Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
When I was back there in seminary school, There was a person there
Who put forth the proposition, That you can petition the Lord with prayer
Petition the lord with prayer, Petition the lord with prayer
You cannot petition the lord with prayer!
Can you give me sanctuary, I must find a place to hide, A place for me to hide
Can you find me soft asylum, I can't make it anymore, The Man is at the door
Peppermint, miniskirts, chocolate candy, Champion sax and a girl named Sandy
There's only four ways to get unraveled, One is to sleep and the other is travel, da da
One is a bandit up in the hills, One is to love your neighbor 'till
His wife gets home
Catacombs, Nursery bones, Winter women, Growing stones
Carrying babies, To the river
Streets and shoes, Avenues, Leather riders
Selling news, The monk bought lunch
Ha ha, he bought a little, Yes, he did, Woo!
This is the best part of the trip, This is the trip, the best part
I really like, What'd he say?, Yeah!, Yeah, right!
Pretty good, huh, Huh!, Yeah, I'm proud to be a part of this number
Successful hills are here to stay, Everything must be this way
Gentle streets where people play, Welcome to the Soft Parade
All our lives we sweat and save, Building for a shallow grave
Must be something else we say, Somehow to defend this place
Everything must be this way, Everything must be this way, yeah
The Soft Parade has now begun, Listen to the engines hum
People out to have some fun, A cobra on my left
Leopard on my right, yeah
The deer woman in a silk dress, Girls with beads around their necks
Kiss the hunter of the green vest, Who has wrestled before
With lions in the night
Out of sight!, The lights are getting brighter
The radio is moaning, Calling to the dogs
There are still a few animals, Left out in the yard
But it's getting harder, To describe sailors, To the underfed
Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure
What got us this far, To this mild equator?
We need someone or something new
Something else to get us through, yeah, c'mon
Callin' on the dogs, Callin' on the dogs
Oh, it's gettin' harder, Callin' on the dogs
Callin' in the dogs, Callin' all the dogs, Callin' on the gods
You gotta meet me, Too late, baby
Slay a few animals, At the crossroads, Too late
All in the yard, But it's gettin' harder, By the crossroads
You gotta meet me, Oh, we're goin', we're goin great
At the edge of town, Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure
Havin' a good time, Got to come along, What got us this far
To this mild equator?, Outskirts of the city, You and I
We need someone new, Somethin' new, Somethin' else to get us through
Better bring your gun, Better bring your gun
Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure, We're gonna ride and have some fun
When all else fails, We can whip the horse's eyes
And make them sleep, And cry
Who put forth the proposition, That you can petition the Lord with prayer
Petition the lord with prayer, Petition the lord with prayer
You cannot petition the lord with prayer!
Can you give me sanctuary, I must find a place to hide, A place for me to hide
Can you find me soft asylum, I can't make it anymore, The Man is at the door
Peppermint, miniskirts, chocolate candy, Champion sax and a girl named Sandy
There's only four ways to get unraveled, One is to sleep and the other is travel, da da
One is a bandit up in the hills, One is to love your neighbor 'till
His wife gets home
Catacombs, Nursery bones, Winter women, Growing stones
Carrying babies, To the river
Streets and shoes, Avenues, Leather riders
Selling news, The monk bought lunch
Ha ha, he bought a little, Yes, he did, Woo!
This is the best part of the trip, This is the trip, the best part
I really like, What'd he say?, Yeah!, Yeah, right!
Pretty good, huh, Huh!, Yeah, I'm proud to be a part of this number
Successful hills are here to stay, Everything must be this way
Gentle streets where people play, Welcome to the Soft Parade
All our lives we sweat and save, Building for a shallow grave
Must be something else we say, Somehow to defend this place
Everything must be this way, Everything must be this way, yeah
The Soft Parade has now begun, Listen to the engines hum
People out to have some fun, A cobra on my left
Leopard on my right, yeah
The deer woman in a silk dress, Girls with beads around their necks
Kiss the hunter of the green vest, Who has wrestled before
With lions in the night
Out of sight!, The lights are getting brighter
The radio is moaning, Calling to the dogs
There are still a few animals, Left out in the yard
But it's getting harder, To describe sailors, To the underfed
Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure
What got us this far, To this mild equator?
