SickthingsUK

Hey guys... another doubt I wanna clear up through your help...
In the song Below Your Means....
What is the meaning of that?
Ive been searching and think that it means "below your middle" you know where....in a sexual way....
am I right?
thanks.

You know, english isnt my native language, that's why I ask this.
Maybe Im not clear enough since I dont get replies...
I want to know the MEANING of the song title "Below your means".
Thank you.

Well, the lyrics probably don`t help much to start with. No idea what they mean but then I'm useless with that stuff anyway.

One meaning of "means" is your finantial status. So for example "living above your means" would be spending more then you earn. By extention "below your means" would, I suppose, mean living within your limitations.

Not sure how this would apply to the song lyrics, if at all. Could be a British phrase that isn`t used in the USA in which case all the above doesn`t help you much haha.

Si wrote:Well, the lyrics probably don`t help much to start with. No idea what they mean but then I'm useless with that stuff anyway.

One meaning of "means" is your finantial status. So for example "living above your means" would be spending more then you earn. By extention "below your means" would, I suppose, mean living within your limitations.

Not sure how this would apply to the song lyrics, if at all. Could be a British phrase that isn`t used in the USA in which case all the above doesn`t help you much haha.

Yes it is also used here in the USA so not just a British phrase.

Si wrote:By extention "below your means" would, I suppose, mean living within your limitations.

If you Google "below your means", you can see it used in exactly this context.

"I got the sheets below your means"

So then.. Alice was singing about purchasing bedding material within a budget?

As Brian said when explaining B.B. on Mars.. "They were all messed up back then."

Thank you all for your replies..... you guys talk weird... he he the same word means 100 different things!!!
I suffer so much these situations that the english language has... but I enjoy a lot learning it. So I do appreciate a lot this explanations.

Well, they were all messed up those days... one of you said that and I super agree....that's true.
But with your replies you say that there is NO WAY that the meaning of "MEANS" is "middle" "half distance" "equidistant"?
Like "it's a means to an end".... that is like a something that is in the middle way?

juancoop wrote:Like "it's a means to an end".... that is like a something that is in the middle way?

No, that's different. It means something you do because it will help you achieve something.

Means has two different meanings:

means
singular or plural noun

1. The instrument or method used to achieve some object.
Thesaurus: method, way, mechanism, agency, system, machinery.

2. Wealth; resources.
Thesaurus: ability, capacity, wherewithal; funds, wealth, assets, resources.

"A means to an end" would fall under definition 1.

"Below your means" would fall under definition 2.

all this confusion is probably why after this album,MB never sang lead on record with the ACG!!!

I think the deductions above are correct and if they are, it's rather strange subject matter for a song isn't it? But then, one couldn't accuse the 'early Alice Cooper' of not being strange could one?

I tell you what, 'Living within one's financial constraints' would be a jolly odd title for a rock track.

WickedYoungMan wrote:"I got the sheets below your means"

So then.. Alice was singing about purchasing bedding material within a budget?
"

Alice wasn't singing the lead vocal on that one, it was Michael Bruce

We all know how Alice likes to swap words, like "Blisters on my nose" in Working up A Sweat.

I always imagine Below your Means is really a more confusedly-ambiguous way of saying "Below your knees."

steven_crayn wrote:

WickedYoungMan wrote:"I got the sheets below your means"

So then.. Alice was singing about purchasing bedding material within a budget?
"

Alice wasn't singing the lead vocal on that one, it was Michael Bruce

You're right, force of habit.

I think we should save all of this interesting analysis for the SickCon 2 Discussion panel of this song, which will be Thursday Night at 7:30 in the Main Ballroom.