#-----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE------------------------------#
# This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation #
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This is Most of the beginning to Life Like Weeds. There are 2 guitars but here is one of
them. This is the Faster part of the song the beginning is only different with the last
4 notes.
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----0--2--4----4--2--0--2--4---4--2--0-2--
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Later in the Song the 2nd guitarist does while the other one plays the note above this.
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---0--2--3--2--0--2--3--2--0--2--3--2--0--2--3
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The 2nd guitarist also plays this in the beginning
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------------4--2-0-2--4--2--0 --------------------------------------
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I should of told you all that I love you...
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Keep me posted with the chords. I wanna know them myself. clanefu2000@hotmail.com
Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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No Picture
Dan Professional Badass |
#1 by Dan Hudspith at Mar 10, 1970 at 2:09 AM EST |
| i think "in this life like weeds, you're a rock to me" references tumble weeds which blow all around and a rock references stability. so basically in this chaotic ever changing life, this person represents stability to the narrator. | |
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Austin Rhythm Player |
#2 by Austin at Jun 24, 1970 at 2:43 AM EST |
| "If you could be anything you want I bet you'd be disappointed. am I right?" This song speaks the truth about life. Even when you do what you want you still won't be completely satisfied. "It's hard to remember we're alive for the first time. It's hard to remember we're alive for the last time. It's hard to remember to live before you die. It's hard to remember that our lives are such a short time. It's hard to remember what it takes such a short time. It's hard to remember to live before you die. It's hard to remember." Life is to short and you have live life to the fullest with no regrets before we run out of time to do/say the things we want. "No one really knows the ones they love. If you knew everything they thought I bet you'd wish that they'd just shut up." No matter how well you know the person you love there are still things that you will never know and you don’t want to, or at least that’s what I got from this. :) | |
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Flash Average |
#3 by Flash Jaxon at Jun 14, 1976 at 1:50 PM EST |
| I'm surprised no one has commented on this song, as it's one of Brock's best. Amazing direct lines like "Eyes need us to see/Hearts need us to bleed" and brilliant metaphors like "In this life like weeds/You're the dirt I'll breath." I'm still trying to get a full grasp of the meaning, but to me it's a song about the obstructions in life. It seems to be saying that there are going to be obstructions in our life, things that we just can't change (our hearts are just made out of strings to be pulled). But it still reminds us that these obstructions are going to make us into what we are (In the faces you see, you'll see just who you've been). Basically, it says to me that there things we can't change, no matter how much we want to, but how we deal with it is what makes us who we are. | |
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Caitlin Rhythm Player |
#4 by Caitlin Carlisle at Jun 24, 1976 at 9:59 AM EST |
| some of this may have already been addressed, but this my two cents of this song: first and foremost, probably my favorite modest mouse song, and possibly one of my favorites. and as far as the meaning goes i think that isaac is talking about a lot things. this may be sort of "out there", but i think that the part about our hearts and minds are talking about anyone who is human's flaws. and then it's my best bet that the parts where he mentions another person represent a change from stability to something less stable. sorry if i'm an idiot, i probably don't know what i'm talking ahout. | |
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DemolitionLover Wanna Be |
#5 by DemolitionLover ^^v^^ at Aug 16, 1976 at 2:07 AM EST |
| My Favorite Modest Mouse song by far. | |
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Guitar Man Lead Player |
#6 by Guitar Man at Oct 16, 1980 at 2:54 AM EST |
