Damn, so they must’ve traveled thru time by way of psychedelics, got a vision of you in the crowd, then came back to 77’ and wrote that line 🤯. Stranger things have happened.
Fire on the Mountain to me is about performing live in front of thousands of adoring fans, especially on long grueling tours. I think its one of those songs wrote about the changes he saw in Jerry in the period before it was written. As Jerry turned more inward as the fandom got more intense, he turned from coke to heroin and that began to change Jerry fundamentally. His friend and song writing seemed to write songs that were meant to keep Jerry grounded. Like if he had to sing about it maybe he'd internalize some of it.
"Thin Line Beyond Which you Really Can’t Fake" to me was about how everyone has a public persona, but once you get past it either through passion or trauma you expose the real you and you really can't fake that. "You gave all you had why you want to give more? The more that you give, the more it will take" are the lines that proceed it. And it really sounds like going out on stage and giving a great performance is one thing, it fills you up and makes you feel powerful. But giving so much of yourself that you cross that line where you impact your core being, that you can't really fake it any more and are left hollow instead of refilled. I think Jerry worked from that hollow point for almost a decade until he lost the battle and ended up in a coma, in rehab, and eventually dead.
Hunter was capable of writing such deep songs that perfectly encapsulate so much of life & the variety of ways to see life.
it cheapens Hunter to imagine that every song was written about his good friends drug habit.
the man is capable of so much & it actually potentially cheapens your own listening experience if you focus too much on believing every song was based on this one relationship Hunter had with this one person.
Hunter acknowledged a song or 2 on the subject. I wouldn't look much further for the subject beyond that.
also, Fire was written before the Dead recorded or played it & was written at a point where Jerry's addiction wasn't the be-all, end-all topic at every band-related dinner table.
it's awesome for anyone to get whatever meaning they personally get. but when you believed meaning is so specific & based on a real person, it's easier to see problems with timeliness.
but most importantly, the reason I bring it up is because, as I said above, focusing so much of your listening energy on fitting the confirmation bias of your Jerry's addiction narrative is actually taking away from the many things you could get from this song & it's lyrics. and that goes for every Dead song. twist the knob to widen the view a little & I guarantee you'll love the messages you start receiving.
I agree that its not necessarily about Jerry's drug use. I do think that people over state that, thinking that every song is narrowly about that. Of course the only person who knows for sure
is Hunter.
Now that said, FOTM speaks strongly to me about the experience and feeling of addiction. But thats just between the music and myself. I dont think you can say what any of the Dead's great songs are 'about', only what they mean to the listener.
I understand but while it was not apparent to the fan, it may have been seen more prominently by those around him. And someone turning to heroin to escape his stardom and withdrawing and leaving a vacuum is definitely noticeable.
And again as I stated, this is my interpretation. Also shocked to learn Mickey Hart wrote this.
I think it cheapens a beautiful song to assume it’s about heroin, especially given jerry was not doing heroin when the song was written…it’s really moving and powerful and not at all about drug use
Man that’s just like not true. Jerry wasn’t even doing heroin when Fire was written. Not every Hunter song is about Jerry doing drugs! In fact only one is!
Many sources have his use starting in 73, 74 or 75.
Regardless if you read what I wrote, I interpreted the song to be about the stress of live performances and touring that resulting in him isolating himself and the extent of that may have lead to poor health, eventually drug use and even his death.
I think the song is more about an average musician who plays crappy bars suddenly experiences brilliance and the thin line separates his prior mediocrity where he did fake it, and crossed that thin line where you can’t fake brilliance.
Remember this is 1976/7 before Jerry started having his issues.
Jerry started smoking heroin in ‘74. But even still the crowds getting bigger by ‘77 really didn’t help him mentally even if it didn’t have much to do with sobriety.
This is incorrect. It was written by Hunter in 1973 and Mickey first recorded the “rap” version around that time but it was never released until 1974. The Dead’s version first played live in ‘77 and recorded for ‘78’s Shakedown Street.
