need smashmouth lyrics - Walkin' ON the Sun !
Charles Davis
From
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/1638/walksun.html
WALKIN' ON THE SUN
WALKIN’ ON THE SUN
It ain't no joke I'd like to buy the world a toke
And teach the world to sing in perfect harmony
And teach the world to snuff the fires and the liars
Hey I know it's just a song but it's spice for the recipe
This is a love attack I know it went out but it's back.
It's just like any fad it retracts before impact
And just like fashion it's a passion for the with it and hip
If you got the goods they'll come and buy it just to stay in the clique
CHORUS:
So don't delay act now supplies are running out
Allow if you're still alive six to eight years to arrive
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow
But if the offer is shun you might as well be walkin' on the sun
Twenty-five years ago they spoke out and they broke out
Of recession and oppression and together they toked
And they folked out with guitars around a bonfire
Just singin' and clappin' man what the hell happened
Some were spellbound some were hellbound
Some they fell down and some got back up and
Fought back 'gainst the melt down
And their kids were hippie chicks all hypocrites
Because fashion is smashin' the true meaning of it
It ain't no joke when a mama's handkerchief is soaked
With her tears because her baby's life has been revoked
The bond is broke up so choke up and focus on the close up
Mr. Wizard can't perform no godlike hocus-pocus
So don't sit back kick back and watch the world get bushwhacked
News at 10:00 your neighborhood is under attack
Put away the crack before the crack puts you away
You need to be there when your baby’s old enough to relate
Ah, SMASH MOUTH’S song that shall surely appeal to the masses (i.e.,
“accessible”). Accessible or not, this is simply a
great song.
This song is a satirical look on human being’s propensity to follow
“fads” and “trends.” And as a witty move on SMASH
MOUTH’s part, they made the song sound like a song that was written in
the surf and flower-power era (check out the
inspired Doors-like organ sound). And in their video, the visuals are
complementary with the vocals and music because it also
mocks the fads the characters in the video are wearing--including SMASH
MOUTH’s members themselves.
Let us examine each verse and the chorus (1):
It ain't no joke, I'd like to buy the world a toke;
And teach the world to sing in perfect harmony;----------[ toke? coke? ]
And teach the world to snuff the fires and the liars;
Hey I know it's just a song, but it's spice for the recipe.
This is a love attack, I know it went out but it's back.
It's just like any fad: it retracts before impact.
And just like fashion it's a passion for the with it and hip.
If you got the goods they'll come and buy it* just to stay in the
clique. [*them (2)]
You might first say, “Hey, this guy has good intentions! He wants to
make us aware of the groovy past once again (the “love
attack”)!” But if you look at the last three lines, he knows that it is
not possible, and that it is only an illusion--an ideal. Why do
we sense that? Those very last lines allude to fads and make an
important comment about them: they disappear before they
make an earth-shattering or life-changing impact upon us (“it retracts
before impact”). He also comments on the fact that a fad
only creates a specific clique--and not the “worldwide clique” as the
song wants (“the world sing[ing] in perfect harmony).
With that in mind, we realize that he purposefully wanted the term
“toke” to have double meanings. Initially, we feel that he
meant it in a camaraderie-sharing sort of way. But upon second look, he
actually means fads are the tokes: they’re the drugs
that we just have to have, just because they are in “fashion.”
CHORUS:
So don't delay, act now supplies are running out;
Allow, if you're still alive, six to eight years to arrive.
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow;
But if the offer is shun you might as well be walkin' on the sun.
Here the narrator’s sarcasm is exposed. Better get the fads before they
expire. And here’s that wonderful imagery SMASH
MOUTH impresses me with: people who were not able to become part of the
fad should just as well walk on the sun. The
thing is: what the hell does that mean? Perhaps I’m stretching it here
but I would like to compare this to the fairy tale of “The
Pied Piper of Hamlin”: I’m referring to the part where the boy wasn’t
able to enter the Piper’s magic mountain because of his
limp. Anyway, he wasn’t “with it” (okay, so I’m not really referring to
the story here), so he feels depressed about the whole
thing--hmm, is he a perfect candidate to walk on the sun? You bet your
sweet ass he is!
