Red Hot Chili Peppers: Snow ((Hey Oh)) Meaning
Song Released: 2006
Snow ((Hey Oh)) Lyrics
Were in my life just to get high on
When I sit alone come get a little known
But I need more than myself this time
Step from the road to the sea to the sky
And I do believe that we rely on
When...
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The song is specifically about drug addiction, but the lyrics left enough room for interpretation on a more general plane. Ultimately, it's about the renewing of one's self, and the difficulties encountered during the process of renewal.
The first verse explains his reliance on drugs (or in general, any vice) and the experience he's had with them. He acknowledges the harm the drugs are doing to him, but understands it will take more than himself to overcome the addiction.
It then opens to the chorus, hey-oh is a substitute for yayo or cocaine (this drug may or may not have been chosen arbitrarily), in which the drug is calling out to him (I got your hey-oh).
The second verse goes deeper into his realization of his addiction, now realizing that he can't quit cold turkey or go to the well once more time just to decide on. Many addicts believe they can quit when they want, however this is not at all the case.
You kind of get the idea of where the song is going. The most important point, though, is that it is possible to be renewed. And just as the snow (hey yo, yayo, cocaine) can do you harm, there is a different snow, a pure, white snow, that can blanket all of this. -
Read the first 2 bars of the song and the meaning of "snow" becomes abundantly clear...but later on it says
When it's killing me
When will I really see
All that I need to look inside
to me that means
"its killing me (duh)"
"when will I finally get the courage to see what this is doing to me" -
Although my drug of choice was alcohol I interpret his lyrics to be his struggle of addiction that randomly "talks" in his head....... like needing more than himself......and reminiscing the "high"........then rational kicking in reminding him that it will kill him and the answer is inside him ..he has to relearn how to handle his emotions....something you lose when your an addict. continues with the remorse of having to make amends for people he's hurt and a touch of frustration with the cyclic thoughts he can't control.... wandering when is he going to learn he can't go to the well.... when is he going to stop craving the drug....and he doesn't want to die until he's learned how to live a sober high
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Snow in this song is probably heroin, not cocaine. Several members of the band have been addicted. Snow is also traditionally (at least in poetry) a symbol of winter and thus of death. I read this song as a meditation on suicide:
"When will I know that I really can't go
To the well once more time to decide on
When it's killing me
When will I really see
All that I need to look inside
Come to believe that I better not leave
Before I get my chance to ride"
The narrator, AK, decides against suicide, but it is a difficult journey, and the drug still has a powerful hold, and it is a constant battle to find meaning in life without the drug.
Here's hoping the Chili Peppers stay clean for a long time so they can keep making albums like Californication and Stadium. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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"Step from the road to the sea to the sky and all these things in my life just to get high on. when its killing me when will I really see that all I need is to look inside" Snow is no doubt about cocaine while he doesn't regret doing it because its made him who he is today but its saying that there's all this beautiful things and he can get this natural high like these things are so great they make him so happy. When it's killing me-- the drug is just killing him he's hurting himself by using this drug but he still just can't see what a great person he is on the inside. By the way this will be their third single from stadium arcadium.
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This song to me reminds me of how he said in his book that addiction and rehab were so difficult and he wants a brand new start "walking through the fields, where my tracks will be concieled" as in he does not regret what he has done, but he wants to experience a new rebirth, in a way.
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Cocaine no doubt. Hey oh- llello (or yayo). "Were in my life just to get high on" b/c cocaine is just a shallow stimulant. Some drugs can give you an experience were you learn about yourself, coke is just a shallow thrill.
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its about his struggle with drugs and how difficult it was... white as snow referring to cocaine and other drugs
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I think this song is about being clean after the singer's drug addiction and how hard it is. Because snow is white, and white is clean...
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