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And I would turn on the TV, but it's so embarrassing,
To see all the other people, I don't know what they mean.
And it was magic at first when they spoke without sound,
But now this world is gonna hurt.
You'd better turn that thing down.
Turn it around.
"Well, it wasn't me," says the boy with the gun,
"Sure I pulled the trigger, but it needed to be done,
Because life's been killing me ever since it begun.
You can't blame me, 'cuz I’m too young."
"You can't blame me; sure the killer was my son,
But I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun.
It's the killing on this TV screen.
You can't blame me; it's those images he's seen."
"Well, you can't blame me," says the media man,
"Well I wasn't the one who came up with the plan.
And I just point my camera what the people want to see.
Man, it's a two-way mirror and you can't blame me."
"You can't blame me," says the singer of the song
Or the maker of the movie which he bases life on.
"It's only entertainment and as anyone can see,
Its smoke machines and make up man, you can't fool me."
It was you, it was me, it was every man.
We've all got the blood on our hands.
We only receive what we demand,
And if we want hell, then hell's what we'll have.
And I would turn on the TV, but it's so embarrassing.
To see all the other people, don't even know what they mean
And it was magic at first, but let everyone down,
And now this world's gonna hurt.
You'd better turn it around.
Turn it around.
To see all the other people, I don't know what they mean.
And it was magic at first when they spoke without sound,
But now this world is gonna hurt.
You'd better turn that thing down.
Turn it around.
"Well, it wasn't me," says the boy with the gun,
"Sure I pulled the trigger, but it needed to be done,
Because life's been killing me ever since it begun.
You can't blame me, 'cuz I’m too young."
"You can't blame me; sure the killer was my son,
But I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun.
It's the killing on this TV screen.
You can't blame me; it's those images he's seen."
"Well, you can't blame me," says the media man,
"Well I wasn't the one who came up with the plan.
And I just point my camera what the people want to see.
Man, it's a two-way mirror and you can't blame me."
"You can't blame me," says the singer of the song
Or the maker of the movie which he bases life on.
"It's only entertainment and as anyone can see,
Its smoke machines and make up man, you can't fool me."
It was you, it was me, it was every man.
We've all got the blood on our hands.
We only receive what we demand,
And if we want hell, then hell's what we'll have.
And I would turn on the TV, but it's so embarrassing.
To see all the other people, don't even know what they mean
And it was magic at first, but let everyone down,
And now this world's gonna hurt.
You'd better turn it around.
Turn it around.
Lyrics submitted by jw11
Track duration: 02:56
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Notice how in every line the blame starts in an institution (life,media,entertainment) but a person ends up refuting it.
The boy says its not my fault as a person but life's fault. It has corrupted me and has been bringing me down since I was born (Cause life's been killing me ever since it begun). This is very similar to what Rousseau believed we start off blank slates but society corrupts us.
Then the dad says don't blame me its killing on the tv that he's been watching (another institution). But look who responds the media man who once again blames it on society (I just point my camera at what the people want to see)
Then it seems that songs and movies and all entertainment is blamed, but look who Jack Johnson writes as the defender of these things: the singer of the song and the make of the movie
It seems as though through the whole song people are trying to blame these institutions, but as you see in each defense their is a person or people behind every institution, and in reality people are to blame.
This is why Rousseau's man is good and institutions are bad theory just doesn't do it for me because well man makes up institutions.
And I think thats what Jack is saying it is all of our faults. If we keep demanding and supporting the corrupt the corrupt will become our influence and consequently we will become corrupt and make things corrupt. It's a vicious cycle..... lets step out of it
Then he went in depth by talking about society in general. We all blame everybody else when bad things happen but do we ever stop for a second to think about our impact on the world?
This song to me feels like a wake up call. We can go around blaming everybody else but really it's us as community.
"We only receive what we demand, and if we want hell, then hell's what we'll have."
All we do is complain and demand and as a result it creates chaos but it seems to me that when things go wrong we don't know why.
Basically I love this song & Jack Johnson has been my favorite since I was 5 amazing artist.
