Landing their first record deal with Twin/Tone in 1984, Soul Asylum recorded a total of four albums for the local label: Say What You Will... Everything Can Happen in 1984 (later reissued as Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck), Made To Be Broken in 1986, While You Were Out in 1986, and the EP Clam Dip and Other Delights in 1988. The band then switched to A&M, releasing Hang Time in 1988 and And the Horse They Rode In On in 1990 under that label. Although they enjoyed some success as a live band, Soul Asylum suffered from low album sales and considered disbanding.
In 1992, they signed with Columbia Records to produce Grave Dancers Union, a record that would come to transform them from underground college rockers to international superstars. The first two singles off the album, Somebody To Shove and Black Gold, both came in at high positions at the Modern Rock and Album Rock charts, but it was the album's third track and it's video of missing teens that led them to their major breakthrough. Runaway Train peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, raised album sales to double-platinum level, and won Soul Asylum the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1994.
In 1995, Soul Asylum followed up the success of Grave Dancers Union with Let Your Dim Light Shine, which climbed to #6 on the Billboard 200 and featured the #1 Modern Rock track Misery. After releasing Candy From A Stranger in 1998, the band members took a break from recording and didn't release a new studio album for the better part of seven years. During the interim singer Dave Pirner released a solo album and Dan Murphy toured and recorded with Golden Smog.
They reunited in 2004 to record their ninth full-length album, The Silver Lining, brought together by the news of Mueller being diagnosed with throat cancer. Up until this point, Soul Asylum had always included Murphy, Mueller, and Pirner, despite several line-up changes. This changed on June 17th, 2005, when Mueller passed away after finishing his work on several tracks on the new album. The Silver Lining was released in 2006 and dedicated to Karl Mueller's life and memory, with Murphy expressing that, "For me, this record is Karl."
In late 2005, ex-Replacements bassist (and current Guns N' Roses bassist) Tommy Stinson and former Prince drummer Michael Bland joined Soul Asylum in tribute to the late Karl Mueller. They completed their American tour in support of The Silver Lining in late 2006. In November and December 2006 they opened for Cheap Trick on their American tour. On March 10th, 2007, Soul Asylum joined Cyndi Lauper, Mint Condition, and Lifehouse to hold a concert to benefit Wain McFarlane, the leader of the legendary reggae band Ipso Facto, to help pay for the expenses of a kidney transplant.
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String Of Pearls
Soul Asylum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The street lights reflect the light in the water
The string it snaps and the pearls go sailing
And they splash and bounce and roll 'cross the wet street
As she bends to chase the pearls a car swings 'round the corner
She darts from the eyes of the panic-struck driver
Who's racing to the delivery room
And the sack breaks and out come the Siamese Twins
Who grow up to become the first President
With two heads
Are better than one
He puts his heads in his hands, says I got to put my heads together
I can become the best President ever
And not just President
Fend for yourself
Signs his name, takes the blame for all of the names with no shame
In their beliefs
They adjourn and they leave, and in walks a man
With a broom and a knife and blood on his hands
And he sweeps everything under the rug
And goes home to his kids and gives them a hug
But his wife was not there, she had just left a letter
That said "you'd be much better off without me"
Now his wife took the train to her ex-lover's funeral
Who died in the bathroom, hit his head on a urinal
When they got together, the knowledge was carnal
And the widow was at the funeral, and they had quite a catfight
And they fell into the hole where the casket was resting
And the preacher just left in the middle of the service
'Cause death was one thing, but women made him nervous
And he ran to his car and he drove 'round the corner
Then something in the street caught the light in his eye
He pulled over, reached down, and picked up a pearl from the gutter
And he didn't know what to think
And he brought it home and washed it in the sink
And he gave the pearl to Sister Mary Teresa
Who could not accept it so she gave it to Lisa,
A young prostitute who was missing a pearl
On the necklace that broke late last night
The lyrics of Soul Asylum's "String Of Pearls" tell a story of a chain of events that start with a woman swinging a string of pearls on the corner, and end with a young prostitute receiving a pearl to replace one lost from her necklace. The opening lines create a vivid image of the woman swinging the pearls on the corner, with the street lights reflecting on the water, before the string snaps and the pearls go sailing across the wet street. As she bends down to chase them, a car swings around the corner, but she manages to avoid being hit.
