03-31-2003

Rated 0 
dude the lillywhite sessions is depressing in general. Thinking in that general direction gets you depressed. Trust me i know. I (also) think the song is about mankind. We strive to be different (not breathing) and we kill ourselves. We have huge amounts of motivation to leave the jungle and we end up just being homeless and drunk on the street. We want to be something else and it kills us. sn't that what he really means?

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DMBs_Crush
06-26-2003

Rated 0 
I'm gonna be honest, and tell you right now that I didn't read everyone's posts on what they think this song means. I think the animal reference are about humans, and it's about how us as humans are never satisfied, until one day we decide to change, and we end up losing our lives because we can never be thankful.

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firedancer023
06-29-2003

Rated 0 
i think it means that we need accept and be grateful with what we have. it doesnt mean dont dream about what you could have or do, but realize that at some point your dreams become greedy. we just need to be careful not to cross that line.

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Laura75
04-23-2004

Rated 0 
It's a song that contemplates the phrase "the grass is always greener on the other side". He as much says it in the song. That's it. Dave's songs have always explored human greed for "more" in life and challenges people to accept the path that they're on as good. See Pig for further reference.

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MagisticWand
05-12-2004

Rated 0 
This song is about contemplation of suicide.."But, oh God,
Under the weight of life,
Things seem brighter on the other side...
Lighter on the other side..." Dave knows just as the monkey cant live in a city that he cant live on the other side...hence being dead..its saying whats on the other side seems better until you're there...its full of regret for the past and the idea that its easy to wish for something 'better' and its hard to accept and appreciate what one has...the individual can learn about the other side through observations of other people who dare take the path

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Squeege
10-13-2004

Rated 0 
I can't argue with some of the comments made here. They're all pretty much dead on in my opinion.

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