Blister In The Sun

Album: Violent Femmes (1982)
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  • When I'm out walking
    I strut my stuff
    And I'm so strung out
    I'm high as a kite
    I just might stop to check you out

    Let me go on
    Like I blister in the sun
    Let me go on
    Big hands, I know you're the one

    Body and beats
    I stain my sheets
    I don't even know why
    My girlfriend, she's at the end
    She is starting to cry

    Let me go on
    Like I blister in the sun
    Let me go on
    Big hands, I know you're the one

    When I'm out walking
    I strut my stuff
    And I'm so strung out
    I'm high as a kite
    I just might stop to check you out

    When I'm out walking
    I strut my stuff
    And I'm so strung out
    I'm high as a kite
    I just might stop to check you out

    Body and beats
    I stain my sheets
    I don't even know why
    My girlfriend, she's at the end
    She is starting to cry

    When I'm out walking
    I strut my stuff
    And I'm so strung out
    I'm high as a kite
    I just might stop to check you out

    Let me go on
    Like I blister in the sun
    Let me go on
    Big hands, I know you're the one Writer/s: Gordon Gano
    Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 33

  • John Roberts from ChicagoZenith from Canada, if you think that I don't recommend you become a copyright lawyer, lol.
  • Zenith from CanadaAtomjack the song that you referred to sounds nothing like 'blister in the sun', but it may be 'inspired' the making of blister in the sun but it is not plagiarism.
  • Agnello Noel from MumbaiReally, Atomjack?
  • Dirk from UsaThe Violent Femmes have stated, unequivocally, that the song isn't about masturbation.
  • Atomjack from Porto, PortugalReally disappointed to learn that this song is plagiarism from The Shadows song "Little B" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwnt-GiPcyc
  • Terry from Grafon, WiThis song always reminds of Angela Chase in "My So-Called Life" dancing around her bedroom because she thought she was over Jordan Catalano. I loved that show!
  • Calvin Ford from Escondido, Cathis song is about heroin, "when im a walking i strut my stuff and im so STRUNG OUT im HIGH AS A KITE ans i just might stop to check you out, the second part is about involentary ejaculation when you withdrawling from heroin im sure theres more meanings to it but thats the one that makes the most sence
  • Rosemary from Atlanta, Gato be honest i felt dumb for looking the meaning of it up, i felt that the meaning was probably as obvious to some people as it should be to me, but i guess i'm not an idiot for looking it up. So it's not obviously just about heroin...i always thought it was, but i see that i was right to question it. If someone had asked me when i listened to it "what is this about, what are you listening to?" I would naturally have said "omg what do you think it's about? It's about getting high, probably heroin, i don't know what all of it means though, but what do you expect, its about being high" lol
  • Rosemary from Atlanta, GaHonestly, I thought the song was about heroin for obvious reasons. I thought staining the sheets were about passing out and pissing himself while high, just like some do that are so drunk all the time they can't get up to go to the bathroom. I also thought blister in the sun I shouldn't even bother asking because it was something I didn't know since i'm not a heroin user, just another old term that heroin addicts used to use maybe, but not one that was common. Of course the gf would cry because he was high, and messing everything up with his bodily fluids. But, i sure do like some of the thoughts here on it...the thought on herpes (wow), and also, it can't just be on masturbation...if it's on that then the song has more than just as a meaning.
  • Darren from Brisbane, AustraliaI don't know how true this is, but I heard (quite a few years ago) that the song was about herpes.

    Apparently a herpes simplex outbreak can be triggered by exposure to the sun (at least according to a quick Google search - and no, I'm not speaking through personal experience).

    This may explain the line "Let me go on, like a blister in the sun".

    According to http://www.cureforherpes.org/herpes-blisters.html, when the herpes blisters get large enough, they can burst and secrete puss, which may explain the "Body and beats, I stain my sheets, I don't even know why" line.

    It also might explain "My girl friend, she's at the end, she is starting to cry".
  • Brad from Lexington, KyThe music video is totally random and funny, it has nothing at all to do with the song's subject matter. It is about a guy who assassinates the President's cat. At least that's what I got from it anyway.
  • Greg from Appleton, WiFor some people, holding on to the masturbation theory (rigidly) is a worldly-wise position. But I like the first poster's explanation best. A male group called the Violent Femmes performs a sarcastic song from the perspective of a woman. This woman, a spiteful caricature of a real person, is feverishly enamored with a big-handed man. The lyrics work as revenge for one of the band members. And so a "blister in the sun" is simply a general insult that refers to a festering sore. Believing this, we might then use another M-word to describe this song. Misogyny.
  • William Rayder from Wartburg, Tni always thaught that he was doing alright with one girl but when he got high he would check out other girls, making his girl cry....
  • William Rayder from Wartburg, Tni always thaught that he was doing alright with one girl but when he got high he would check out other girls, making his girl cry....
  • Marty from San Francisco, CaYeah, I don't know about any VH1 show, but this tune is clearly about kicking dope. Number 1, the obvious "high as a kite" and "I'm so strung out" couldn't be clearer references. "Body beats" or "Body beads" are reference to the sweatiness and high heart rates that happen during withdrawal. In some places, like in Harlem, NYC, and Oakland, CA the cat with "Big Hands" is holding dope. What many don't know is that males will experience spontaneous ejaculation when kicking s--t. Hence "I stain my sheets, and I don't even know why". As for "My girlfriend, she's at the end, and she's starting to cry". I presume this is a reference to the latter, and longer lasting stages off withdrawal, which is a sever depression. Sorry to burst the bubbles.
  • Josh from Minneapolis (orig Philadelpha), MnScenario: I was in HS when this song first came out, and liked it then (but not as well as 'Gone Daddy Gone' or some others). Twenty plus years later, I was thinking about it today because I writer on a financial website used it in a pun talking about a stock ticker ("Big HANS I know you're the one) and that got me wondering what a blister in the sun is actually a metaphor for. I always got the masturbation references, but never believed that blister breaking=ejaculation was the intended connection. Reviewing the lyrics, reading over other's comments, and thinking about it some more, here is the interpretation that I like best:

