What does Jimi Thing mean?

Dave Matthews Band: Jimi Thing Meaning

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Album cover for Jimi Thing album cover

Song Released: 1994


Jimi Thing Lyrics

Lately I’ve been feeling low
A remedy is what I’m seeking
I take a taste of what’s mellow
Come away to something better
What I want is what I’ve not got
And what I need
Is all around me
Reaching searching never stop
And I’ll say...

If...

  1. anonymous
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    Nov 4th 2008 !⃝

    This song really spoke to me when I heard it a couple of days after my girlfriend broke up with me and trying to cope with the grief and the inner turmoil and desire to tell her how I felt.

    "Lately Ive been feeling low, A remedy is what I'm seeking"
    "What I want is what Ive not got" -her!
    "And what I need is all around me" - supportive friends, a great life of opportunity

    "If you could keep me floating, Just for a while, Till I get to the end of this tunnel" - find things to help me cope, and time will heal
    "I'll get back to you" - a part of thinks we could get back together

    "Id like to show you whats inside" - how I really feel
    "And I shouldn't care" - buck, up get over it
    "Shouldn't care shouldn't care, Bereaved as Im feeling" - I feel grief & despair, but come on, no-one died, tomorrow's a new day

    "The day is gone I'm on my back, Staring up at the ceiling" - at night. alone. contemplating.
    "Reaching searching never stop" - can't shake the thought of her from my mind, thinking of ways to change the situation.

    Probably not what Dave was thinking when he wrote it, but song lyrics leave the control of the author as soon as they leave his lips. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then surely meaning is in the ears of the listener. He may have coped with drugs/sex, perhaps my Jimi Thing is in fact this song, keeping me swinging along the path back to happiness and normal life. Cheers for reading, JH.

  2. anonymous
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    Oct 27th 2008 !⃝

    Its an acid trip. Jimi Thing, Jimi hendrix, same riff as a Jimi Hendrix song, spelled the same instead of "jimmy thing"

  3. anonymous
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    Sep 27th 2008 !⃝

    If any of you were real Dave Mathews Band fans you would have read the book. In the book Dave says Jimi Thing is about a positive drug experience.

  4. anonymous
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    Sep 19th 2008 !⃝

    Jimi Thing is about a condom.

  5. esg6589
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    Sep 19th 2008 !⃝

    I'm pretty sure a Jimi can keep you floating...especially until you get to the end of that tunnel...come on this is clearly about sex...even when he refers to smoking it's at the end of the day, on his back aka after sex. He directly addresses his condom when he says I'd like to show you what's inside...but believe what you want, that's why music is great, it can be about whatever you want it to be about.

  6. anonymous
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    Aug 31st 2008 !⃝

    I think it is about weed and alcohol. Dave is known to have struggles with alcohol ( not heroin for whoever said that). I take a taste of whats below he refers to alcohol, he has been feeling low so he turns to booze as usual. But he just wants to smoke his mind. What I want is what I've not got (weed) and what I need is all around me (booze). Weed is illegal, booze is legal. Booze makes you feel better for a bit but makes things worse in the end, weed makes you feel better for a while. Sometimes a jimi thing ( a joint ) slides his way to keep him swinging. He doesn't care if you don't like it. Takes a drink and sits back and relaxes and and smokes his mind.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2008 !⃝

    I just read wiki - Jimi thing is the way JIMI Hendrix plays his guitars - "keep me swinging" = dances

    Song has both Sex and Drug references (Just feeling good, having sex, doing drugs, listening to music)

    Word! We all love dave enough to fight :/

  8. anonymous
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    Jul 31st 2008 !⃝

    As every single one of his songs is it's about life. and how can "smoke my mind, make me feel better for a small time" be about sex, anyone who has ever smoked knows after about 30 min aka "a small time" you come down from your high.

  9. anonymous
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    Jul 25th 2008 !⃝

    Okay, first of all music is about interpretation. Tou listen to it, and take it in. That's what is so amazing about music...you never are going to know what it really is about unless you talk to Dave yourself and asked him.

