I Got Life
Treat Williams and Chorus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no wear, ain't got no job
Ain't got no money, no place to stay
Ain't got no father, ain't got no mother
Ain't got no children, ain't got no sisters above
Ain't got no touch, ain't got no god
Ain't got no love
Ain't got no wine, no cigarettes
Ain't got no clothes, no country
No class, no schooling
No friends, no nothing
Ain't got no god
Ain't got one more
Ain't got no earth, no ?
No food, no home
I said I ain't got no clothes
No job, no nothing
Ain't got long to live
And I ain't got no love
But what have I got?
Let me tell ya what I've got
That nobody's gonna take away
I got my hair on my head
I got my brains, I got my ears
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I dot my mouth, I got my smile
I got my tongue, I got my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobies
I got my heart, I got my soul
I got my back, I got my sex
I got my arms, I got my hands
I got my fingers, got my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I got my liver, got my blood
Got life, I got my life
The lyrics of the song "I Got Life" by Treat Williams and chorus speaks about a person who has nothing in life. They do not have a home, money, class, friends, education, job, parents, siblings, faith, love, or even basic necessities such as clothing and food. The singer has nothing and is seemingly miserable, but in the chorus, they change their tone and start to focus on what they do have- life. They recognize that nobody can take away what they have, that is, their physical body and the experiences they have had in life.
The song can be interpreted as a celebration of life, despite the challenges and hardships one may face. It reminds the listener to focus on what they have instead of what they lack. The lyrics also shed light on the importance of being grateful for life and the little things in it.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
I have no physical possessions such as a house, shoes or anything to my name
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
I have no financial stability or status
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
I have no social circle and no educational qualifications
Ain't got no wear, ain't got no job
I have no proper clothing or employment
Ain't got no money, no place to stay
I don't have any money to rent a place to stay
Ain't got no father, ain't got no mother
I don't have parents to turn to for guidance or support
Ain't got no children, ain't got no sisters above
I have no offspring or siblings that I can rely on
Ain't got no earth, ain't got no faith
I have no grounding or sense of spirituality
Ain't got no touch, ain't got no god
I don't have a sense of touch, or faith in a higher power
Ain't got no love
I lack romantic love or emotional connection to others
Ain't got no wine, no cigarettes
I have no luxuries such as wine or cigarettes
Ain't got no clothes, no country
I have no sense of national belonging or even proper clothing
No class, no schooling
I have no social status or educational background
No friends, no nothing
I have no social circle or anything to my name
Ain't got no god
I don't believe in or rely on any higher power
Ain't got one more
I have nothing else left
Ain't got no earth, no ?
I don't feel grounded and am unsure of my place in this world
No food, no home
I have no food to eat and no place to call home
I said I ain't got no clothes
I lack proper clothing
No job, no nothing
I have no employment or anything to my name
Ain't got long to live
I feel that my time on Earth is limited
And I ain't got no love
I am lacking emotional connection or romantic love
But what have I got?
Despite all of these challenges, what do I have?
Let me tell ya what I've got
I will now explain what I do have
I got my hair on my head
I have hair on my scalp
I got my brains, I got my ears
I have my intelligence and my ability to hear
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I have the gift of sight and my sense of smell
I dot my mouth, I got my smile
I have my mouth and the ability to smile
I got my tongue, I got my chin
I have my tongue and my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobies
I have my neck and my breasts
I got my heart, I got my soul
I have my heart and my soul
I got my back, I got my sex
I have my back and my sexual organs
I got my arms, I got my hands
I have my arms and my hands
I got my fingers, got my legs
I have my fingers and my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I have my feet and my toes
I got my liver, got my blood
I have my liver and my blood
Got life, I got my life
I have my life and all the blessings and challenges that come with it
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Paul Kennedy
This is brilliant of course. To give you another view of how brilliant the lyrics are, here are the original lyrics matched with the lyrics of this version.
The original has only a few phrases, which are repeated again and again. A parody can't do this and has to find new words each time. Handel set only 6 or 7 lines of text. Each one is replaced here by up to 6 or 8 different lines.
(Note also how well the new text matches the sounds of the originals, especailly the vowels at the ends of lines.)
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth
-> Our cells are phospholipid membranous
-> But have no form-restrictive containers
-> Our high motility is what shapes us
-> For heterotrophy as predators
-> Chordata, annelids and ctenophores
The Kingdom of this world
-> The opisthokonta clade
Is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ
-> Has become the kingdoms of fungi and animals
And He shall reign for ever and ever
-> In the domain of eukaryota
-> ATP made inside mitochondria
-> But we contain no plastids like chloroplasts
-> With blastulae as triplo= and diploblasts
-> But we all came from before the Cambrian
-> From a concestor in the Precambrian
-> And microtubules nucleated by centrosomes
-> And we chordates have tails and gill slits and notochords
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
-> kingdom of; the phylum of
-> classis of; the order of
-> family of; the genus of
-> Homo sapiens sapiens
-> Protostomes with desmosomes
-> Coelomates with hollow cores
-> Gastrulate from blastopores
-> Echinoderms and Arthropods
for ever and ever
-> Mollusca Tardigrada
-> Larvacia Agnatha
-> Rodentia Cetacea
-> Lemuridae Tarsiidae
-> Gorilla and Pongo
-> and deuterostomia
-> Platyzoa, Nematoda
-> Porifera and Cnidaria
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
-> Arthropoda Chordata
-> Amphibia and Mammalia
-> Carnivora Primates
-> Atelidae Hominidae
-> Chimpanzee and homo
-> gap junctions, tight junctions
Hallelujah
-> Animalia! (x23)
[edit: somehow the lyrics went missing. Happily I haven't rebooted in the last 2 weeks and I still had the text editor open.]
Colin M.
Bohemian Gravity is about String Theory
Rolling in the Higgs and Massless are about Particles
Surface of Light is about Astrophysics
Outbound Probe and Puffed Up Cores are about Astronomy
Eminimemium is about Nuclear Chemistry
All About That Base (No Acid) is about Chemistry
Animalia Chorus is about Biology
Maybe the next one's about Geology?
A. P.
Why is nobody talking about the fact that this man learned the WHOLE ENTIRE ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR SHEET MUSIC!. Each of the people who is behind singing relate to a different instrument. He adapted to his voice (or not) and then wrote that letter that fits perfectly. Just amazing!!
Lauren Overeem
As a chorus member and Neuroscience student, I couldn’t stop laughing at this for anything. This is so well done-it’s pretty unbelievable.
Jacquie Haertel
Lauren Overeem It's a great bit right?! I'm also a Neuroscience student who spent a lot of time in choir! Where are you from?!
bearvarine
Well if you want to sing in latin, there's nothing like phylogeny to get you where you want to go...
Sophie Nugre
Anatomy is also a good bet.
IceLuxray
as a bio major who's sung this for choir how many times, this makes me too happy.
hifrax stunt四rd
i can relate..lol
btw, did you experience all the goosebumps while laughing and feeling you are smart and stupid (lack of study) at the same time?
because i am experiencing it right now.. lol
toanoradianトアのラディアン
Finally, a song using a dense collection of complex multi-syllabic jargon in a field I studied! No more "Kaluza-Klein", "reparametrization", or "Roche limit", just the good old familiar desmosomes, notochord and ctenophores.
Thanks, acapellascience!
CerberaOdollam
Yessssss!!!!! Biology neeeds more love
Monzur
Isn't Chordata a phylum?