All over a bowl of bitter beans?

[Hangar18]

I love this part of the song, ('soup' for the new people) but i never acctually got what it means? can any one clear it up for me? i;ve tried my hardest to try and understand it, but it doent make any sense.

[blindmelon1091]

Here's a few quotes regarding Soup:

Shannon: We wrote it right before we went to Woodstock. We played it at woodstock. It was on the compilation album. It was a collage of things. It was right around the time Kurt Cobain had killed himself...a family that lived in Chicago that used to have this corner store called Tuttie's, there was an older Italian man, he didn't understand me or what I did for a living but he liked me but never understood why he liked me. It was really about 4 stories tied up in one, rather than me explain it to you. Its kinda written in an ambigous way so you can draw from it whatever you want.

Rogers: For some reason, it didn't fit into the batch of songs, which was probably just a whim on that particular day. That's just the way we did things. Shannon was in a race with his ideas and every now and then he'd reach out, grab one and throw it down into a line. He was kind of difficult to follow in a linear fashion. This was a typical song of his, very abstract.

Sounds like parts of the song where written about the Italian man Shannon talks about in the above quote and other parts were just abstract and ambiguous as Rogers says.

[Hangar18]

so it can basically mean anything then?

[blindmelon1091]

Pretty much it can mean whatever you want it to. It meant something to Shannon but not the same thing for us.

[Hangar18]

ahh ok.

[3arman]

I am all about trying to figure out what Shannons lyrics mean, and they are usually a stretch, but this what I get. All over a bowl of bitter beans. I'll close my eyes and make you all go away. I'll pull the trigure and make you all go away. Kurt Cobains daughter is name is Frances Bean, so maybe the suicide was the result of an ongoing BITTER fued with Courtney Love over Frances BEAN. I really stretch my imagination when it comes to Shannons lyrics although I am probably wrong the majority of the time. But that is why I love Shannons lyrics, because they make me search deep in my mind.

Peace

[Ryan]

Huh, I don't know if that is correct or not, but it sure is interesting. I have never looked at it that way. . .

your handle is so cool - 3arman!

[beatthediese]

i always thought "all over a bowl of bitter beans" was just talking about some sort of relationship that was ruined or strained by something petty.

[verbalpocketplay]

beatthediese said:

i always thought "all over a bowl of bitter beans" was just talking about some sort of relationship that was ruined or strained by something petty.

yeah that's what i thought it meant, fights and big deals made over something trite

[linwoodlarsons]

I always thought it meant something big problem steming from something small. Like, look what happened, this all started over nothing.

[*Sonya*]

I agree with the last 3 posts...that's how I always interpreted it. It could be literally that an argument started over a bowl of bitter beans and just escalated into something huge...or it could be a metaphor for that same type of situation like beatthediese, verbal, and linwood are saying. It's definitely open to interpretation.

[charityholyfield]

This is turning into one of my favorite songs too. I don't know what's happening to me lately-- the whole time I'm loved Blind Melon, I've normally only had the urge to listen to the first album. It just seemed to sum it all up for me so well that I didn't need anything else. For the last few weeks, though, I've been craving the other stuff! Not that I mind or anything!!! It just strikes me as strange that my feelings changed so suddenly like that. I ca't stop listening to The Pusher, and Soup, and Hell, and Car Seat, and Vernie, and all kinds of shit in place of my old familiar Deserted, and I Wonder, and Holyman, and all that. Screw it, it all rocks my world!

[blindmelon1091]

I think it's definately just a matter of how you interpret it. To me, I don't think he's talking about "a bowl of bitter beans" in the literal sense. I think it's more along the lines that it stood for something to Shannon that we'll probably never really know. Could've been a mood, a feeling, an incident that happened, anything....

As Brad once said:

BRAD: "Maybe there won't even be a meaning, it may be just a mood"

[bumcakes]

i love this thread.

[Hoonaholic]

I'm a believer in that most songs are "take what you want" out them type. One thing that I always loved about Blind Melon is you can translate it into a number of things. Whats there is there, no doubt about it! I remember Brad saying some where that the songs are written for people to get their own connection with. Blind Melon is always open to intterpation....