Even though he can't be truly authentic- this is his best effort, for sure.
Some men are afraid to be themselves....
“Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?
Daddy took the cookie from the cookie jar.
Who me? Yes you.
Couldn’t be. Then who?”
Many of us have heard this childhood rhyme, but not many have taken the time to really understand what it is saying. In the song “Cookie Jar” by Jack Johnson, he takes this rhyme into a real life situation, where a boy kills himself but nobody would take the blame for what happened.
In the first verse Jack sings, “I would turn on the TV, but it’s so embarrassing to see all the other people. I don’t know what they mean. It was magic at first, when they spoke without sound, but now the world is gonna hurt, you better turn that thing down”
I believe what Jack is saying here is that when the television first came out, people were excited for it. Everyone wanted to sit around the television set and watch shows with their family. As time went on and the news came out, people were eager to learn what was going on in their country. However, as time progressed, the news became more negative. War, violence and other tragedies became nightly topics for the news. Jack notices this and wonders if it would just be better not to know about any of it and turn off the TV.
The second verse talks about a boy who committed suicide because “life was killing him ever since it begun” and that it wasn’t his fault he ended his life because he was too young. This verse is just the start of snowball effect that happens throughout the song.
The next verse comes from the boy’s father’s point of view. He says, “Sure, the killer was my son, but I didn’t teach him to pull the trigger of the gun. It’s the killing on this TV screen. You can’t blame me, it’s those images he’s seen”. I think this is a reference back to the first verse where Jack talks about the violence, killings, and crime that are on the TV. In a live version of the song, Jack adds in a line about the father blaming his son’s death because of video games, along with that is seen on the television.
The next verse talks about the “media man” who the father blamed. Instead of accepting the blame, he says, “I just point my camera at what the people want to see, it’s a two way mirror and you can’t blame me”. I agree with what he is saying in this verse. When going to the movies, many people get bored if the movie isn’t full of violence, sex, and vulgar language. This only pressures the media man to keep filming what might have caused the boy’s suicide.
In the sixth verse, Jack Johnson puts the truth very straightforward, singing, “It was you, it was me, it was every man. We’ve all got the blood on our hands. We only receive what we demand and if we want hell, then hell is what we’ll have”. What Jack Johnson is saying is that it isn’t just one person who is to blame, it is everyone. As a society, we have a responsibility to say that what is being put on the news and on television screens is not what we want to see and that it is causing problems, like this boy’s suicide and that if we don’t stop it, we are only asking for hell and that is what we are going to get.
I think that the message Jack Johnson is trying to get across in this song is that you can’t just blame one person for the death of this young boy. As a society, we have the power to voice our opinion and say what we think should be allowed on the news, movies and other mediums of communication. To end the song, Jack sings, “You better turn it around.” I think that this is a strong way to end the song. It leaves the listener with a feeling of responsibility to speak up and say that what is being shown through media is not want we want to see and that something should be changed.
We've all got the blood on our hands.
We only receive what we demand,
And if we want hell, then hell's what we'll have."
If anyone's read/seen the play 'An inspector calls'
The same kind of lesson is preached.
We don't want to take the blame for the violence/ tragedy in our world but we all have 'blood on our hands.'
3. Cookie jar was one I just wrote
I think I was in Australia
I heard about the columbine shootings
And I just remember it tripped me out for a while
And when I got home it was all over the news
And just seeing everyone trying to figure it out
like passing blame, it was this, it was that
This is a pretty simple theme it just the idea of it nobody’s fault
its just kind of everyone as a society, adds to it
There’s nothing particular to point the finger at
its just as much my fault as anybody else’s
That were at this point, just humans evolving
It also ties into people looking at the TV screen and believing anything they see
And it has the first line “I would turn on the TV but it’s so embarrassing”
Cuse sometimes I just get embarrassed when I turn on the TV
Cuse were all the same thing
But I see people doing silly things on a reality TV show
It kind of makes me feel stupid
So I try not to turn it on to much.