    The song is about the general adolescent drive towards excess, over the top sexuality. Examples include masturbating even while in a relationship, having wet dreams even while sexually active, and seeking outsized sexual equptment on partners (breasts,hands,penis, etc.). This is compared to somebody who wants to stay out in the sun even after their skin is already blistered with sunburn.
  • Joe from Bellingham, Wawhat commercial was this on? was it Wendys or Arbys or something
  • Chenel from Salamanca, Nyyeah this song is also on a fast food commercial, Shana. I saw something on VH1 about this song but I wasn't paying attention because I was twisted.
  • Ti from Seattle, WaI always thought the lyric "like a blister in the sun" worked with him being "high as a kite" and "strutting his stuff" to mean that the singer was a druggie, staining his sheets with sweat and having trouble talking... (the "nnana, nanana's"). Strung out, about to burst, strutting down a sidewalk, a fed up girlfriend at the end of her rope starting to cry, lowered inhibitions.
  • Tom from San Marcos, TxI always thought it was a guy who's straight relationship was falling apart because he found himself attracted to a guy.
    I mean, he will check him out because he's strung out, it makes him stain his sheets (i.e. wet dreams) and it makes his girlfriend cry, and he's attracted to someone because of their big hands?
    I always thought "Blister in the Sun" was kind of a gross metaphor, but it's obvious that it would "burst" in the sun, symbolizing in this case both ejaculation and the uncomfortable awkward situation coming to some sort of painful release.
  • Richard from Noblesville, InFROM WIKIKPEDIA: Gordon was sensitive about his small hands, and on the first day of school a girl came up to him, held his hands in the air, and exclaimed "LOOK WHAT SMALL HANDS HE HAS". So, he wrote the song from the perspective of a girl lusting after a boy with big hands. This would explain the "big hands I know you're the one" line.

  • Emlem from Nyc, NyNo, Greg, you're thinking of LOLA by The Kinks.
  • Jer from London, CanadaOk ,guys out there do you agree with me that the word blister sould never be put in a song thats about whaking it, seriously?
  • Ben from Lindenhurst, IlI dont really care what the song is about, but it is one of the best "alternative" songs I have ever heard.
  • Dennis from Anchorage, AkActually, I always took the line "big hands" to refer to big breasts. It's an old joke: you hold your hands at chest level to suggest big boobs and say, "She had the biggest... hands I ever saw."
  • Philip from Omaha, Ne"Big hands, I know you're the one" He likes a girl who gives a good handjob.
  • Lauren from Kansas City, MoMight I add, "Body and beats I stain my sheets", could very well mean that premature ejaculation happens with women and without. Body, woman. Beats, masturbation. "I don't even know why". It's hard not to be clueless of the reasoning behind such an occurance.
  • Lauren from Kansas City, MoPermature ejaculation, perhaps? Sheet staining, pretty much begging to "go on like a blister in the sun", girlfriend whining about it...
  • Monty from Omaha, NeWow Greg, thanks for the awkwar insight... Me, I am not sure I would admit the "picking up the Transvestite thing on the web, but you go!...
    As for the Masturbation vs. Girl's view debate, is there even a need for debate, I had heard this sond was always about masterbation, but maybe not a male's... I mean women masterbate too right? I mean for a small fee you can watch one do it on a web-cam... so why could this song not be from both the perspective of a female fan and about masterbation... of course since this is sonfacts, we are bound to get someone from ohio claiming it's about heroin too... but that goes without saying.
  • Gregmon from Intelbuquerque, NmLive and learn. I always thought this song was about lusting for a transvestite. After an awkward experience once, I make sure to look for an Adam's apple or large hands before making my approach.
  • Kristy from La Porte City, Iahow do you explain "body beats, I stain my sheets" then?
  • Kristen from Campbellville, Canadathats funny, that thats what the songs bout
  • Monty from Anaheim, CaAcctually the "Songfacts" are wrong. The song isn't about masturbation. On the VH1 "True Spin" tv program, a member of the band said that a girl he liked came up to him, pick up his arm and said, "Look at him tiny hands." So the song is acctually in the point of veiw of the girl he liked which explains why the song goes, "...Big hands I know you're the one"
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