Symbol In My Driveway Guitar Tab

		
		Ver 1 Ver 2 Ver 3 
	

On & On Tabs:

A simplified version of the other tabs
e|---------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------0-0-2-0------0-0---------------0-----|
G|-------------------------------3-3-------2-2---2---|
D|--2-2-4-2-----2-2-2-2------2-2-1-1-------0-0-0-0---|
A|--0-0-0-0------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------|

Source: http://www.guitarmasta.net/j/johnson,_jack/352523.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Your account ha Average	#1 by Your account has been hacked into by Bkid23 Stupid.... at Sep 27, 2007 at 12:14 AM EST
	um ok, to get back to possible song meanings.... the verse "I've got a perfect set of blueprints" I think is talking about how everyone, no matter what your denomination, political party, etc, all of those groups want to convert everyone else to their way of thinking. he's saying he's got all the plans for a perfect human, with all the right thoughts. it might take more than money, it might take time, but whats man without his wealth of time to spend on trying to create someone elses opinions to mold your own? and whats man without his preocupation with money and how far it can get him? I didn't think of the Bush reference in the first stanza before reading the above comments, but I kinda agree. but it doesn't have to be about the current president. it can be about any one who starts war, who has big name friends, who has a way of destroying something- whether it be a reputation or a country. and the zip lock bag... I thought he was just making fun of how set in stone his plans are. cuase he's got everything figured out, so he tucks it away for safe keeping in a zip lock bag. maybe he tucks all his plans into pot, so he never really gets anywhere? I've been thinking about the anger lightbulb line. I mean, it's pretty obvious, he flicks it on and off, but the pathetic part? maybe cause we get so angry at stupid little things? the phosphorescent secret- its easy to connect this to some type of conspiracy theory- the weapons of mass destruction, etc. but I'm not sure thats all it could mean. however, I dont have any ideas besides the world overanalyzing something thats not there. does the world mean the WHOLE world? or just the world in a community "people I know" sense? it probably could be either, he's rather vague.

No Picture Tyler Average	#2 by Tyler at Sep 27, 2007 at 9:11 PM EST
	This song is on an early acoustic album that is not released but can be downloaded in certain places, I don't think this is about George W because I think this early recording was put out around the time GW was entering office the first time and was written befor that....as to the pot ref. I deffinately agree, although in the early acoustic version he says "let's see how productive we can be" not "unproductive", sarcasim maybe?

No Picture kristopher-karl Average	#3 by kristopher-karl Schröder at Sep 28, 2007 at 5:54 AM EST
	i think herbie is right on this one

No Picture Andrew Average	#4 by Andrew Piwtorak at Sep 28, 2007 at 10:45 PM EST
	well it's quite clear what this songs intention was. our boy jack wanted to clarify his pot smoking career. "lets see how destructfull we can be"

No Picture sean (jello bia Average	#5 by sean (jello biafra incognito) griffin at Sep 29, 2007 at 3:08 AM EST
	i agree w/ you herbie.."got my plans in a zip lock bag lets see how unproductive we can be" is definitley about weed... "i've got a brand new set of stencils ive been connecting all the dots" maybe hes got a brand new set of ideas..and hes creating opinions from them? i dont know.. i never thought of it as talking about george bush, but after reading some of these comments maybe it IS about GWB?

No Picture Chris Average	#6 by Chris Essery at Sep 29, 2007 at 6:18 AM EST
	I honestly don't understand how you could get that little out of this song. For one, NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE BLAMED ON GEORGE BUSH. The song was written before he was even president, and even if it was, what does a "phosphorescent secret" have to do with him? Do any of you even know what phosphorescent means? It's something that burns without any fire, that lets off this glow. He's personifying the secret he's talking about to make it something important and meaningful and misunderstood. NOT A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION. Apparently I was wrong to assume that people understood this song was meant to be sarcastic. It's a satire on the world, about how we're going nowhere and people are too caught up it all to realize what they're doing. "jack is talking about mr. george dubya bush..."symbol in my drive way"..." okay no. The song is supposed to serve the same purpose that a symbol in a driveway would, to get a blatant message out in the open for people to notice. I'm sorry you're too preoccupied with attempting to find references to pot and george w. bush to recognize that.