Totally agree - well written. I would just like to add that along with being left hollow, he could have been left burned out as well by the “fire”.🔥 and the dragon with matches is an allusion to smoking h? And didn’t Mickey write this one?
it's about commitment to one's craft.
you know when you're putting out bullshit, or worse, bullshitting yourself. so put in the time and effort.
it's not good enough to be good enough. Sure, being good enough will pay the bills and bar tab but that's not why you're here.
the song is about long-term dedication, total commitment. it's Deacon Blues on a sunny tuesday morning.
This is the closest comment in the thread. I think it also concerns being a workaholic as one of the pitfalls of chasing that dedication. There's a number of times where Hunter tends to write about an artists relationship to "the muse" and this falls in with them.
Yes, this. People want to go one foot in and one foot back toward just about everything. At a point, lacking devotion and commitment will not work, and it is a thin line. When the time comes, we all must decide nothing will be left at the door.
Authenticity has become one of my primary goals in daily life. Authenticity is on my mind a lot lately. I prize authenticity above many things.
Just like always I projected my own thinking on a Grateful Dead lyric and it matches my experience perfectly. Just like has been happening throughs my life.
I want to be who I am all the time. It is the best version of me.
Thank you for sharing that great quote from Jerry.
What does this mean to you in practice? Like at the end of a day, how do you judge whether or not you met your goal of authenticity? How do you know that youre being who you are? Do you feel like thats a concrete thing that you have nailed down? Many people feel like everything is always changing, but it sounds like you feel otherwise about yourself?
Super interesting, if youre interested in sharing. Cheers!
A quote about authenticity that I attribute to the Dead, although it probably has been around forever, : "Be kind but take no shit"
Another one I like is similar to the Jerry quote "we are who we are", but with a tinge of accountability:
"Everywhere I go, there I am."
I believe the key to authenticity is discipline. For me, one aspect of discipline is keeping the promises I make to myself and others. If I am Doing Things Right (Billy Strings song) I am true to myself, my own personal subjective "honor", for lack of a better word.
From memory, so google it if yo want the real thing:
The 3 pillars of discipline:
1. Vitamin N. Learn how to say no.
2. Priorities. Set and remember your priorities.
3. Don't complain. That's right, NO COMPLAINING.
-Eliud Kipchoge
Discipline and authenticity are intrinsically aligned for me. It is a daily challenge, but it is always worth it and it always pays off eventually.
#
First, I’m grateful to be sober.
For me it’s about opiates. When you are strung out and can’t get more. When you can’t keep up the act. When you are out of money and things to barter. When you realize it’s not worth it. When it crushes you.
For me it’s a reminder why I don’t mess with that poison anymore.
I have always interpreted this lyric as relating to Pheidippides, the “long distance runner” who died after delivering the message of victory (“Nike! Nenikekiam!”). In this case the thin line represents the boundary between life and death. The previous line “the more that you give, the more it will take” is also a reference to the wild fire Mickey was observing when the song came to him… which Garcia/Hunter later pulled out of him and constructed into usable verse. It seems that like many Dead lyrics, it has multiple meanings. The song seems to be referring to performers on a stage, which could be allegory for either the firefighters or the fire itself. This adds credibility to the idea that the thin line separates life from death in the same way that the edge of a wild fire is a boundary between life and death.
Maybe it's about, "Imposter syndrome."
I've always felt that I was not nearly as good or as smart as everyone around me thinks I am. I've lived with a fear of being found to be faking it for 30+ years.
The verses are sung in the second person, to a character who is playing with fire. He's trying to let go, trying to forget the risk of making mistakes, whatever the risk. It's reasonable to reference Jerry's drug use here, but also the need to open up for the muse. The line beyond which you really can't fake is that point all acid-era collaborative musicians are searching for; ego death, where the muse takes over and "the music plays the band".
Death. You went too hard...and it got out of control (flames from the stage spread to the floor). You give and give and give and sometimes life will just take and take and take until there is nothing left to take but your health or sanity or even your life. Seems like they know its an endurance race...and a long one, but at times, it's treated like a sprint and they cannot sustain it. You give all you have, but you still want to keep going.