| i wanna start out by saying this song is f*cking incredible, and when he says "i could have told you all that i loved you" it almost breaks my heart, cause i can think of so many times when ive wanted to say those three little words and didnt! "And in the places you go, you'll see the place where you're from" i think this basically says that we draw parallels between what we are experiencing now with our past experiences. "And in the faces you meet, you'll see the place where you'll die" like someone said earlier this is a reference to the circular nature of things, the way life tends to come full circle and you seem to find yourself in the same situation you may have been in before, and i think the question is, will you make the same mistakes twice? "And on the day that you die, you'll see the people you’d met...And in the faces you see, you'll see just who you've been" when you die, your whole life will flash before your eyes, and you will see the people you interacted with in life. since you will now have a third person perspective on your life you will truly be able to see what kind of person you were, good or bad. You should have told them you loved them. i think beatjunkie08 pretty much sumed up the "life like weeds" metaphor. "And you think you feel most everything And we know that our hearts are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled So you think you've figured out everything But we know that our minds are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled" i dont think isaac is trying to say that there is no meaning in anything, but i think he is trying to say that we believe what we want to believe. we attach our own meaning to life, but at the same time dont waste all your time trying to figure out the mysteries of life. because they are just that mysteries, who's answers lie beyond the realm of human comprehension. someone once said (cant remember who) "answers only lead to more questions" so dont waste your time! go out and live your life to the fullest!! | |
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Chris Average |
#7 by Chris H... at Aug 26, 1981 at 6:14 PM EST |
| i think. that it is about not knowing who you are and yet knowing. you know where youre from but not where you belong. youre a rock to me implies that at first sounds like you dont matter but life like weeds youre a rock among weeds. its a beautiful song. modest mouse hits the nail on the head everytime. its a song of endearment and confusion. | |
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sean Wanna Be |
#8 by sean bradly at Jan 11, 1982 at 4:54 AM EST |
| on second thought, i disagree with jeremyb1. he says "your JUST a rock to me" which implies that he does not respect the person/people... also the tumbleweed part is a bit of a stretch | |
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Kevin Average |
#9 by Kevin Fournier at Apr 22, 1985 at 12:50 PM EST |
| This song makes me think of hot air balloons. Wow, what a dork. | |
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Matt Wanna Be |
#10 by Matt Sakrosky at Jul 20, 1985 at 1:58 AM EST |
| first of all.. this song is probably my favorite MM song.. as far as meaning goes, i think i only understand parts of it.. particularly the parts about speech: when he says 'i wish i could have told you all..' and then says 'all this talking all the time and the air fills up, up, up.. until there's nothing left to breathe..', he is showing the nature of words and their function.. it seems he wishes he could have expressed something of meaning with words, but all that ever comes out is junk that 'fills up the air', so to speak. yeah.. not very helpful, but that's pretty much the only part i understood in the song. please elaborate more for me!! | |
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nick Professional |
#11 by nick Sutliff at Jul 1, 1986 at 4:13 AM EST |
| Beautiful song. But I think, given the mournful tone of the closing minutes, that we should pay more attention to the change from "you're just a rock to me" to "you're a rock to me." It marks a decisive change in the song and its narrator. BeatJunkie08 makes a good point when he mentions the backwardness of the song, but I see in the lyrics something much more wistful than he does. It's almost as if the song slows to a crawl near the end as it begins to really sink in to the singer that this life is slipping away from him, and with it, the people he should have told he loved. He has a moment of epiphany. From the moment he says, "In this life like weeds, eyes need us to see," the song shifts into him seeing more acutely, more slowly, and deeper into the life of things. This new way of seeing leaves him perceiving the person he is talking about as more than "just a rock" to him: she becomes also "the dirt I'll breathe", and although he knows where she's from (or he thinks he knows her), he now wonders where she belongs, rather than just taking her presence there for granted. She's more than *just* a rock to him, and I think reading it that way negates the central part of the song, which leaves out qualifiers like "just" for a reason. "And you think you feel most everything And we know that our hearts are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled So you think you've figured out everything But we know that our minds