No Picture Kael Average	#7 by Kael Nainggolan at Sep 29, 2007 at 11:24 AM EST
	Sorry...the first verse when he speaks about "how destructive we can be"...not talking about the car accidents....I think he is speaking about our environment....emmissions, etc....

No Picture Perfect Pervers Rhythm Player	#8 by Perfect Perversion™ at Sep 30, 2007 at 1:42 AM EST
	i have to agree with ophelia's first message, whether you're right or wrong about the meaning, you don't have to be rude, unless you're jack johnson coming to correct us all, it's a personal opinion, personal interpretation, and personal feelings based on the song...you could've shared yours in a less obnoxious way

No Picture Mike Average	#9 by Mike M at Sep 30, 2007 at 2:38 AM EST
	It's interesting to listen to everyone's comments. I think many of you had very good points on the meaning of this song. I have to admit Hammock is pretty close on most points. Here is my take on the song: Verse 1 - "Symbol in my driveway" obviously refers to America's obsessions with consumption (i.e. cars) and pursuit of material items to symbolize who we are. Unfortunately, many people feel they will find more hapinness in their lives through having a nice car. If I buy a new Lexus, things might just be ok. I think he is pointing out how wrong we are with this and how we don't even question it (i.e. follow the leader, herd of cattle, etc.) The next line "i've got a hundred million dollar friends" is refering how, generally speaking, people want to associate themselves with people that are wealthy. I think he is pointing out how shallow some people are and how they think they are more important than others because they have a rich friend or might have a great job. Again, this is a general idea and points more to upper middle class UCSB types. The next two lines "i've got a brand new weapon let see how destructive we can be". I would like to believe this is about Bush, WMD's, etc. But I doubt Jack would get that political on us. I think he is talking about how these symbols we've purchased (i.e. cars) can be very destructive. Car accidents, drunk driving, etc. SUV's probably don't help the cause. Verse 2: "I've got a brand new set of stencils" refers to how America is in pursuit of more material goods (i.e. decorating our houses endlessly). If any of you have seen Fight Club, you will understand (IKEA boy). Again, the general theme of this song is how material goods won't bring you hapinness. In his life, surfing, music, and friends do the job. The next line "I've been connecting all the dots" refers to how our lives won't be complete unless we purchase a nice car, decorate our houses, find a great job, etc. and connect all the dots. Again, I think he is pointing out how Americans are more concerned with consumption than improving on our planet, soul and mind. The two lines "got my plans in a zip lock bag, let's see how unproductive we can be" I like the idea that this is about pot smoking. Because Jack is a big pot smoker. I used to get high with his group in the freshman tower at SB. But another take on this is similiar to the earlier versus. Many Americans live their life in a zip lock bag. That is, they are only focused on wealth, consumption, and success and not helping others and ourselves. I don't think Jack buys into it. Hence, his musical careeer. I think he believes this is a pretty "unproductive" way to live life. Verse 3: This verse is really interesting. I think Jack is making the point that if we purchase our cars (symbol), associate ourselves with wealth (million dollar friends), build and decorate our houses (stencils and connect all the dots), we still aren't HAPPY. I think he is pointing out how material goods won't make you happy. Instead, many peopple are full of anger, hatred, and ready to fight or even kill for no good reason. As Hammock explains, we all have the ability to control this anger, but instead we are unproductive and pathetic people. Again, i think this all ties back to where we are as Americans and how we focus our time on the wrong things. Verse 4: I know everyone believes this is about cloning. But I have a hard time believing he would get this political. I think he is talking again about our attempt to consume and purchase. When he says "i've got a perfect set of blueprints"...i think he is pointing out how people are building without thinking about the effects on the world. Not even questioning anything. When he says "i'm gonna build somebody else". I think he is talking about how some people change when they have money. Our symbols in our driveways. The next two lines are pretty brilliant. He is basically saying that the cost of changing who we are isn't just money, but our individuality and soul. And then he ends the verse mocking man's obession with wealth. Verse 5: I think this line is pretty straight forward. Phosphoresecent isn't necessarily about an atomic bomb. Phosphorites are used in chemicals and other toxic materials. Again, he is pointing out how big business (oil and chemical companies) aren't being truthfull and how are planet is being comprised. The last few lines are brilliant. We Americans tend to react after the fact (i.e. 9/11). We wait for a tragedy to happend before we make a move. The same thing applies to our environment. Jack is pointing how that the clues are in our water, in the air, in the soil. However, it is too late and we were all fooled. "the whole world will be talking, about all the clues they got, they just ain't no use, thye got fooled" Would love to hear more comments. Hope this helps everyone. Try not to get too deep on Jack's lyrics. They all have the same general theme.