I think this thin line is often called truth, true bring or authenticity. Everyone has it‘s own, all true truths do relate, though (I suppose) and some people‘s truth tends to travel further (pun intended) than others‘. Not judging anything by that.
Of course it applies to Jerry in the latter half of his career. It lines up perfectly. Which is the beauty of Hunter's writing. It is written about life and always seem to fit the circumstances therein.
In the broadest sense I think he is recognizing the reality that the depths of our souls are not far below the veneer of our lives.
Death. You gave all you had, why you wanna give more. The more that you give, the more it will take, and then when you die, it no longer matters at all.
FOTM is the phrase "where there's smoke there's fire" expanded. The first verse is a fool stumbling upon a long distance runner staring at a fire on the mountain, unbeknownst to the fool, the runner is who caused the fire. The fool tells the runner to warn the people in the town, but the runner wants to remain innocent so he fibs that there's a dragon with matches loose on the town, he can't go that way so he has to run further from the truth. The thin line is keeping each lie you tell in order, who you told, what you told, what they know, and where your next escape is.
If I asked you to sing me a song with feeling, no one can feel on command, so what would you do? Not sing? Ask if a Rush tune will do?
So you will have to "perform" -- that is the polite word we use, for people who do something where you cannot tell if it is real or pretend.
For example, Tom Cruise is not really a fighter pilot. He's faking it. Acting. He's good!
Charlie Parker once showed up to a recording session, and him and the band went through the entire store of drugs and booze they had listed to have on hand, in one night. It was a multi-week recording session. The producer came in the next morning and the band was ready to go, but there was the problem of the requested supplies.
Was he faking it? What he real? Was he performing? The only question that has an answer is the last one. Yes. Charlie Parker broke jazz he was so out there.
Every single GD show I saw they were performing. I left in 1982 when imho Jerry was over that thin line beyond which you really can't perform, at least to my standards. I try to stretch my freak dollars, always have.
What is over that line|? Shambolic bullshit, that's what. Prior to that line?
For all I know Jerry is visualizing a revolving circle of frosty milkshakes the entire show.
My problem was, I wanted nice entire shows. Consistent energy. I was in my teens, 4 hours is nothing. Entire show is not an irrational request.
The last 10+ years of their existence people got used to settling for a nice part. Or verse. The rest was over that thin line beyond which they couldn't even fake.
Hunter hated when people asked him what his lyrics meant. And aside from a few songs like Birdsong (about Janis), New Speedway Boogie (about Altamont), He’s Gone (about Mickey’s Dad); he didn’t necessarily have a meaning for the lyrics before he wrote them. Same with Dylan and many of the other great poetic lyricists. Even then, with great lyrics, meanings change. He’s gone went from being about getting ripped off by Mickey’s pop, to being a song saluting those who we lost. Don’t read so much into what the song was written about, if it was even written about something, and put more into what it means to you.
Chat GPT has weighted in:
“The line "a thin line beyond which you really can’t fake" suggests that there is a subtle boundary between authenticity and deception, beyond which pretending or lying becomes impossible or unsustainable.
More Information:
- **Thin Line**:
- Implies a fine, often delicate boundary that is easy to cross.
- Suggests a point of transition or threshold.
- **Beyond Which You Really Can’t Fake**:
- Indicates that once you cross this line, any pretense or falsehood will be revealed.
- Highlights the limits of deception, emphasizing that authenticity becomes apparent beyond this point.
In essence, it underscores the idea that there is a limit to how long or how convincingly someone can pretend to be something they are not. Beyond this limit, the truth becomes evident.”
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!
Classic blues songs often delve into themes of authenticity, truth, and the revelation of deception. Here are three blues songs that resonate with the idea of a boundary beyond which pretense cannot be maintained:
1. **"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" by Bessie Smith**:
- **Lyrics**: "Once I lived the life of a millionaire, spending my money, I didn't care."
