After the glow, the scene, the stage
The sad talk becomes slow but there's one thing I'll never forget
Hey, you gotta pay your dues before you pay the rent
Over the turnstiles and out in the traffic
There's ways of living, it's the way I'm living, right or wrong
It's all that I can do and I wouldn't want to let you be

I want a range life if, I could settle down
If I could settle down, then I would settle down
I want a range life, if I could settle down
If I could settle down, then I would settle down

Run from the pigs, the fuzz, the cops, the heat
Pass me your gloves, this crime, it is never complete
Until you snort it up or shoot it down, you're never gonna feel free
Out on my skateboard, the night is just humming
And the gum smacks are the pulse I'll follow if my walkman fades
Well, I got absolutely no one, no one but myself to blame
Don't worry, we're in no hurry, school's out, what did you expect?

I want a range life if, I could settle down
If I could settle down, then I would settle down
I want a range life, if I could settle down
If I could settle down, then I would settle down
Yeah

Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins
Nature kids, I, they don't have no function
I don't understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck
Stone Temple Pilots, they're elegant bachelors
They're foxy to me, are they foxy to you?
I will agree they deserve absolutely nothing, nothing more than me

Dreaming, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream


Lyrics submitted by TheInvisibleOne, edited by luke32113

Range Life Lyrics as written by Stephen Malkmus

Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Range Life song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

42 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +6
    General Comment

    My girlfriend in college loved Smashing Pumpkins and hated Pavement because of this song and rivalry. Needless to say Pavement was/is my favorite band. They were always inspired, if lazy genius over hack technical proficiency. The best, laziest band ever.

    No, Tina and I didn't fall in love to Pavement, but years later, she's gone, probably a lawyer or some other crap. I'm a professional temp, but I bet I have more fun.

    And what about STP, they're foxy to me, are they foxy to you?

    DevastatorJr.on January 25, 2005   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    What is meant by "Range Life"?

    Chartstopper wrote:

    The title "Range Life" appears to be Malkmus's translation of the French term "une vie rang�e," which means an ordered, structured life. A range life would be an ordinary life, an "arranged" life, a comfortable life, a life of shady lanes perhaps. Malkmus probably studied French at UVA. I realized that he must have been referring to "une vie rang�e" when I encountered the term in a poem I studied in a French class a few years ago. From what I've heard, he finally found his range life with his wife, his kids, and his well-established career. Maybe that's why his music doesn't do much for me anymore. There was so much emotion in his voice on those old Pavement records. <<

    I think this sums it up, but I always considered it to relate to an American idiom from "Home on the Range."

    Something like this:

    Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
    Where the deer and the antelope play,
    Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
    And the skies are not cloudy all day.
    
        Home, home on the range,
        Where the deer and the antelope play;
        Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
        And the skies are not cloudy all day.

    So the meaning is the same - the narrator yearns for a quaint, quiet, peaceful life - but not right now. Maybe the French idiom relates to the American song (?????)

    But there's another thought, also, in Elevate Me Later:

    Those who sleep with electric guitars Range roving with the cinema stars And I wouldn't want to shake their hand Cause they're in such a high protein land

    Is this also what SM means by "Range Life"? Probably not - but just a thought.

    moikon February 08, 2012   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Pumpkins never will have the talent or the lyrical value that Pavement/Stephen Malkmus has. Corgan had a bogus reason too...he didnt like Malkmus, he demanded they be dropped from the tour or else he would leave. "People dont fall in love to Pavements music, they fall in love while listening to Smashing Pumpkins." -Billy Corgan

    Meaning of the song is pretty clear..its about the band on tour, no question.

    Amnesiac Angelson May 26, 2004   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Billy Corgan is one of the most pissy, egotistical bitches in the music industry. Why people actually like him or respect him, I will never know.

    He recently launched a ridiculously insulting and blatantly transphobic tirade against effects pedal designer Devi Ever.

    "you ugly piece of shit...if i ever run into you, anywhere, at anytime, for as long as i live, i will knock your fucking lights out. don't ever come near me, and if i hear even one more peep out of you in public about me, or the band, or the members of the band, i am gonna sue you for so much you'll never be able to afford so much as to even make a fucking guitar cable."

    RaygunShaunon September 03, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Fucking Billy Corgan. Whatever, dude.

    ANYWAY, this is one of my favorite Pavement songs ever. I don't care what it means, and with Pavement ... who fucking knows anyway?

    nitsirhcon December 29, 2005   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    On the booklet that comes with the album Malkimus says that he wrote the part about the smashing pumpkins to prove a point that people and the media would get more caught up with him making fun off the smashing pumpkins then actually focusing on oh I dont know the music which is exactly what happened.

    I think the song is about living life and having all this excitement in your life and enjoying that but at the same time wanting to settle down

    rjbassgon January 31, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is probably the best country-rock song that's not on The Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo." Even if you don't care much about the Pavement/Pumpkins drama, you can still enjoy the catchy-as-hell melody.

    brilliantcareeron November 12, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I beg to differ that people don't fall in love listening to Pavement.

    I have. I have had my heartbroken to Pavement, and then had it sewn back up to Pavement.

    The Pumpkins have not made a significant dent in the life of anyone with whom I'm familiar or my own. Pavement thought, has honestly changed mine.

    Corgan has NOTHING on Malkmus.

    love your buttonson May 10, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The title "Range Life" appears to be Malkmus's translation of the French term "une vie rangée," which means an ordered, structured life. A range life would be an ordinary life, an "arranged" life, a comfortable life, a life of shady lanes perhaps. Malkmus probably studied French at UVA. I realized that he must have been referring to "une vie rangée" when I encountered the term in a poem I studied in a French class a few years ago. From what I've heard, he finally found his range life with his wife, his kids, and his well-established career. Maybe that's why his music doesn't do much for me anymore. There was so much emotion in his voice on those old Pavement records.

    Chartstopperon October 14, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i want a range life...

    purplehaze8xon March 25, 2005   Link

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

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Holiday
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday". I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.