No Picture sam Lead Player	#10 by sam virtue at Sep 30, 2007 at 3:00 AM EST
	I personally don't think this song is about GW, but who knows. Also, I think the "got a perfect set of blueprints, gonna build somebody else" line is about people doing what they think they should instead of what they feel. I always think of a kid going collge to build the person they think society wants them to be, even though it's not who they are or what they want to do. Building someone else.

No Picture Martyn Average	#11 by Martyn cleary at Oct 1, 2007 at 7:39 AM EST
	I'm suprised no one took this angle: Anyone ever do any research on methamphetamines? Made with phosphorus, many times smoked from light bulbs, very, very destructive and unproductive, generally involves a million 'dollar friends' to hang around hoping for crumbs and der dollars. The bipolarity the song has is another clue....I dont know, just thinking here...

No Picture Dan Average	#12 by Dan T at Oct 1, 2007 at 8:33 AM EST
	LOL Ophelia, all I have to say is "Kudos to you!" :D

No Picture Eric Average	#13 by Eric at Oct 1, 2007 at 5:01 PM EST
	This is one of my favorites by Jack Johnson. Firstly, the dub of the ocean waves crashing and the sounds of the people talking in the back just make it feel like your sitting on a driftwood log drinking a beer with his friends, maybe keeping beat or humming along. I don't know what it really means to him, beyond a paycheck or good times after a BBQ at his brothers house. I don't much mind what it means to any one else, but there are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth. I'm not trying to assign "right" or "wrong", just share my take. So take my sharing with a grain of salt. Here's what I got from it. Whether he's talking specifically about himself in each verse or describing people he knows or other "celebrities" or politicians doesn't matter to me. Each verse is a small portrait of either one part of single person or glimpses of four (4) different people (or types or stereotypes of people) he's observed. Or maybe he sees all these four types of behavior in himself and in everyone else on the planet - there's a little of this stuff in all of us. Verse 1: Commenting on the connection between capitalism > money > power > status (hubris) and at it's logical extreme "might makes right" i.e. materialism is soulless etc. etc. "What do all men with power want? More power of course!" So you can either blow up SUVs in protest or laugh at the folly of materialism while you "catch that next big wave". Verse 2: I guess it depends on what's in your little ziplock bag really. If it's weed then a lot of people will call anything and everything you do "unproductive" and "a drain on society" etc. If it's mushrooms your production will go into a very colorful overdrive, at least from inside your own head. If it's anything harder, well look at how most crack heads spend their days and figure it out yourself. Being unproductive isn't as bad as being pathetic (next verse), it could even be construed as being good for the soul from time to time. Moderation in all things. Verse 3: This is about all those times in your life when you are at that threshold of verbal or physical violence over some petty little thing that you and the other guy (or girl) are letting escalate into a shouting match, a fight, a beating, a murder, a war etc. A light bulb is symbolic of "an idea". The idea is that we all have the ability to control our anger and make the world a better place when presented with the choice of starting a fight or chilling the fuck out, sadly most people let that anger burn so bright (i.e. throw that first punch) which really is pretty pathetic. Verse 4: A perfect set of blueprints to build someone else is talking about human cloning. There is no blueprint more perfect and complete than the human genome. The line "might cost a little more than money" means that genetic manipulation, specifically cloning of human beings, while expensive in terms of US dollars, is tampering with something better left