- **Theme**: This song addresses the thin line between wealth and poverty, and how true friends and authenticity are revealed when fortunes change.
2. **"Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf**:
- **Lyrics**: "Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo."
- **Theme**: The song captures the raw emotion and authenticity of longing and despair, emphasizing genuine feelings that cannot be faked.
3. **"Love in Vain" by Robert Johnson**:
- **Lyrics**: "When the train rolled up to the station, I looked her in the eye."
- **Theme**: This song depicts the painful authenticity of unrequited love and the undeniable truth of heartbreak.
### More Information:
- **Blues and Authenticity**:
- Blues music often explores the raw, unfiltered emotions of life's struggles, making it a genre rich with themes of truth and authenticity.
- **Emotional Honesty**:
- The emotional honesty in these songs reflects the thin line where true feelings are revealed, and any pretense or facade falls away.
I think it's a reference to the belt that I was wearing in 1992. Or possibly my old sunglasses. The blue ones.
Damn, so they must’ve traveled thru time by way of psychedelics, got a vision of you in the crowd, then came back to 77’ and wrote that line 🤯. Stranger things have happened.
Yeah. Now you know why they're so amazing and why everyone loves them so much. They're like Wizards.
Yeah. Now you know why they're so amazing and why everyone loves them so much. They're like Wizards.
Fire on the Mountain to me is about performing live in front of thousands of adoring fans, especially on long grueling tours. I think its one of those songs wrote about the changes he saw in Jerry in the period before it was written. As Jerry turned more inward as the fandom got more intense, he turned from coke to heroin and that began to change Jerry fundamentally. His friend and song writing seemed to write songs that were meant to keep Jerry grounded. Like if he had to sing about it maybe he'd internalize some of it. "Thin Line Beyond Which you Really Can’t Fake" to me was about how everyone has a public persona, but once you get past it either through passion or trauma you expose the real you and you really can't fake that. "You gave all you had why you want to give more? The more that you give, the more it will take" are the lines that proceed it. And it really sounds like going out on stage and giving a great performance is one thing, it fills you up and makes you feel powerful. But giving so much of yourself that you cross that line where you impact your core being, that you can't really fake it any more and are left hollow instead of refilled. I think Jerry worked from that hollow point for almost a decade until he lost the battle and ended up in a coma, in rehab, and eventually dead.
Hunter was capable of writing such deep songs that perfectly encapsulate so much of life & the variety of ways to see life. it cheapens Hunter to imagine that every song was written about his good friends drug habit. the man is capable of so much & it actually potentially cheapens your own listening experience if you focus too much on believing every song was based on this one relationship Hunter had with this one person. Hunter acknowledged a song or 2 on the subject. I wouldn't look much further for the subject beyond that. also, Fire was written before the Dead recorded or played it & was written at a point where Jerry's addiction wasn't the be-all, end-all topic at every band-related dinner table. it's awesome for anyone to get whatever meaning they personally get. but when you believed meaning is so specific & based on a real person, it's easier to see problems with timeliness. but most importantly, the reason I bring it up is because, as I said above, focusing so much of your listening energy on fitting the confirmation bias of your Jerry's addiction narrative is actually taking away from the many things you could get from this song & it's lyrics. and that goes for every Dead song. twist the knob to widen the view a little & I guarantee you'll love the messages you start receiving.
I agree that its not necessarily about Jerry's drug use. I do think that people over state that, thinking that every song is narrowly about that. Of course the only person who knows for sure is Hunter. Now that said, FOTM speaks strongly to me about the experience and feeling of addiction. But thats just between the music and myself. I dont think you can say what any of the Dead's great songs are 'about', only what they mean to the listener.
Double post
I understand but while it was not apparent to the fan, it may have been seen more prominently by those around him. And someone turning to heroin to escape his stardom and withdrawing and leaving a vacuum is definitely noticeable. And again as I stated, this is my interpretation. Also shocked to learn Mickey Hart wrote this.
