Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline - Meaning of the song
"Vasoline" deals with Scott Weiland's descent into drug addiction. At the time, he was doing his best to hide it from his bandmates and his girlfriend, but he knew he was turning into a junkie, a condition exacerbate by the success of Stone Temple Pilots' first album, Core. When he sings here about searching and going blind, it relates to the cycle he started when he became an addict. In his autobiography, Weiland said the song is about "being stuck in the same situation over and over again," adding, "It's about me becoming a junkie."
Stone Temple Pilots drummer Eric Kretz explained how this song was written: That riff came in at a rehearsal one time, and when it came time to making the record it was like, "Hey, do you remember that riff?" We went into it with that very simplistic "da-da da-da da-da-da," and so I did the opposite and put a polyrhythm on top of that to simulate around it around it and around it. And at the time, I was thinking about having the biggest, most bombastic kind of John Bonham drum sound, which is the way the drum beat is. But when we got into the studio we were, like, 'You know what would be cool? If we could make the smallest little drum sound that we could.' Because the big drum sound was so obvious. I got a little tiny 4-inch bass drum, and a little tiny 12-inch snare drum - detuned it so it sounded a little off. And I had a high hat and a rise cymbal. The smallest kit you could imagine for a rock band. Nice and simple. We recorded it in a small little drum room, which is great because the excitement is in the guitar and bass riffs, which became so much bigger. The lyrics came together in 20, 25 minutes. It was one of those exciting moments when we knew, "Oh man, this second record can be fantastic!"
Vasoline - Lyrics
One time a thing occurred to me
What's real, and what's for sale?
Blew a kiss and tried to take it home
Isn't you, isn't me
Search for things that you can't see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the Vasoline
Two times and it has rendered me
Punch drunk and without bail
Think I'd be safer all alone
Flies in the Vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck here all the time
Isn't you, isn't me
Search for things that you can't see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the Vasoline
You'll see the look and you'll see the lies
You'll eat the lies, and you will.
Flies in the Vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck here all the time
It isn't you, isn't me
Search for things that you can't see
Going blind, out of reach
Somewhere in the Vasoline.
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