Tripping Billies

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Via MTV: “Tripping Billies,” Matthews said, took its name from an episode years ago when he took acid on a South African beach. No sooner had he taken it than he decided… Read More

Apr. 30, 19961 viewer40.6K views

Tripping Billies Lyrics

[Verse 1]
We were above
You were standing underneath us
We were not yet lovers
Dragons were smoked
Bumblebees were stinging us
I was soon to be crazy

[Refrain]
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die

[Chorus]
'Cause we're tripping billies

[Verse 2]
We're wearing nothing
Nothing but our shadows
Shadows falling down on the beach sand
Remembering once, out on the beaches
We wore pineapple grass bracelets

[Pre-Chorus]
So why would you care
To get out of this place?
You and me and all our friends
Such a happy human race

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[Chorus]
Cause we're tripping billies

[Verse 3]
We are all sitting
Legs crossed 'round a fire
My yellow flame, she dances
Tequila drinking
Oh, our minds will wonder
To wondrous places

[Pre-Chorus]
So why would you care
To get out of this place?
You and me and all our friends
Such a happy human race

[Refrain]
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Take it up, Boyd
Yeah, yeah, yeah

[Instrumental Break]

[Refrain]
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we'll die, yeah

[Instrumental Outro]

About

Via MTV:

“Tripping Billies,” Matthews said, took its name from an episode years ago when he took acid on a South African beach. No sooner had he taken it than he decided he didn’t want to trip.

“But the acid said, ‘Too late!,’ ” Matthews said. Over the next few hours, he saw his girlfriend’s face turn into his mother’s, watched his hand melt and somehow lost his clothes.

The title is reportedly a reference to a comment once made to Matthews that his band sounds like “a bunch of hillbillies tripping on acid.”