View Full Version : what is sabotage actually about?
Does anyone know what the lyrics in sabotage actually mean? I've had the track since IC came out but never really tried to work out what it means.
cheers
Extra Cheese
09-12-2005, 10:42 AM
rolling stone( or some other magazine) said it was about paparazzi
sam i am
09-12-2005, 10:50 AM
Sounds like an anti-religious belief ("I've got these fucking thorns in my side, oh my God, it's a mirage, I'm tryin to tell y'all it's sabotage") track in some respects.
But, the anti-paparazzi idea is potent as well.
"I can't stand it" (the attention from the media?)
"I know you planned it, I'm gonna set it straight, this watergate." (anti-politics?)
"I can't stand nuthin when I'm in this place because I feel disgrace because you're all in my face. But make no mistake and push on my channel, I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle..." (who knows?)
midzi
09-12-2005, 10:56 AM
Sounds like an anti-religious belief ("I've got these fucking thorns in my side, oh my God, it's a mirage, I'm tryin to tell y'all it's sabotage") track in some respects.
But, the anti-paparazzi idea is potent as well.
"I can't stand it" (the attention from the media?)
"I know you planned it, I'm gonna set it straight, this watergate." (anti-politics?)
"I can't stand nuthin when I'm in this place because I feel disgrace because you're all in my face. But make no mistake and push on my channel, I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle..." (who knows?)
Taking into account that he attacked a journalist few months before the album came out(and the lyrics to sabotage where added at the end) this sounds reasonable/
But who knows what was in his mind. :confused:
NurfBallJeaneus
09-12-2005, 11:09 AM
Does anyone know what the lyrics in sabotage actually mean? I've had the track since IC came out but never really tried to work out what it means.
cheers
Pumpkin pie and dust bunnies.
boys_beastie
09-12-2005, 11:15 AM
crystal balls
Fade2White
09-13-2005, 06:36 PM
the minnesota vikings
Laver1969
09-13-2005, 08:23 PM
Taking into account that he attacked a journalist few months before the album came out(and the lyrics to sabotage where added at the end) this sounds reasonable/
But who knows what was in his mind. :confused:
That makes sense. (y) The scuffle with the photographer/journalist happened not long after River Phoenix died in 1993.
sheesh
09-13-2005, 09:15 PM
Sometimes I don't question a damn good song. :)
!!!brittany!!!
09-13-2005, 10:05 PM
what happened with the journalist?
P.T.B.A.I.
09-14-2005, 04:37 AM
Yeah, do tell. *assumes comfortable position near blazing fireplace*
Space
09-15-2005, 09:41 PM
adrock lost his buddy river phoenix to a herion overdose, and at the funeral there was a photographer sneaking shots all around him, being upset, adam got in the dudes face.
personally, i think the song is about his recording career and things like obligations on contracts...ie rocking out at that time.
discopants
09-19-2005, 04:13 AM
Moustaches.
Moustaches.
that explains it then!
discopants
09-23-2005, 04:11 AM
that explains it then!
Yup.
I can't stand it, I know you planned it.
Says it all.
Yup.
I can't stand it, I know you planned it.
Says it all.
huh?!?!?!?!
:D
Weezman
09-23-2005, 09:43 AM
relates to the CHICAGO CUBS not winning a World Series since 1908!? :D
discopants
09-26-2005, 03:27 AM
huh?!?!?!?!
:D
Well, you have to plan a moustche dont'cha? Can't just go in there half- cocked.
Well, you have to plan a moustche dont'cha? Can't just go in there half- cocked.
depends, are we talking full handle bar moustache of hitler square stlylee? The latter is a one man two day job, but a handle bar is at least 6 month 11 man job.
Don't you get me started on beards!
Nerd Fight
09-26-2005, 09:55 AM
It's all about the Man.
discopants
09-27-2005, 04:04 AM
depends, are we talking full handle bar moustache of hitler square stlylee? The latter is a one man two day job, but a handle bar is at least 6 month 11 man job.
Don't you get me started on beards!
For a handlebar tache you need a whole team and 24 hour maintennance. And a smoking jacket.
How long does it take to grow a full Billy Goat beard?
For a handlebar tache you need a whole team and 24 hour maintennance. And a smoking jacket.
How long does it take to grow a full Billy Goat beard?
we're talking 14 man team just for the main cut, another 11 for shaping. 24 hour cctv monitoring with infared alarms and two massive security guards.
"Because I Feel Disgrace Because You're All In My Face"
discopants
09-29-2005, 02:53 AM
I want a handlebar moustache and live as a 70's playboy but sometimes you just can't get the shit you want :( .
Lemmy's Liver
09-29-2005, 09:47 PM
Does anyone know what the lyrics in sabotage actually mean? I've had the track since IC came out but never really tried to work out what it means.
cheers
Literally:
"let's have sex between us men, it's cool, it wasn't cool 1988, but it sure is cool 1999
It'll be back in style in 2010 agin for some reason yo don't ask me cause I was born yesterday"
chi chi
09-29-2005, 10:01 PM
I always say this is my song or my anthem because thats how paranoid I feel sometimes. I think Ad-Rock is a bit paranoid as well. Thats what smoking does to person sometimes. This song is the extreme reaction when dealing with everyday people, nevermind the music industry. They don't deal with anyone anymore. They made it b.
;)
Beckalina
09-30-2005, 10:39 AM
I think its about, when you see a little spider building its web in the corner of your room and you decide to throw some shit at that web, yeah
Yup.
I can't stand it, I know you planned it.
Says it all.
^^that clearly means that the beasties know that the leggy dude is planning to build his house there. They just can't stand it.
obviously.
DNForever
09-30-2005, 12:00 PM
Are you guys seriously this bored? In introducing the song on the widely heard Sydney 1999 recording, Adrock goes on a somewhat lengthy diversion into about how the song is "For people in power"
midzi
09-30-2005, 12:32 PM
Are you guys seriously this bored? In introducing the song on the widely heard Sydney 1999 recording, Adrock goes on a somewhat lengthy diversion into about how the song is "For people in power"
"This is for the people that run Elle magazine" :D
romanpetr
09-30-2005, 01:51 PM
Moustaches? Beards? :eek: Maybe U thinking they dedicated that song to ZZTop? :p :D
Sabotage - it's sounded like anthem for anarchy!!!
peterclamp
09-30-2005, 04:27 PM
I'd always assumed it was in regard to the 1st iraqi war and Bush Senior etc...
dave790
09-30-2005, 05:35 PM
i think the lyrics are fairly meaningless, maybe a few lines touch on a couple of things, but it's not the sort of song to have any deep sort of meaning or feelings intact. I've enjoyed the links with the journalist things though and I'm not questioning those 'theories', but as someone excellently said sometimes a good song just doesn't need explaining. You think thousands of fans at the end of festivals screaming 'SABOTAGE!' are going to give a shit about what they're shouting about?
dave
Doobiebee
10-02-2005, 10:04 AM
i think he was angry... and it was instigated by the paparazzi and let his frustrations it out in the song but it can be applied to any irksome thing/ authority figure/corruption. personally, it holds deep and meaningfulness feelings in its lyrics to me as i can relate to it when someone eats the last donut. then i go all sabotage on them.
discopants
10-03-2005, 03:13 AM
I think its about, when you see a little spider building its web in the corner of your room and you decide to throw some shit at that web, yeah
^^that clearly means that the beasties know that the leggy dude is planning to build his house there. They just can't stand it.
obviously.
At some point today I'm gonna refer to spiders as "leggy dudes".
vBulletin® v3.6.7, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.