to a higher power (whether for you that means "Jesus" "Buddha" "Krishna" "Mohammed" or "Gaia" doesn't matter). In other words once we get to the point where we are cloning people and creating disease free humans with the hair and eye color of our choice we do so at a cost worth more than all the money in the world, our souls. Read: that is bad. And of course a "man without his wealth" is a man with "only" his soul, which is all that really matters anyway. Verse 5: This one is the most abstract and cryptic. At face value he’s talking about a nuclear bomb in the first two lines. He's already covered weapons, destructiveness, anger, and violence previously in the song, so nuclear warfare is the logical conclusion of the "escalation of violence" from the snide comment to the punch to the fight to the battle to the war to the nuclear winter. But I just can't 'connect the dots" here, as it were, at least not insofar as achieving an interpretation of the end of the song that leaves me satisfied. Following the logical progression of this song from the beginning we see that greedy capitalism leads to the need for new weapons to achieve and maintain wealth and status, this luxury and excess breeds laziness, decadence and the seeking out of unproductive diversions, which in turn leads to a nation (or world) of overfed, underpaid self righteous bored alcoholic methheads that like to paint by numbers bumping into each other looking to start a fight over nothing(pathetic). This life of greed, materialism and digression has progressed (or regressed) to the point that now we are about to genetically create human beings to our own specific design, thus essentially voiding our souls and putting us on the brink of destroying the only part of life on earth we haven't disastrously tampered with yet. The only thing left on this progression towards the ninth circle of hell after we "grow" a generation of humans without souls is the glowing mushroom cloud of nuclear winter that will come to wipe us all out so the earth can start over. There will be (have been) clues that we are heading in this direction if we stay the current course, but mankind will not (has not) heed them and “next thing you know the whole world will be talking” but it will be too late. *See “Global Warming” “AIDS” “GW Bush’s War on Terror” “Sudan: Darfur” “Bosnia” “Hiroshima” “Auschwitz” and “the entire post slave trade, post colonialism continent of Africa” for clarification here. Or maybe the phosphorescent secret is the psilocybin mushroom (some mushrooms do glow) that native peoples use to talk to God becoming widespread in it’s use and our great great great grandchildren will live happily ever after gorked out on spores. Pass that little ziplock baggie Tonto. In spite of all this my favorite line in this song, by a long shot, is heard right after the guitar stops at the very end when you turn up the volume really loud and you hear this girl say, "Why do...why does a guitar have strings?" She doesn’t get an answer. Exactly.

No Picture Connor Rhythm Player	#14 by Connor Fowler at Oct 2, 2007 at 8:55 AM EST
	this quickie song is so genius. the take on politics is awesome... of course, before reading this this song was strictly about my lack of productivity as a result of the plans in my ziplock bag. Yup.

No Picture JC Average	#15 by JC Drake at Oct 2, 2007 at 7:25 PM EST
	Oh and to answer your question-yes i know what it means. I interpreted the phrase 'phosphorescent secret' as a metaphor, hence the nuclear war reference, which usually involves the use of the A-bomb, that generally leaves an afterglow. By the way genius, did you write this song? Uhkay. I didn't think so.

No Picture Tim Professional	#16 by Tim Marchant at Oct 2, 2007 at 10:49 PM EST
	oh, also. I think he says "next thing you know the whole world will be taliking about all the clues they got they just ain't no use" is referring to the feedback from the environment and society, those are the clues. But, they ain't no use cause the people's impulses drown it out.