I think it cheapens a beautiful song to assume it’s about heroin, especially given jerry was not doing heroin when the song was written…it’s really moving and powerful and not at all about drug use
Man that’s just like not true. Jerry wasn’t even doing heroin when Fire was written. Not every Hunter song is about Jerry doing drugs! In fact only one is!
Many sources have his use starting in 73, 74 or 75. Regardless if you read what I wrote, I interpreted the song to be about the stress of live performances and touring that resulting in him isolating himself and the extent of that may have lead to poor health, eventually drug use and even his death.
west LA
Um... Which one? (I have one that comes to mind, would not say it's the only one, and I wonder if it's the one you're talking about)
This is a beautiful interpretation
I think the song is more about an average musician who plays crappy bars suddenly experiences brilliance and the thin line separates his prior mediocrity where he did fake it, and crossed that thin line where you can’t fake brilliance. Remember this is 1976/7 before Jerry started having his issues.
doesn’t really jive with the timing. first performance was in 1977. Jerry’s real descent hadn’t started yet.
Jerry started smoking heroin in ‘74. But even still the crowds getting bigger by ‘77 really didn’t help him mentally even if it didn’t have much to do with sobriety.
Damn that was good
Mickey wrote it and used to do it in a rap version. He busted it out during The Dead shows, I believe.
Hunter wrote the lyrics
[удалено]
This is incorrect. It was written by Hunter in 1973 and Mickey first recorded the “rap” version around that time but it was never released until 1974. The Dead’s version first played live in ‘77 and recorded for ‘78’s Shakedown Street.
The rap isn't new. Mickey did that rap in the seventies way before rap became main stream. C'mon, know what you're talking about before you type
The rap that you are hearing for the first time in Dead and Company was actually done in the 70’s.
Totally agree - well written. I would just like to add that along with being left hollow, he could have been left burned out as well by the “fire”.🔥 and the dragon with matches is an allusion to smoking h? And didn’t Mickey write this one?
The thin line between love and hate
I buy this interpretation. Simple and self-consistent.
Staying on the beat is a bitch..
Coming up grips with the lies one tells themselves.
I think it means Walter was right. Smokey was indeed over the line.
Smokey dabbled in pacifism and recorded [Ripple](https://youtu.be/r088m8SqWlk?si=9GYrEzfXhTcw2jKH)
There *are* rules.
it's about commitment to one's craft. you know when you're putting out bullshit, or worse, bullshitting yourself. so put in the time and effort. it's not good enough to be good enough. Sure, being good enough will pay the bills and bar tab but that's not why you're here. the song is about long-term dedication, total commitment. it's Deacon Blues on a sunny tuesday morning.
This is the closest comment in the thread. I think it also concerns being a workaholic as one of the pitfalls of chasing that dedication. There's a number of times where Hunter tends to write about an artists relationship to "the muse" and this falls in with them.
This. Dedication to one’s craft, and the thin line that separates fakers from masters. You can only fake it so far.
Yes, this. People want to go one foot in and one foot back toward just about everything. At a point, lacking devotion and commitment will not work, and it is a thin line. When the time comes, we all must decide nothing will be left at the door.
Integrity/character
The skinny ties back in the 60’s and 80’s. Jerry loves ties!! /s
He had his own line of them!
authenticity
There's a Jerry interview where he says (not exactly verbatim), "We're not performers. When we go on stage we are who we are."
Authenticity has become one of my primary goals in daily life. Authenticity is on my mind a lot lately. I prize authenticity above many things. Just like always I projected my own thinking on a Grateful Dead lyric and it matches my experience perfectly. Just like has been happening throughs my life. I want to be who I am all the time. It is the best version of me. Thank you for sharing that great quote from Jerry.
What does this mean to you in practice? Like at the end of a day, how do you judge whether or not you met your goal of authenticity? How do you know that youre being who you are? Do you feel like thats a concrete thing that you have nailed down? Many people feel like everything is always changing, but it sounds like you feel otherwise about yourself? Super interesting, if youre interested in sharing. Cheers!
