Watching The Wheels Lyrics

"Right there, I feel exactly the same way. I'm all about changing the world for the better for humanity, not 'profits for corporations'. I see solutions and people laugh at me, mock my opinions.. but I know things ARE changing. Occupy Washington, Occupy Together, etc. Collective consciousness. It's here, and even when everyone makes fun of me, I put up with it.... it's all changing :)

Peace + Love"

I believe "watching the wheels" refers to sean, I recently used this term in watching my girl observing a play. Just watching the wheels of her mind take it all in. Beautiful song. So poignant.

The "Shadows on the Wall" refer to Plato's famous parable. The parable is about people chained all their lives in a cave with their back to the fire, watching their shadows on the wall, never knowing about the fire behind them and thinking that the world is 2 dimensional and in black and white. It is allegory of humanity's inability to really understand the world, due to the limitations of human perception, thought and personal biases.

Lennon, by referring to this parable, suggests that he is ok with this human condition. He is letting go of the constant search for greater truth and solving the world's problems. All those "trying to enlighten him" should just let him be.

See:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

A classic one from John Lennon with lyrics :Album Double Fantasy released in 1980.Lennon wrote this to explain what he was up to in the last 6 years. Until Double Fantasy, his last album was Walls And Bridges, which was released in 1974. He was no longer interested in fame, and dedicated himself to his family - his wife Yoko and young son Sean. The song makes a statement that taking it easy and spending time with loved ones is anything but crazy. Working way too hard in an attempt to be a productive as possible, on the other hand, can be quite unfulfilling in the end.

John Lennon was into 'new age' stuff, 2012, collective consciousness. That's what this is all about.

"Ah, people asking questions lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry
I'm just sitting here doing time "

Right there, I feel exactly the same way. I'm all about changing the world for the better for humanity, not 'profits for corporations'. I see solutions and people laugh at me, mock my opinions.. but I know things ARE changing. Occupy Washington, Occupy Together, etc. Collective conscious. It's here, and even when everyone makes fun of me, I put up with it.. its all changing :)

Peace + Love

Even as an accomplished icon to many, John Lennon could not escape the common malady of judgment. His fans, the music industry, and even his closest friends viewed him as crazy and lazy. They could not understand his self-imposed isolation from the frantic pace he had maintained since as one of four young men from Liverpool, England, he burst upon the world stage arriving in the United States of America February 9, 1964. After all, he was an idol; a former Beatle; and a musician in his own right. He was not producing as many records or touring around the globe like he had done previously. Like the Romans feeding Christians to the lions, his fans and the power brokers in the music industry wanted more of his flesh. Even his friends were concerned about his lack of activity and his mental stability.
In "Watching The Wheels," he explains in a very sane and entertaining manner that he is perfectly fine. He mocks the questions about his sanity in his lyrics by referring to "watching the shadows on the wall" and adds about the wheels: "I really love to watch them roll." He calls those warning him of ruin, “lost in confusion,” and gives them some solid, positive advice of his own: "I tell them they're no problems only solutions."
Lennon explains that he can no longer maintain the pace he has previously, "riding on the merry-go-round". "He is "doing time," something he has not been able to do for what to him must seem like an eternity. He is doing this time not necessarily by choice, but because he has to do it. He repeats, "I have to let it go," three times at end of the song. There is no anger in his voice, but a calm and kind demeanor.
This a great song of accusation and explanation. It tells of a man who needs rest and who is judged unfairly because he does not meet others' expectations. Indeed, he is called crazy and lazy, because he does not march in step to what other people call normal. Too often people judge others not understanding the load they are carrying and call people who do not fit into their narrow world view lazy, or even crazy. This judgmental attitude pervades in the ignorant and unenlightened. H. Craig Hutto
hcraighutto@gmail.com

The way I interpret these lyrics is that it's about moving on and putting yourself first. The protagonist is tired of living for others and living up to other people's expectations. And when he does move on others don't understand and ridicule and question him. It's a very poignant message about living for yourself and making yourself happy. That is the only thing that you have any real control over anyway. Beautifully written.

This song is rather simple as most Lennon/Beatle Songs are... that's the beautiful thing about John, he could take the most simple things and make it amazing! (for example; "all you need is love")

The song can simply be taken at face value, as mentioned previously, this was about Lennon's carrer after the Beatles, and people kept on telling him what he should do next and likely "get back with the beatles," and he simply didn't want to "play the game" anymore. Obviously people thought he was "crazy" and obviously said things like "don't you miss the big time" or even called him "lazy," etc. etc.

John was obviously at a new place in his life, had his second son and was just wanting to be with his family having fun... i think that's what a lot of his methapors in the song are - "shadows on the wall" -- obviously wall puppets, even "watching the wheels go round and round" -- toy cars his son likely plays with.

and lastly, "no longer riding on the merry-go-round, just had to let it go" means he's moved on from that past part of his life, he's finished it... gotten everything he can from his beatles carrer, needs something new.

In this song John says "I'm just sitting here doing time". Some days after (December 8 1980) he was killed.

There was a singer called Otis Redding, on his last recorded song he sings "sittin' on the dock of the bay wasting time". Some days after (December 10 1967) he died in a tragic airplane crash.

Moral: if you want to save your life, keep running (or walking at the very least), never say you are sitting somewhere "wasting" time, those words could eventually turn against you.

Of course there is a deeper underlying meaning to the words in Watching the Wheels. Lennon's entire message and passion in life was to enjoy simplistic ideas and values. Watching Wheels refers to sitting and observing the workings of society and human interaction. He was voluntarily taking an outsiders look, where he did not want to be bothered with things that in his mind, did not matter in the grand scheme of the galaxy. Lennon wanted peace and unity and he wanted to live his individual life by his own means, which often meant internal peace and solo unity.

Really guys? This song is just another perfect example of everyone reading into lyrics FAR too much. John was just saying that during his 5 year hiatus people were giving him crap about being away but he was just enjoying life and having fun being away from the spotlight :)

This was lennon's last song before he was shot.He's explaining that he refused to play the games of the illuminati thats why he was getting warnings.He has used the word enlighten as the illuminati means "the enlightened ones" and he used to be enlightened himelf.They tried to convince Lennon to rejoin them and offered him more success but lennon refused.He knew about the consequences thats why he's saying "Im just sitting doing my time here"

to explain it wayyyyyy less complicated than namaste, you have to let go of the material world and live your life for peace and others. and there is no finite knowledge, we know everything already, we just have to find it in ourselves. you're getting there namaste, don't be too hasty, it'll come to you

This song was on Funny People soundtrack... Ive heard the radio/studio version so many times... I never knew this one exisited and now I can't stop listening... and I play guitar and can't stop playing and singing this song. Most people wait for new music to come to them, but truth is its all been done before. Therefore, I tend to go backwards to find the real gems, and this is absolutely one of them. I just see this song as him growing up, giving up the hype of what he was, and people thinking why did he give it all up, and people giving him crap for it... but in the end, he had to let it go and be an adult and father... and he accepted that. This song is evidence he never lost the passion of what he did best.

i was eight years old when lennon died. it was tragedic. i have witnessed lots of famous deaths, such as tupac and biggie, i was in the buildings when the world trade center fell, but this was lennons last song before he died, so i hear. i could listen to this song for hours. i'm listening right now. the guy below me might be right and if so, i like this song even more. peace