are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled" Again with the epiphany. And then, of course, it all slips away: "All this talkin' all the time and the air fills up, up, up Until there's nothing left to breathe Up until there's nothin' left to speak. Up until the better parts of space" The air he breathes is slipping away, and now all he can do is talk, and all the spoken air flows up, up, up until there is nothing left to breathe, and his rock is gone -- in this life like weeds. BeatJunkie08 makes a good point when he discusses the backwardness of the song, but I see in the lyrics something much more moving than he does. It's almost as if the song slows to a crawl as it begins to really sink in to the singer that this life is slipping away from him, and with it, the people he should have told he loved. From the moment he says, "In this life like weeds, eyes need us to see," the song shifts into him seeing more acutely, more slowly, and deeper into the life of things. While in the beginning, And then, of course, it all slips away. | |
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The Mexican Who Average |
#12 by The Mexican Who's Living Under Satan's Wing at Jan 29, 1987 at 3:19 PM EST |
| string theory | |
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Alex Lead Player |
#13 by Alex Russo at May 4, 1987 at 8:24 AM EST |
| I'm surprised only one other person has commented. I'll tell you what I think. The most significant lines to me are the following: "So you think you've figured out everything But we know that our minds are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled" and "I know where you're from, but where do you belong." I think the song is all about figuring out who you are, what you want and where you belong. I always loved it, but it gained huge significance this summer, as I spent it in Norway and a lot of things changed in my head. Its one of my top 10 songs of all time. | |
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Nyle Average |
#14 by Nyle Leddy at May 15, 1987 at 10:25 AM EST |
| this song might be about the arrogance and greed of humans. we are weeds just takinhg up air, we are defiant to the 'rocks' which are any obstacles in our way, but what we dont realize is that we have to work together to survive as shown in these lines: In this life like weeds, eyes need us to see Hearts need us to bleed, in this life like weeds You're a rock to me I know where you're from, but where do you belong? In this life like weeds, you're the dirt I’ll breath In this life like weeds, you're a rock to me almost all of these lines show that we depend on something while it depends on us, and therefore there is no point in being arrogant and defiant because subconciously we all know that we are helpless unless we cooperate with others. Also, even though this probably completely of the real meaning of the song, weeds are usually portrayed as pests, right? but without weeds their would be no balance in everything. if there was no such thing as bad, than there would be no such thing as good. so technically, if evil is the thing that causes good, evil is good, to some extent, at least. yea, i have no idea where im going with this..... | |
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Razor Wanna Be |
#15 by Razor Edge at May 9, 1989 at 10:26 AM EST |
| This took over 30 minutes to do! wow. | |
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Justin Rhythm Player |
#16 by Justin Lepera at Nov 11, 1989 at 6:09 PM EST |
| this song reminds me of when i was 15 with my friend heather. during our physical education, we would hide inside the rolled up wrestling mats and i asked her if she had heard this modest mouse song and i sang it to her...yes. it is a sad, good song. | |
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Roman Rhythm Player |
#17 by Roman Malik at Feb 25, 1990 at 5:11 AM EST |
| After this song end and you get that complete peaceful epiphanny, and then What People Are Made Of comes in and TOTALLY KICKS YOUR ASS One of my favorite moments on any album | |
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Matt Lead Player |
#18 by Matt Beach at Apr 21, 1991 at 12:36 PM EST |
| all man i have to find this version now because the japan ep version of your the good things was amazing! anyone have any links or anything | |
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The REAL Godfat Average |
#19 by The REAL Godfather at Sep 9, 1991 at 12:40 AM EST |
| could be the stability thing, or it could be that people are like weeds, always trying to block out other's light and gain control... the rock in this case would represent an obstical (in other words, i want power, your in my way). the weeds could also be like the thing about the words crowded the air... people keep getting born and merely taking up room, hence life like weeds | |
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Gabe Professional |
#20 by Gabe Hawkins at Aug 24, 1993 at 8:30 PM EST |
