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He could've tuned in tuned in
But he tuned out
A bad time nothing could save him
Alone in a corridor waiting locked out
He got up outta there ran for hundreds of miles
He made it to the ocean had a smoke in a tree
The wind rose up set him down on his knee
A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw
Delivered him wings "Hey look at me now"
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor
Oh power oh
He's flying
Whole
High wide, oh
He floated back down 'cause he wanted to share
His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere
But first he was stripped and then he was stabbed
By faceless men, well, fuckers
He still stands
And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly
High flying
Oh, oh
High flying
Oh, oh
He's flying
Oh, oh
But he tuned out
A bad time nothing could save him
Alone in a corridor waiting locked out
He got up outta there ran for hundreds of miles
He made it to the ocean had a smoke in a tree
The wind rose up set him down on his knee
A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw
Delivered him wings "Hey look at me now"
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor
Oh power oh
He's flying
Whole
High wide, oh
He floated back down 'cause he wanted to share
His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere
But first he was stripped and then he was stabbed
By faceless men, well, fuckers
He still stands
And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly
High flying
Oh, oh
High flying
Oh, oh
He's flying
Oh, oh
Lyrics submitted by Trent, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 04:01
"Given to Fly" as written by Stone C. Gossard, Jeffrey Allen Ament, Eddie Jerome Vedder, Mike Mccready, David Abbruzzese
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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And when you find this thing, you become so immersed in it that it gives you a feeling of freedom and transcendence, and it's something you just feel like you have to share with everyone. Like you want to stop people in the street and say "Haven't you heard about this!?"
Then when you do try to share it with others, there will be people that try to kill your enthusiasm, tell you it's stupid, or a waste of time. Often this just fuels your need to keep doing what you love, to get away from these people.
This is how Eddie feels about surfing, and how I often feel when I'm snowboarding.
In "Big Wave", Eddie describes surfing as "achieving levitation" which I think gives us a big clue about this song.
So for me there is no doubt really. And what you said about being stripped and then stabbed is also pointing in the direction of the Gospel.
What about "delivered him wings" allignes with the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove.
And Jesus wanted to " share his Key to the locks he saw everywhere", since he came willingly to spread his Word and share what he knew (the path to salvation).
And Jesus was not accepted by the leaders of that time and they " stripped and stabbed him" but "he still stands" for he rose up from death 3 days later and is still flying around so to speak. And since then is the time when "the love He receives is the love that is saved".
This song chokes me up alot, its just a beautiful song, whatever the meaning is. But I like to believe this is the meaning, Jesus :)
I know I am assuming this mechanism is alive here. But I'm just saying it for those who do feel this way (if they're honest to themselves). There's alot of this going on in the outside world so why would it not be the same in here. Annyway that's what I wanted to say.
Perhaps through channeling divine inspiration Eddie has created something beyond even what he knew.
I love it. It's a brilliant song of timeless universal meaning. Great tune too.
It's a song about a man(kind) trapped in the 'daily grind', the 'smothering tick-tock' of 'just' existing.
He decides to follow his 'inner voice' (that long buried tenous connection to the divine), an innate inspiration to escape, to search for something more, and through 'grace' finds enlightenment (waking up).
People get hung up on the whole Jesus thing, but Jesus was just a man(kind - just like you and me), and like Bhuddha - a man who woke up (he's 'flying'), although what a wonderful man JC is - a true bodhisattva - who to this day still dedicates himself to gathering those genuine seekers of light.
Anyone who has seen the light will know the over-riding desire to share this compassion (and at the same time know that all desire is illusory - and that everything is as it should be).
There is a saying: "before enlightenment - chopping wood, carrying water; after enlightenment - chopping wood, carrying water".
So he floats back down 'cause he wants to share the way out of what he can painfully see "the locks on the chains..everywhere"
But Tick-tock hasn't changed - it's still run by faceless men, same old persecutions / exploitations (rape of the world); but despite this "he still stands" (no longer just himself, but divinity embodied) - a real Gandalf - "you shall not pass" moment.
Now karma is real, but there's no great eternal reward, no paying it back, let alone paying it forward.
There's only one way (Tao) and the only thing to do is to "give your love away"
The journey to enlightenment (waking up) is one that every single one of us can, and will have to make when the time is right.
The gift is unconditional, but any love he receives is the love that is "s-a-v-e-d"
"And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky - a human being that was given to fly"
You'll all know of a light like this in your world, a gift, 'grace'. There are 'sages' everywhere - ordinary people who you just sense 'know', as well as Ghandi, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, John Muir, etc., hey there's even one in Burma right now ....
There is no up or down, higher or lower, better or worse, but someday you may make that journey yourself ....
What a truly beautiful song
Love, love Chosun
"The slogan, "Turn on, tune in, drop out", signified a conceptual way of thinking wherein a person would turn on to their own way of thinking, tune in to themselves, and drop out of society. This constituted a concept of inward self reliance."
Turn on, tune in, drop out...
May or may not be relevant, just found it coincedental.
He made it to the ocean...
A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw.
Deliver him wings, "Hey look at me now!"
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor.
Oh, power, oh. He's flying whole. High, wide, oh.
This section of the song is about surfing.
A man. He is sick or dying and knows in his heart that there is no hope. He could give up but chooses to fight. He knows there is an easy way out but he will not lie down. He is fighting not for himself but for those around him that want him to pull through. He is not the kind of man to lie down in a hospital bed and wait to die.
He chooses his own fate while he still can. His choice is to live out he remaining time as a freeman away from the shackels of hospital, hence the visit to the beach, the smoke, etc... In the end he transcends into something else a 'human being that was given to fly'. Even though the man is gone he is still loved and still stands in strong in the hearts and mind of those he has left behind and sometimes they even think that they see him in the sky and that he visits them to help them out.
"...a 20-page cardboard (children's) book with a line on each page and a picture to go with it. It's a fable, that's all. The music almost gives you this feeling of flight, and I really love singing the part at the end, which is all about rising above anybody's comments about what you do and still giving your love away. You know? Not becoming bitter and reclusive, not condemning the whole world because of the actions of a few..."