We need someone or something new
Something else to get us through, yeah, c'mon
Callin' on the dogs, Callin' on the dogs
Oh, it's gettin' harder, Callin' on the dogs
Callin' in the dogs, Callin' all the dogs, Callin' on the gods
You gotta meet me, Too late, baby
Slay a few animals, At the crossroads, Too late
All in the yard, But it's gettin' harder, By the crossroads
You gotta meet me, Oh, we're goin', we're goin great
At the edge of town, Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure
Havin' a good time, Got to come along, What got us this far
To this mild equator?, Outskirts of the city, You and I
We need someone new, Somethin' new, Somethin' else to get us through
Better bring your gun, Better bring your gun
Tropic corridor, Tropic treasure, We're gonna ride and have some fun
When all else fails, We can whip the horse's eyes
And make them sleep, And cry
Lyrics submitted by kevin
Track duration: 03:12
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!
Reasoning:
1) "This is the best part of the trip, This is the trip, the best part
I really like, What'd he say?, Yeah!, Yeah, right!"
--During the middle of the song, jim starts saying exactly how everybody describes their favorite part of tripping on psychedelics, yet they can't describe because everyone defines it differently. Anybody who's ever done a psychedelic knows beyond all doubt that's what the quote is referencing.
Also, the second line is someone asking what he said... we all know it's hard to hear when you're tripping b/c of all the sounds that are going on around you.
2) the whole song structure is like a trip. it varies so much entirely and that's exactly what a trip is like. you do one thing then you do another and it's entirely different world. or you listen to one song while tripping then another, and it gives you a completely different mood and sounds so different from the last.
Besides that this song has much more to say than things drug related, but it was structured like a trip, and the quote I pasted above reveals the obvious to the listener.
First until forth line it tells us that god will not help u
because it doesnt exist we must rely in our skills not in skills
of one powerfull man,god etc.in fact it says that people must take
in their hands their lives and bring a new equal and beautifull
and as jim read philosophy he might be had a great influecne from epicurus
and ancient greek philosopher that said god is not interviring in
humans affairs(in fact was an atheist) society not to wait one man or leader
par example a president to solve their problems...From line six to five
it says about asylum and sanctuary well again we go to ancient greece, in ancient greece when you were in a
sanctuary area you had asylum(no one can kill or attack you) because he could not
live in such society(for not asking the society that we live the last 200 years is capitalism)
In "There is only for ways to get unraveled One is to sleep the other is travel until neighbour till
it says that in this sociey if you are a hippie or if you are a normal citizent the only think
that awaits you is destruction....In peppermin until Sandy it says about the will of the people
for women and pleasure and not to need to improve their lives and society itself
In Catacombs until Selling news some sentences are revealed such us Catacoms bones,nurse women,winter growing,
carying stones,river leather soes,Streets Avenues riders selling news it says about consumerism and the
usless thinks that are invented for profit par example it says about leather river shoes when leather cant
last in water and y cant even walk there, or it makes similar usless thinks with stones that are useless.
In the monk bought lunch it says that church doesnt do what it says and that cheat and use people
for other interests...."In haha he bough a little they make fun of the stupid monk that was revealed
.In "this is the best part until until somehow to defend this place"it says that he is a hippie and
that he belevies that this is the way to live better and that he is fihting for having a good life
but then suddently realises that he this way is wrong and the solution is another.In "Everything must be this way until fun"
it says that this is the solution(propably revolution i havent figure it) and it has already started
and that is what people deserve.In cobra on my left leopard on my right" he says
about FBI generally police and army that watch everythin and that they are going to kill you
if you leave these prototypes(common citizen or even an hippie).In "the deer woman until in the yard
it says about war of vietnam the media missinformation and as above the police work(political assassinations
,hunt down of commies that tried to make a better society or black people who wanted an equal society)
and that there are some that fight until now and will continue.In But it s getting harder until equator"
it says about immigrants(soft parade was writen during the assassination of Marin Luther King)
that they came because they are undefed and their will for freedom that make them last so far.
In we need someone or something new until Cllin on the gods"it says about that new idea
of society and how police and army tries to bring her down and the waiting of people for someone to save them
(when people must fight for his rights).In "you gotta until town"it says that the hunter 's victims that
are propably the commies in vietnam made their revolution and that the hunter will propalby lose and that
he is with them and he is going to meet the hunter in the edge of town probably to wrestle with him
so symbolic he takes a position against the hunter(supporters of capitalist system).Until the end it repeats some lyrics and it sas
When all else fails We can whip the horses eyes and make tham sleep and cry" there it makes clear that he is with the new society(something new
which is socialism)and that he is going to wrestle with the hunter with guns so here we talk about an violent revolution and when the succed
they are gonna to destroy their weapons(bring peace after war) and the war machine will cry
(the producers will cry the gun companies)This is my opinion Doors is one of the bands that had
the most symbolic lyrics so i may be wrong pls add a comment to express your opinion about my explanation...
And, basicly, well, it's "the doors". Youjust love them or you hate them. There's nothing to explain.
I'll qualify where I'm coming from, first.