| The Moon & Antartica seems very much an album about Zen... whether it means to or not. This song in particular seems to be about the meaningless walls we build up to explain the world. None of it really has any meaning, and it clutters our minds. | |
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julius Average |
#21 by julius vaisanen at Oct 8, 1993 at 11:57 PM EST |
| A few things to point out, the duality/backward ackwardness of this song, Just about every song you hear starts out slow, and ends fast. Not this song, in the first complete seconds you hear guitar, bass, vocal, AND drum. The last minute of this song is slow moving, no vocals. barely any drums. Just that amazingly mellow guitar funk. and then it picks up to regular music. I think it is silly to disect any song line by line, because often times lyrcisists add lyrics just to give it rhyme, rythym, flow, whatever. Obviously, we must ask ourselves, what is a Life Like Weeds? Which comes down to, what are weeds? Weeds are plants that are constantly taking over other plants where they are not wanted, they are powerful, never-ending and unwanted. Not your typical nuturing loving and caring flower. One might say... hmm they don't care about anything. So, in this life where everyone is fighting for power, you're nothing to me. (rocks are crap ;) .. ) The next four segments(and in the..) I will look at backwards(forwards?) faces you see, just who you've been.... this really means that, you look at people, you don't like them, you see all the evil in the world, and it bothers you, and then you think about it some more, and everything bad that they're DOING, you're in your room THINKING about . Day you die... people you've met - yeah yeah, a whole regrouping of everything, you'll get to say your goodbyes, or will you? places you go, place where you're from - we're all traveling in circles, basically (I skipped one, I feel Isasc added that for invisible depth) I could have told you all that I loved you - What? and be live everyone else? No way, you're a rock. hearts bleed, eyes see - basically, what you thought you were taking advantage of, is really taking advantage of you, heart's need us to bleed. ... you thought you needed your heart to live, but your heart really needs you. same with the eyes, note the emphasis on that. You are the dirt I will breathe - This half relates to eyes and hearts. Plants live in dirt, she thinks he loves here, but she's just a rock, he just needs her to live(or survive, big difference) not sure on that actaully. =\ Now the song really takes a leap into a totally different vibe I could talk about how talking is wasting time, wasting air which plants need, but I really do not think that is the case, at all. Strings to be pulled.. basically, you think you know everything, but the truth is, there is nothing to be known, something is controlling our lives and it's not worth it trying to figure it out(maybe I should stop with this song then) Ok, maybe the talking always bit goes back to strings... you're just wasting time talking(or typing) until by the time you've figured it out, you're gone, you'll realize you just wasted everything you had(which was nothing) on trying to figure out what everything truly is, which is nothing. So, since line by line is stupid(whoops) let's recap You don't matter in this world of uncaring I'm like everyone else We will see all those people we thought we would never We're going in circles You mean nothing, you thought you were using me but I am using you. There's nothing to figure out, no meaning to life. Trying to figure out life is a waste of useless time. Now, since we established this song was backwards, let's recap again Don't try and figure out life, it's not worth it. There is no meaning to life, really, so goof off, nothing's going to change. Our whole lives are just going in circles, we go where we started from without even knowing it. We're going to meet everyone we thought we wouldn't again, regardless of whether we want to or not. I'm like everyone else, and so are you. And that's why you don't matter to me!!! ....I think I actually figured out a song, probably not, though. | |
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Austin Wanna Be |
#22 by Austin Skitowski at Mar 6, 1997 at 2:37 AM EST |
| this song is really cool yeah. Good song. How the hell does Isaac do it? Anytime he wants to he could just be like,"well im gonna go write a totally amazing bad ass song, be back later" I dont get it. SON OF A BITCH I JUST DONT GET IT!!! | |
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Niko Average |
#23 by Niko Booth at Jun 1, 1997 at 8:56 PM EST |
| There are some excellent points discussed by you two. I have similar but somewhat different views as to what it means. Life is too short to say things you don't mean, and too short to needlessly impress those that you meet. We all need truth and we all need honesty from each other, because in the end, all of our exaggerations are merely dirt in the air. All of our uneccessary lies will fill up our hearts and the air we breathe, but will never replace the truth and will never determine that which we truyly are. I think Modest Mouse has had a continual foundation of staying true to themselves, never 'selling out' as it were, never catering to a certain crowd, and never caving in to reviews or reactions just to please people. I think this song communicates that even in the end, truthfull bad news is easier to breathe in than the wasted breath of someone else's gossip and lies. Life is so difficult and trying without human beings adding to the confusion with shallow ' noise'. We all need to find our identities in this life like weeds, we need each other to be the space and air to breathe, not dirt and rocks to stand in our way. | |
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Guitar Master Wanna Be |
#24 by Guitar Master J at Oct 8, 1997 at 4:15 AM EST |
| in the book "life is elsewhere" by milan kundera the poet jaromile's first line or poetry is "life is like weeds" and I'm not sure if it's a famous line or something but I thought I'd share. | |
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Ulti` Average |
#25 by Ulti` 89 at Apr 19, 1999 at 8:45 PM EST |
| this is the most beautiful song i have ever heard. i love this song. | |
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health risk Rhythm Player |
#26 by health risk at Jun 6, 2000 at 8:47 PM EST |
| This is also one of my favorite Modest Mouse songs I listen to it all the time and never get bored of it!! If you don't like this song you should die!! Or at least get made fun of... | |
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♥brian Lead Player |
#27 by ♥brian♥ ******** at Apr 10, 2003 at 11:18 AM EST |
| ah, and i think that the part about the air filling up is saying that everyone is so concerned with talking about nothing that they're wasting their lives. | |
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ryan Average |
#28 by ryan oh at Jun 6, 2006 at 12:21 AM EST |
| [Disregard that last one.] Beautiful song. But I think, given the mournful tone of the closing minutes, that we should pay more attention to the change from "you're just a rock to me" to "you're a rock to me." It marks a decisive change in the song and its narrator. BeatJunkie08 makes a good point when he mentions the backwardness of the song, but I see in the lyrics something much more wistful than he does. It's almost as if the song slows to a crawl near the end as it begins to really sink in to the singer that this life is slipping away from him, and with it, the people he should have told he loved. He has a moment of epiphany. From the moment he says, "In this life like weeds, eyes need us to see," the song shifts into him seeing more acutely, more slowly, and deeper into the life of things. This new way of seeing leaves him perceiving the person he is talking about as more than "just a rock" to him: she becomes also "the dirt I'll breathe", and although he knows where she's from (or he thinks he knows her), he now wonders where she belongs, rather than just taking her presence there for granted. She's more than *just* a rock to him, and I think reading it that way negates the central part of the song, which leaves out qualifiers like "just" for a reason. "And you think you feel most everything And we know that our hearts are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled So you think you've figured out everything But we know that our minds are just made out of strings To be pulled, strings to be pulled" Again with the epiphany. And then, of course, it all slips away: "All this talkin' all the time and the air fills up, up, up Until there's nothing left to breathe Up until there's nothin' left to speak. Up until the better parts of space" The air he breathes is slipping away, and now all he can do is talk, and all the spoken air flows up, up, up until there is nothing left to breathe, and his rock is gone -- in this life like weeds. | |
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[ßĩη& Average |
#29 by [ßĩηŁ@Ðэń] at Aug 25, 2006 at 11:36 PM EST |
| i thought this song was called lives? | |
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Scott Average |
#30 by Scott Anderson at Mar 21, 2007 at 1:45 PM EST |
| i always thought this song was about people living each other...y'know how slow and almost meaningless and mundane life is...although considering its the only one you've got, it should be pretty interesting. i think he's saying that in this life we only have the people we know, and we grow into each other, sometimes we hurt each other, but thats just how it is. it seems like a desperate boredom...i'm sure everybody's sat around with people they know and talked about all the things they'd like to do with their lives...but realize for the time being they're sort of stuck and have nowhere to go but to each other...i don't know. thats the best way i could put it. | |
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