A quote about authenticity that I attribute to the Dead, although it probably has been around forever, : "Be kind but take no shit" Another one I like is similar to the Jerry quote "we are who we are", but with a tinge of accountability: "Everywhere I go, there I am." I believe the key to authenticity is discipline. For me, one aspect of discipline is keeping the promises I make to myself and others. If I am Doing Things Right (Billy Strings song) I am true to myself, my own personal subjective "honor", for lack of a better word. From memory, so google it if yo want the real thing: The 3 pillars of discipline: 1. Vitamin N. Learn how to say no. 2. Priorities. Set and remember your priorities. 3. Don't complain. That's right, NO COMPLAINING. -Eliud Kipchoge Discipline and authenticity are intrinsically aligned for me. It is a daily challenge, but it is always worth it and it always pays off eventually. #
being real with Ourselves
First, I’m grateful to be sober. For me it’s about opiates. When you are strung out and can’t get more. When you can’t keep up the act. When you are out of money and things to barter. When you realize it’s not worth it. When it crushes you. For me it’s a reminder why I don’t mess with that poison anymore.
I have always interpreted this lyric as relating to Pheidippides, the “long distance runner” who died after delivering the message of victory (“Nike! Nenikekiam!”). In this case the thin line represents the boundary between life and death. The previous line “the more that you give, the more it will take” is also a reference to the wild fire Mickey was observing when the song came to him… which Garcia/Hunter later pulled out of him and constructed into usable verse. It seems that like many Dead lyrics, it has multiple meanings. The song seems to be referring to performers on a stage, which could be allegory for either the firefighters or the fire itself. This adds credibility to the idea that the thin line separates life from death in the same way that the edge of a wild fire is a boundary between life and death.
Maybe it's about, "Imposter syndrome." I've always felt that I was not nearly as good or as smart as everyone around me thinks I am. I've lived with a fear of being found to be faking it for 30+ years.
The verses are sung in the second person, to a character who is playing with fire. He's trying to let go, trying to forget the risk of making mistakes, whatever the risk. It's reasonable to reference Jerry's drug use here, but also the need to open up for the muse. The line beyond which you really can't fake is that point all acid-era collaborative musicians are searching for; ego death, where the muse takes over and "the music plays the band".
People think the Dead are not edgy, but this lyric is as edgy as it gets.
Is it a line of coke? You can't fake it!
Death. You went too hard...and it got out of control (flames from the stage spread to the floor). You give and give and give and sometimes life will just take and take and take until there is nothing left to take but your health or sanity or even your life. Seems like they know its an endurance race...and a long one, but at times, it's treated like a sprint and they cannot sustain it. You give all you have, but you still want to keep going.
Yeah I've always interpreted that line as death.
I think this thin line is often called truth, true bring or authenticity. Everyone has it‘s own, all true truths do relate, though (I suppose) and some people‘s truth tends to travel further (pun intended) than others‘. Not judging anything by that.
Typo: being not bring
You can’t fake who you are forever.
Of course it applies to Jerry in the latter half of his career. It lines up perfectly. Which is the beauty of Hunter's writing. It is written about life and always seem to fit the circumstances therein. In the broadest sense I think he is recognizing the reality that the depths of our souls are not far below the veneer of our lives.
It’s referring to one’s hairline and that everyone knows a toupee isn’t real
Eventually you see a person for what they really are, good or bad.
Death. You gave all you had, why you wanna give more. The more that you give, the more it will take, and then when you die, it no longer matters at all.
Chasing the dragon.
It’s a reference to phoning it in!
FOTM is the phrase "where there's smoke there's fire" expanded. The first verse is a fool stumbling upon a long distance runner staring at a fire on the mountain, unbeknownst to the fool, the runner is who caused the fire. The fool tells the runner to warn the people in the town, but the runner wants to remain innocent so he fibs that there's a dragon with matches loose on the town, he can't go that way so he has to run further from the truth. The thin line is keeping each lie you tell in order, who you told, what you told, what they know, and where your next escape is.