I started college in the mid-60s, in Marin county. I was a fairly middle-of-the-road kid going to college, and the weird thing about that time was that, due mainly to the confluence of the anti-war and civil rights movements, there was a sharp generational divide: us versus them. I will assure you now that, as unbelievable as it seems, the majority of my generation, at that time, non-radicals and firebrands, thought that we were going to change the world, much for the better. I mean, we *really* thought that.
It was a highly unrealistic time and there was a sharp generational divide. This is a perfect environment for political protest songs and for feel-good utopian songs to thrive. And they did...
Note here that the content of the Doors' material was marked *less* political than mast of their other contemporaries. There may be references to situations caused by the political situation (Unknown Soldier, Peace Frog), but they are merely vehicles for the narrative--which is very often apocalyptic on the grand scale. They are not like "Come on, people, smile on your brother, everybody get together, time to love one another, right now..." ("Get Together" - Youngbloods). Or "There's something's happening here..." ("For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield).
When I first heard the Doors in 1967 I could tell that there was something quite different about what they were doing. I do not now think that this was under their control. I think it was a byproduct of the backgrounds of the individual band members. First and foremost, they were well-educated--had been exposed to classical western philosophy and mythology in comparative lit classes, and other similar humanities-based classes. So all of them had available to their imaginations much of the works of Freud, the writings of the 19C French decadents, classical mythological archetypes, etc. And I mean that *all* of them had at least some exposure.
Contrast this with the grunge or glam rock eras, where perhaps mention of the name "Aristophanes" would zoom right over the artists' heads. There's not a lot of allusion to tropes in much of the music that followed--nor was that all that much at that time (60s-70s), either: Mellow Yellow, my ass...
This is why, when listening to the Doors' lyrics, it's really important to listen for possible verifiable references *first*, and if you find none, you may be safe(r) in thinking that the lyrics are pretty much transparent--they have no alternative meanings. They did do such songs; I think that Love Street is fairly transparent--although, again, the subject of the song could be an archetypal love goddess.
Not so for "Runaround Sue" or "Maggie", huh? :^)
It seems pretty clear that Morrison thought of himself as a sort of modern manifestation of Dionysus. He may have at first thought that this was an interesting idea, but that it was not to considered seriously--but later, after the attention, the WILD, consistent adulation, the drugs and drinking, he may well have resolved that in fact, it was his pre-destined role to *be* a priest king--exalted--The Lizard King.
Really, his transformation, in his own mind, was probably similar to what happens to many successful athletes, who are subject to the same sort of unreality in their daily lives. Ever listened to LeBron James talk for a while?
Now if you take that POV, on songs that he did the lyrics for--consider that a demi-god is thinking aloud. That would be a good start. Morality does not actually apply to demi-gods, and don't forget that he was likely very familiar with Nietzche. So when you see the line:
"One is to love your neighbor 'till
His wife gets home."
the fact that this was sung by a male, and loving one's neighbor until his wife gets home was, at that time (believe me, it was not like it is now), a terrible taboo, similar to the sentiments expressed in "mother--yes, son--I want to fuck you"--you were playing with ethical/moral dynamite. You had a writer of lyrics who did not feel bound by normal moral sentiments. He was the Lizard King, and could "do anything".
Now such a person is not into advising their followers for their own good. He's not telling you *anything* you can use--he's musing aloud, for you to take from it what you will--to him, it doesn't matter. When you read that "Jim wanted to show..." or "Jim was telling us that...", this is not the person he appears to have been, from what I can see.
Now I'm not saying that Morrison was any such thing--clearly, becoming dead at 27 ought to purge anyone of that idea--but this is how he thought, and he's the author of much of their more elliptical material.
Over and out... :^)
s unpredictable, but catchy. I agree with what some of the people here are saying, that it's cycling through the mindset of each stage of life. Nothing terribly particular.
Someone told me that the verse "Winter women growing stones, carrying babies through the river" is a reference to lithopedians, calcified fetuses that turn to stone in the womb, and stay there for years and years.
Life is full of so many weird things, and that's what i think this song is trying to get to. or maybe this is just a bunch of poetic nonsense that came together as a song, and we're wasting time trying to interpret it. Who knows. It's a great song either way, one of my favourite recordings from The Doors.
I think the descriptions of the parade are to positive, and full of his distinctive primal imagery, for it to be a bad thing.
Then the over happy beat with these dark lyrics after that are sarcastic to me
Then the lines "successful hills are here to stay everything must be this way" section of the song is protesting our meaningless lives and greedy government and being free and fighting back. "When all else fails we can whip the horses eyes and make them sleep and cry" = after it's all said and done we will do to them what they did to us