Seven Mary Three sometimes also called 7M3, kick-started their music career with a bang by launching one of their most popular songs – Cumbersome. Formed in the year 1992, the rock band was started by two college students Jason Ross and Jason Pollock.
Jason Ross who hailed from Orlando met Jason Pollock who was from Virginia at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. There, the duo began writing songs and formed an acoustic group. Jason Ross was the lead vocals and rhythm guitarist in the group while Jason Pollock was the lead guitarist in the group.
Later, they thought of expanding the group and invited Giti Khalsa who was their college mate to join the group. He handled the drum sets in the group. With the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and drummer covered, only one slot was left to make up the basic configuration of a rock band. This slot was the bass guitarist. To cover this slot, Jason Ross invited his high-school friend Casey Daniel to join the group.
Once the band took shape, they were ready to embark on their Rock’ N Roll journey. But before that, they were in search of a cool name for the band. They tried and tested different names and finally came up with Seven Mary Three. The inspiration behind the name came from a popular TV series “Chips” that aired in the 1970s.
After coming up with a name, they started playing in coffeehouses and clubs. In the year 1994, while in their college days, they recorded their first album “Churn”. For recording the album, they invested their own money and borrowed some cash from others. Once the album was released, the copies sold like hotcakes.
One of the copies made it to a radio station “WJRR” in Orlando, Florida. There, the radio jockey started playing “Cumbersome” which was one of the tracks from the album. The song was an instant hit among the listeners. The popularity of the song drew the attention of the band, and they started visiting Florida regularly to perform.
After this success, in the year 1995, Jason Ross, Jason Pollock, and Giti Khalsa graduated from college. Soon after graduating, the band shifted its base to Florida. Soon, they were signed for a recording contract by Mammoth/Atlantic records. With the recording company, the band remade the nine tracks from Churn and added two more songs, and released the album, “American Standard”, in the same year. The album included hits like “Cumbersome” and the song made the album earn the prestigious platinum status.
Later, after the success of the album, the band again released a single version of the track in 1996. “Cumbersome” track became an instant hit and received a number of accolades. The track reached the number one spot on the “Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks” and also ranked number five on the “Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks” for the year 1996.
After the success of the track, the song was released in a music video. The video is available on YouTube. The video features all the members of the group putting on an energetic performance. However, it lacks special effects. The music video was shot in a bar with a decent crowd who were enjoying the performance of the band.
Let us look at Cumbersome lyrics meaning.
What Does The Title Mean
Jason Ross and Jason Pollock wrote “Cumbersome” and released the song on the album “American Standard”. The general theme behind the album deals with people going through things in daily life, it deals with relationships, and how to work on them.
The song “Cumbersome” from the album talks about a troubled relationship between a man and a woman. The man feels like he has done some things that have caused great pain to his significant other. He thinks he is a burden to his significant other, hence the title “Cumbersome”.
Even though he is doing everything to reconcile the relationship, the mistrust is so huge that the woman is disinterested in the reconciliation. Overall, the song depicts a man thinking that he is a burden to his significant other.
Read on further to know more about the Cumbersome lyrics meaning.
Cumbersome Lyrics Meaning
Verse 1 – What Does It Mean
“She calls me Goliath and I wear the David mask
I guess the stones are coming too fast for her now
You know I’d like to believe this nervousness will pass
All the stones that are thrown are building up a wall”
In the first verse, the man describes that his significant other thinks he is a monster. In fact, he believes, he is harmless. She thinks he is dangerous because of his past actions and for this reason, she has created a shield. The shield will stop the man from penetrating her space. Further, in the verse, the lines tell us that the man is trying to break the shield and convince her to mend the relationship. But nothing is working. Even in the story David’s stones hit the mark and finished the fight with Goliath. Unfortunately, here, the man’s attempts are falling flat.
What Does The Chorus Mean
“I have become cumbersome to this world
I have become cumbersome to my girl”
In the chorus, the man feels defeated and devastated. He realizes that he has become a burden to the girl and the world. There is nothing that will help to change the situation.
Verse 2 – What Does It Mean
“I’d like to believe we could reconcile the past
Resurrect those bridges with an ancient glance
But my old stone face can’t seem to bring her down
She remembers bridges, burns them to the ground”
The above verse conveys that the man wishes to turn the clock and go into the past. He wishes for the relationship they had in the past. Whenever he used to look at her, it brought a smile to her face, but now it doesn’t work. She finds the man’s face nothing more than a stone wall and feels that there is no point in talking to the man.
What Does The Bridge 1 Mean
“Too heavy too light, too black or too white, too wrong or too right, today or Tonight
Cumbersome
Too rich or too poor, she’s wanting me less and I’m wanting her more
The bitter taste is cumbersome”
In the bridge, the man explains that no matter what he does she will still feel that he is a burden to her. Whether it is today or tomorrow, the feeling will be the same. Although the man wants to be close to her, she wants to maintain a distance from him. He is now angry and thinks that there is nothing much he can do for the reconciliation because he thinks she is too self-centered.
What Does The Bridge 2 Mean
“There is a balance between two worlds
One with an arrow and a cross
Regardless of the balance life has become
Cumbersome”
The above bridge mentions cross and arrow. The cross and arrows symbolize a relationship. Here the cross is a man and the arrow is the woman. If either of them is not in sync with the other, the relationship suffers. Till now, he thought that he was a burden to the relationship which is why the relationship has gone sore. But after making a lot of efforts to mend the relationship, she is still acting the same. Now, the man is alluding that he is not the one who is a burden to the relationship but the woman is. The relationship has gone off balance because of her.
What Does The Outro Mean
“No, yeah, no, no, no
No, no, no, yeah
No, no, no, no
Yeah
Your life has become cumbersome”
The above lines describe that the man has realized that he is not the one who is the burden on the woman. Actually, the woman’s life is a burden. She made the man think that he was causing a burden to the relationship. However, it is the reverse.
Conclusion
Cumbersome lyrics meaning has been briefly explained in the article. The Cumbersome track is one of the most popular rock songs from the band “Seven Mary Three”. This popular song gives a look into the troublesome relationship between a man and his significant other.