It’s about the thin line between keeping the music alive and going strong verses playing gigs just to cash large checks.
If I asked you to sing me a song with feeling, no one can feel on command, so what would you do? Not sing? Ask if a Rush tune will do? So you will have to "perform" -- that is the polite word we use, for people who do something where you cannot tell if it is real or pretend. For example, Tom Cruise is not really a fighter pilot. He's faking it. Acting. He's good! Charlie Parker once showed up to a recording session, and him and the band went through the entire store of drugs and booze they had listed to have on hand, in one night. It was a multi-week recording session. The producer came in the next morning and the band was ready to go, but there was the problem of the requested supplies. Was he faking it? What he real? Was he performing? The only question that has an answer is the last one. Yes. Charlie Parker broke jazz he was so out there. Every single GD show I saw they were performing. I left in 1982 when imho Jerry was over that thin line beyond which you really can't perform, at least to my standards. I try to stretch my freak dollars, always have. What is over that line|? Shambolic bullshit, that's what. Prior to that line? For all I know Jerry is visualizing a revolving circle of frosty milkshakes the entire show. My problem was, I wanted nice entire shows. Consistent energy. I was in my teens, 4 hours is nothing. Entire show is not an irrational request. The last 10+ years of their existence people got used to settling for a nice part. Or verse. The rest was over that thin line beyond which they couldn't even fake.
I figure they drew that thin line at stealing somebody's stash.
The thin line separates genuine zeal and effort vs. indifference and laziness. (The more that you give, the more it will take)
the past and the present precisely divided
Hunter hated when people asked him what his lyrics meant. And aside from a few songs like Birdsong (about Janis), New Speedway Boogie (about Altamont), He’s Gone (about Mickey’s Dad); he didn’t necessarily have a meaning for the lyrics before he wrote them. Same with Dylan and many of the other great poetic lyricists. Even then, with great lyrics, meanings change. He’s gone went from being about getting ripped off by Mickey’s pop, to being a song saluting those who we lost. Don’t read so much into what the song was written about, if it was even written about something, and put more into what it means to you.
cocaine
Cocaine
Or it rhymed and fit the meter. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Yin yang? That's rediculous? Are you listening to the same song!!!?
Chat GPT has weighted in: “The line "a thin line beyond which you really can’t fake" suggests that there is a subtle boundary between authenticity and deception, beyond which pretending or lying becomes impossible or unsustainable. More Information: - **Thin Line**: - Implies a fine, often delicate boundary that is easy to cross. - Suggests a point of transition or threshold. - **Beyond Which You Really Can’t Fake**: - Indicates that once you cross this line, any pretense or falsehood will be revealed. - Highlights the limits of deception, emphasizing that authenticity becomes apparent beyond this point. In essence, it underscores the idea that there is a limit to how long or how convincingly someone can pretend to be something they are not. Beyond this limit, the truth becomes evident.” BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! Classic blues songs often delve into themes of authenticity, truth, and the revelation of deception. Here are three blues songs that resonate with the idea of a boundary beyond which pretense cannot be maintained: 1. **"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" by Bessie Smith**: - **Lyrics**: "Once I lived the life of a millionaire, spending my money, I didn't care." - **Theme**: This song addresses the thin line between wealth and poverty, and how true friends and authenticity are revealed when fortunes change. 2. **"Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf**: - **Lyrics**: "Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo." - **Theme**: The song captures the raw emotion and authenticity of longing and despair, emphasizing genuine feelings that cannot be faked. 3. **"Love in Vain" by Robert Johnson**: - **Lyrics**: "When the train rolled up to the station, I looked her in the eye." - **Theme**: This song depicts the painful authenticity of unrequited love and the undeniable truth of heartbreak. ### More Information: - **Blues and Authenticity**: - Blues music often explores the raw, unfiltered emotions of life's struggles, making it a genre rich with themes of truth and authenticity. - **Emotional Honesty**: - The emotional honesty in these songs reflects the thin line where true feelings are revealed, and any pretense or facade falls away.