So is the narrator claiming that fads are important?
For goodness sakes, if you said “yes,” then you haven’t been listening
at all and I think I shall point to the sun--because I feel
that you should be walking on it! ;)
Twenty-five years ago, they spoke out and they broke out
Of recession and oppression and together they toked.
And they folked out with guitars around a bonfire;
Just singin' and clappin'--man what the hell happened?
Some were spellbound, some were hellbound,
Some they fell down, and some got back up and
Fought back 'gainst the melt down.
And their kids were hippie chicks--all hypocrites--
Because fashion is smashin' the true meaning of it.
Okay, now that his point has been made, the narrator becomes specific:
25 years ago (man, I was a zygote still!). He is talking
about the flower-power era of the late '60s and early '70s. The narrator
asks, “What happened? What happened to their
ideals of love, harmony, and world peace? What happened to the dreamers
(“spellbound”)? To the revolutionaries
(“hellbound”)? To the defeated, yet adamant, ones (“some...fell down”)?
And now their kids are wearing the clothes their parents used to wear
during this flower-power era. The thing is, the fashion
has demeaned and belittled the value and meaning of their parents’
ideals. The message of peace, love, and understanding
(hmm, for some reason, I feel like singing: “As I walked through, this
wicked world...” oops!) has disappeared...
It ain't no joke when a mama's handkerchief is soaked
With her tears, because her baby's life has been revoked.
The bond is broke up, so choke up, and focus on the close up;
Mr. Wizard can't perform no godlike hocus-pocus.
So don't sit back, kick back, and watch the world get bushwhacked:
News at 10:00, your neighborhood is under attack.
Put away the crack before the crack puts you away.
You need to be there when your baby’s old enough to relate.
Now this verse is an enigma to me. What the hell is it referring to?!!!
But hear me out, I just might make some sense:
Has the baby’s life been truly revoked (i.e., dead)? Of course not. It’s
that vivid SMASH MOUTH imagery at its best again.
It’s an exaggerated description of the generation gap between parent and
child. The mother is crying because she is saddened
at how her “baby” perceives her era: just as a fad, a fashion, and
nothing more. “Mr. Wizard” (3) is a nice touch that will ring a
bell in the hearts of many Gen-Xers who had watched that show; anyway,
the significance of Mr. Wizard is that he shares his
scientific genius among children. Now you see the connection?
The last four lines sounds alarming--as though there is a big calamity
about to occur. In fact, Steve Harwell’s voice goes up an
octave in this part. The imagery he shows us is a cyberpunk world (ok,
that’s just me imagination) that the adult “baby” is now
living in. The pattern has resumed again: 25 years (or more) have passed
again and now their own children is copying them;
and as the adult “baby” has become a hypocrite, their children will also
become hypocrites.
And now the “toke” that the narrator wanted to share in the first place,
now wants the adult “baby” to “put away the crack
before the crack puts [them] away.” Now try substituting “crack” with
“fad.” Ah, the narrator is urging us--yes, us--to not
become slaves to fads. Because if we don’t become slaves to them, we
will not end up just as a fad, just as a perceived image,
and just as a fashion for our children in the future to emulate.
Instead, they shall perceive us as human beings.
What a wonderful song this is, isn’t it?
footnotes:
(1) i took liberties in placing proper punctuation marks in this one
song only. i’m very sorry.
(2) why did i put “them” when steve harwell clearly didn’t sing that?
well, he had apparently committed the common error of
not making the pronoun agree with the antecedent (noun or pronoun in the
sentence subject): the subject (antecedent) is
“fads,” hence the pronoun should have been “them.” if it was “fad,” then
“it” would be the appropriate pronoun*.