    I don't care how many years you have been listening to Dave.. music is about interpreting it as to how it comes to you. of course you can have your own opinion.

    Now, I'm not saying I'm right, but the way I interpret it is about drugs.
    --He talks about how he's been feeling "low" and he needs a "remedy" a remedy is some kind of treatment, medicine..ect. Well there's your first clue..drugs.
    then he talks about he wants a "taste" of whats below. I don't think he means to construe that as a sexual reference...I think it's supposed to means what grows BELOW the ground...marijuana. Then he says he takes a test of whats below, and he goes away to something better..(his is state of mind). He wants some, but doesn't have any, but its ALL Around him. Those are his words.
    "if you could keep me floating just for a while, just for a while"...
    --floating is a feeling of being high.
    "Until I get to the end of this tunnel"
    --until he gets high enough to destroy the feeling of being "low" as he states that exact word in the beginning of the song.
    "Sometimes a Jimi Thing slides my way and keeps me swinging
    I'd like to show you what's inside
    And I shouldn't care
    If you don't like it"

    --He wants to show his real self, his real state of mind where he can truely be himself with a peace of mind, and he shouldn't care if you don't like it..(now if that was talking about sex how would that make any sense at all unless I guess if your thinking on a very dirty level, and dave is much more deep than that.


    +many references are obvious as to a drug/smoking reference.

    But anyway, yes I agree as to what many others said.. a "Jimi thing" is what makes you feel good, takes your problems away, gets you through the day.


    remember---Interpret how you want to, whatever makes you thing..use your imagination.
    Imagination is more important than knowledge.

  10. anonymous
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    Jul 3rd 2008 !⃝

    Take a taste of what's below, come my way. I believe it's a modified version of Jesus descending to hell. Sometimes I take a bus there, sometime I take a taxi. I believe he means how God comes in different forms/vessels throughout time. I really believe most of his songs are his interpretation of his Messiah complex. His inner struggle to save people or himself. Rhyme and Reason "he sees' heaven, yeahhhhhhhhhhhh"

  11. anonymous
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    Jun 18th 2008 !⃝

    It's about pot. "jimi" is pot. maybe it's a condom too, I don't know bc they're not illegal so I don't speak about them in code. maybe it's about sex too. but it's about pot. and fetuses haha I liked that response too. but you people getting all flustered about this should "smoke your mind" and mellow out. and no I'm not a stoner, y'all are just annoyingly argumentative.

  12. jojo
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    Jun 17th 2008 !⃝

    I have to laugh too, when I read some of these remarks...I find it all very interesting,...Yes, I'm a Dave Matthews fan, and I think Dave is smart, complex, a great person, and has a side of craziness in him like so many of all of us, but I think all his lyrics can elude to a combination of thoughts and I tend to think that we all over-think the meanings of these songs and ironically, we spend more time doing it than Dave does, straight or high! The music...the beat, can speak more than the words. Everyone appreciates art in a different way and no one should be told that they are incorrect in their opinions. Let the music just make us feel good.

  13. anonymous
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    Jun 2nd 2008 !⃝

    I think Dave is very smart, I think everyone has good input, I think it could all work it's about good CREATIVE music all put together the way you interpret it is your own thing. He and the band know what it means to them and that's all that matters....its my favorite dave song, I love it because I'm a stoner, but the sex and baby fetus ideas work too, why should we argue over something so pointless instead we should be thanking dave for his genius and this great song.

  14. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2008 !⃝

    Ha this shit is funny, anyways this song is about pleasures in life, fuckin a one pleasure is smoking, another pleasure is sex..those are a few things that are important to me. He also talks about shit in his life like family which makes him feel good. but what the fuck, about a fetus? that's some bull shit

  15. anonymous
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    Feb 11th 2008 !⃝

    Ok so I usually don't post things but I was reading all this and I had to. Ok soo...Dave's sick! I think that's something we can all agree on and exactly what makes him sick is to have his lyrics relatable and the metaphors he uses. I think it is about sex and I think it is about pot, and hell yea I like both of them so I don't even wanna make myself pick one or the other. It's Dave..its meant to be openly interpreted. Awesome song too.




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