Expert: GZ2525 - 3/22/2004

Question
Hello- I am a recent Dave Matthews fan, I have not listened to a lot of his older stuff but I love most of the newer stuff. I just wanted to know the meaning behind song 41, and could you please give me your top 5 DMB songs, and ones that have good meaning behind them. My roommate and I are looking to take songs and write their lyrics out and frame them to put in our den, so meaningful songs would be awesome, and I know Dave has some good ones. Maybe some good love ones, or just life lessons. Thanks so much!

Answer
#41:  The song is a direct reply to the lawsuits brought by former Dave mentor Ross Hoffman.

Top 5 DMB Songs:

1) Seek Up
Another Greed song, this deals with the wealth of persons and how in the end, he with the most toys still dies, so what is the point. But spiritual salvation is the key.

2) The Dreaming Tree
Questioning faith in the eyes of death is the message of this complex song. Beginning with the “If I had the faith to…” calls out God directly, sighting the things that the person has done, despite the death of this loved one. The Dreaming Tree is that happy place, figuratively or literally, where everything is all right in the world. Speculation over the identity of the deceased person is rampant due to the masking ambiguity of the song.

3) Lie In Our Graves
As Dave has said numerous times, it's a song about being dead, and having no regrets or want for redemption. Basically, it's saying to live life fully.

4) Pig
As Don't Burn The Pig, the song came from a special Dave viewed testing the pain threshold of swines. The song as Pig, Dave again explores the Carpe Diem philosophy.

5) You Never Know
The very personal song seems to deal with the loss of Dave's father to Cancer, and how he used the tragedy as a strength to become the person he is today. Death references riddle the song, and disease allusions indicate cancer is the cause. But from the darkness of the time came a “light” of inspiration to continue.