No Picture garrett Rhythm Player	#17 by garrett at Oct 3, 2007 at 2:04 AM EST
	I agree with a bit of everyone's opinions. I definitely think that this song is socially and very politically conscious. He seems to refer to the mentality of 'our guy' Bush. Jack makes references to "weapons of mass destruction" , nuclear war (phosphorescent secret), genetic cloning (a perfect set of blueprints), and of course his dear old dad, Osama and family, and his bro with the governor status (million dollar friends). He may be referring to his pot smoking days when he mentions the ziplock bag. But, I also think that he's calling Bush a dumbass. I mean, if you put in terms of lack of productivity, it makes perfect sense.

No Picture Commie Badass	#18 by Commie Hunter!!! at Oct 3, 2007 at 5:25 AM EST
	i have to agree with ophelia's first message, whether you're right or wrong about the meaning, you don't have to be rude, unless you're jack johnson coming to correct us all, it's a personal opinion, personal interpretation, and personal feelings based on the song...you could've shared yours in a less obnoxious way

No Picture SAF Lead Player	#19 by SAF (Scott) at Oct 3, 2007 at 3:21 PM EST
	well pinkpanther21 here's an explanation from the man himself, "The song 'Symbol in My Driveway' started out driving along, I forget what town it was in, but I was seein' that there was real nice cars in the driveways and then you get a few blocks down and then you got kinda like the Honda Civics and the so-so cars. And then you got a little further and then you got broken down, barely runnin' type of cars. It was just, they were all kinda a symbol of who was in these houses, you know. Some people had two Beamers in their driveway and was kinda showin' them off. So that's how the song started out . . ." - iTunes originals, go download that album off the itunes music store.

No Picture Freebass Average	#20 by Freebass Konata at Oct 3, 2007 at 11:15 PM EST
	I honestly don't understand why you are throwing a fucking hissy fit. Surely before you posted you read the question that asked, "What does this song mean to you?"

No Picture HAZARD Professional	#21 by HAZARD at Oct 4, 2007 at 7:15 AM EST
	The first time I heard this song images of showoff rich people popped into my head "got a symbol in my driveway, got a hundred million dollar friends." I thought maybe he was poking fun at his "friends" the type of people one would probably be exposed to when fame and fortune come their way. Maybe just people in general, he seems to like to sing about things that are close to him, surfing, love, and things he probably doesn't like: abuse of people, greed, ect. I have never heard a political reference in any of JJ's songs so I have to agree with spring erases there. BTW, the last line should be "next thing you know the whole world will be talking about all the blues they got they just ain't no use" A sarcastic line about the wannabes thinking they got the blues but don't know how to capitalize on them.

No Picture Vinnie Rhythm Player	#22 by Vinnie Valium at Oct 5, 2007 at 1:23 PM EST
	I think when people are commenting on the 4th verse about cloning, they are taking it slightly too literally. Jack is quite anti-media (see Cookie Jar from On and On) and perhaps he is suggesting that the media is shaping people into what society wants, or atleast thinks they want. And this isn't a personal attack or something, but someone said this song was written before GW was elected--On and On was released in 2003, and GW was elected in 2000. 1 2 Next

No Picture Zach Average	#23 by Zach King at Oct 6, 2007 at 12:16 AM EST
	jack is talking about mr. george dubya bush..."symbol in my drive way"... "phosphorescent secret"..jack's awesome.

No Picture CoRey Rhythm Player	#24 by CoRey TayLor at Oct 6, 2007 at 2:05 AM EST
	I think this song is being slightly overthought. I think Jack is just commenting on how we all have these opinions and plans to make the world perfect, but really life boils down to the "Unproductive time you spend with friends.

No Picture dann Average	#25 by dann at Oct 6, 2007 at 5:53 PM EST
	ok well im going to go out on a limb here and say that jack makes a refrence to pot... no he tours with Ben Harper all the time and every one knows that ben has been known to "burn one down" but jack never makes a reference...that is until he wrote symbol in my driveway. 'got my plans in a ziplock bag' a baggie filled with pot which he plans to smoke and 'lets see how unproductive we can be' refering to the laziness construde by the effects of marijiuana