The song then takes a dark, surreal turn as the story unfolds. The driver of the car is revealed to be rushing his wife, who is about to give birth to Siamese twins. The sack breaks and the twins emerge, one of whom grows up to be the first president with two heads. The lyrics play on the saying "two heads are better than one," as the president puts his heads together to become the best president ever. However, the song suggests that even with two heads, he is still just a politician, willing to sign his name and take the blame for others' mistakes.
The lyrics take further twists and turns, involving a man with blood on his hands, a train ride to an ex-lover's funeral, and a catfight at the graveside, before ending with the gift of a pearl to a young prostitute. The song weaves together these disparate elements into a surreal, interconnected narrative that seems to suggest that everything is somehow linked together.
Line by Line Meaning
She swings the string of pearls on the corner
A woman is playing with a pearl necklace on the street corner
The street lights reflect the light in the water
The lights on the corner reflect onto the water
The string it snaps and the pearls go sailing
The necklace breaks and pearls go flying
And they splash and bounce and roll 'cross the wet street
The pearls splash, bounce, and roll across the wet street
As she bends to chase the pearls a car swings 'round the corner
As she bends down to get the pearls, a car approaches around the corner
She darts from the eyes of the panic-struck driver
She quickly moves out of the way of the panicked driver
Who's racing to the delivery room
The driver is hurrying to the hospital
'Cause in the back seat his wife is busting out of her womb
His pregnant wife is giving birth in the backseat of the car
And the sack breaks and out come the Siamese Twins
The wife gives birth to Siamese twins
Who grow up to become the first President
The Siamese twins eventually become the first President with two heads
With two heads, are better than one
Having two heads is an advantage for the President
He puts his heads in his hands, says I got to put my heads together
The President realizes the importance of working together and says he needs to brainstorm
I can become the best President ever
The President is motivated to be the best he can be
And not just President, fend for yourself
The President wants to do more than just be President
Signs his name, takes the blame for all of the names with no shame
The President takes responsibility for other people's actions despite their lack of remorse
In their beliefs
This line does not have enough context for me to provide a rewording
They adjourn and they leave, and in walks a man
A meeting ends and a man enters the room
With a broom and a knife and blood on his hands
The man has a broom, a knife, and blood on his hands
And he sweeps everything under the rug
The man hides any evidence of his crime
And goes home to his kids and gives them a hug
The man goes home and hugs his children
But his wife was not there, she had just left a letter
The man's wife left a letter saying she left him
That said 'you'd be much better off without me'
The man's wife thinks he will be better off without her
Now his wife took the train to her ex-lover's funeral
The man's wife took the train to her former lover's funeral
Who died in the bathroom, hit his head on a urinal
The man's wife's former lover died in a bathroom accident
When they got together, the knowledge was carnal
When the man's wife and her ex-lover got together, it was purely physical
And the widow was at the funeral, and they had quite a catfight
The ex-lover's widow was at the funeral and got into a physical altercation with the man's wife
And they fell into the hole where the casket was resting
During their fight, the two women fell into the hole with the casket
And the preacher just left in the middle of the service
The preacher left in the middle of the funeral service
'Cause death was one thing, but women made him nervous
The preacher was afraid of women more than death
And he ran to his car and he drove 'round the corner
The preacher left the scene in a hurry
Then something in the street caught the light in his eye
The preacher saw something shiny in the street
He pulled over, reached down, and picked up a pearl from the gutter
The preacher stopped his car, picked up a pearl from the gutter and inspected it
And he didn't know what to think
The preacher was confused about why he found a pearl in the street
And he brought it home and washed it in the sink
The preacher took the pearl home and cleaned it in the sink
And he gave the pearl to Sister Mary Teresa
The preacher gave the pearl to a nun named Sister Mary Teresa
Who could not accept it so she gave it to Lisa
Sister Mary Teresa could not accept the pearl, so she gave it to a young prostitute named Lisa
A young prostitute who was missing a pearl
Lisa was missing a pearl from her necklace
On the necklace that broke late last night
Lisa's necklace broke the night before, causing her to lose one of the pearls
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVID PIRNER, DAVID ANTHONY PIRNER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind