Preamable
So I'm watching TV the other day and a song starts playing in the background of the scene and I'm like, "Whoa, is that Smashmouth!?! That brings me back a little."
I'm talking about the 1997 hit song Walking on the sun. Maybe you remember it from nearly 30 years ago when it debuted? It's this punk pop style number that's sort of hokey in a way but has a catchy sound that screams quintessential 90s mainstream radio.
I immediately pulled the song up on youtube to have a listen in its entirety. The small sound bite portion on the TV show just wasn't enough for me in that moment.
The lyrics of Walking on the Sun are dificult to understand when you passively listen to it and if you're like me you probably only ever knew about 50% of whats actually being said. 50% at best. Like many songs, the vocals are borderline unintelligible so you sing along to it with words that your brain makes up based on the misinformation collected by your ears. All that to say I never really knew what the song was about nor gave a second thought to its meaning.
This time was different though. Something caught my attention and got me thinking. I googled the lyrics and gave them a read and in the end I concluded that Walking on the Sun is actually a little more interesting then perhaps it gets credit for. I haven't interpreted a song in quite some time but this one is a good one to get me back into the mix, so here we go.
See the YouTube link at the bottom of this post to have a listen for yourself.
Very Brief History
In doing a little research I learned that the song was originally written by the bands guitarist, Greg Camp back in 1992. At the time he was inspired (for lack of a better word) by the Los Angeles riots that took place after the severe beating of Rodney King by the LAPD. The event was caught on tape and broadcast to the world, as you probably know.
That time was one of turmoil in the country and Camp had said:
"...what is going on? I don't understand why this is happening. Its like we might as well be walking around on a planet of fire."
And so the song was born.
Lyrics and Interpretation
As I like to do I am going explicate the lyrics and intermix my interpretation within them. Keep in mind that this is just my interpretation of the song, it may not be what the artists were really thinking and you may have a different opinion.
PS: dont worry about the word explicate, it's just a fancy word that means to analyze a piece of literature line by line or word by word. Its mainly used in reference to dissecting poetry, but I happen to find it to be very fitting when discussing the analysis of lyrics.
Lyrics
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
The opening line is a riff on the 1971 Hilltop Coca-Cola commercial, in which a group of people sing together "I'd like to buy the world a coke"... yadda yadda yadda... "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony..." you can check out the commercial on YouTube via the link below or by googling it.
Camp seems genuine here in that he actually does truly wish that people could come together harmoniously, share a joint and sing. These things are the spices for the recipe of peace.
The "fires" that Camp is referring to are those happening in the riots and "liars" are presumably the systemic agents that allowed the LAPD officers to beat a man in the streets nearly to death in front of the world and receive zero repercussions. Could we just snuff that shit out please?
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
This passage speaks to past movements of peace and love, specifically the hippie movement of the 70's. Ideologies are like fads, they come in and out of fashion and ebb and flow in their popularity in the times and within the cliques of society. Speaking of fashion, this passage also brings in the idea of commercialism and actual fashion that Camp brings up again later on.
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's shun you might as well be walkin' on the sun
Again bringing in commercialism and this idea that an ideology or message often needs time to reach the receiver. It's also a call to action and to not delay. If you receive the message and put it into effect there may actually be a tomorrow. Humanity might survive against the odds of its own destruction. But if it is ignored (shunned) then there won't be a tomorrow. The world will continue to burn and eventually we will destroy ourselves through our own infighting. I think it's just a coincidence that the Camp linked the destruction of humanity to the equivalent of walking on the sun (a celestial body of fire). I don't think that people truly were aware of the impact of global warming back then. But the coincidence is almost eerily prophetic, which makes it all the better.
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
Recalling the hippie movement of the 1970s. It was a time when groups of people broke out of the uptight oppression placed on them by their parents and by mainstream society and they united in peace and harmony. They smoked Marijuana and just sang together, or so we are told anyway. Camp asks what happened to that mindset? Where did it go? Was it just the fad of the time?
Then 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
I actually think that this passage is the most interesting and impactful in the song. Thinking of the time we are discussing here, the 1970s, and what was happing in the country. The vietnam war was going on and many people rebelled against it (fought back against the meltdown) while others were being drafted (they were hellbound), some died at war or were severly beaten by police and the national guard during the protests (they fell down). Others chose to ignore what was going on of course and some turned to drugs or maybe they believed what society was telling them (these were the spellbound). But then the movement evolved. The hippie notion of love and peace turned into nothing more than mainstream fashion, which essentially smashed it into oblivion. People wore colorful shirts that said Peace and Love but they were no longer singing together or enacting the message (the hypocrites of the song). It was just meaningless fashion at that point.
It was the equivalent of wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and not knowing who Robert Plant is or having never heard the band.
CHORUS
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
This passage brings us back to the present - the 1990s. The riots are still happening in LA and the news is broadcasting the civil war-esc destruction. A mother's son has died in the riots, or maybe Rodney Kings mother was interviewed and shes crying, we don't know exactly but there are tears on camera. The bond of peace between people is broken and mayhem and destruction reign. No one is going to save us either, there is no magic wizard or god who is going to step in and make things right. It's up to humanity. It's up to us to make things right and save ourselves. This is a call to action to bring back peace. Don't just sit back and watch the world burn on your TV. Don't succumb to the numbness of drugs (crack was prevalent in the news at the time). The call is to be a driving force of peace and to help make the world a better place, because if we don't then we may as well all be walking on a planet of fire.
The song ends with another round of the chorus to really drive that message home.
Conclusion
I've said a lot already so I won't drag this on any longer. Walking on the Sun is a song about coming together, a call to action for peace, and it asks the question "why cant we all just get along?" These are concepts that come in and out of fashion in society depending on the times. It's as relevant a message today as it was back in the 90s though and with everything going on in the world right now it really feels like Walking on the Sun deserves a reboot. So give it a listen.