Almost Famous is a 2000 comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.
Despite failing to break even, the film received positive reviews and received four Oscar nominations, one of which led to an award to Crowe for his screenplay. It was also awarded the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert hailed it the best film of the year. It also won two Golden Globes, for Best Picture and Kate Hudson won Best Supporting Actress.
In 1973 San Diego, California, William Miller is a teenaged aspiring rock journalist. His mother, Elaine, a local college professor with a strange mix of New Age and conservative beliefs, wants him to become a lawyer. Miller writes for underground papers, sharing the love of rock music instilled in him through a gift of albums given by his sister, Anita, before she left home in disgust over Elaine's "house of lies."
I can almost taste it
This shit makes no sense to me
What does it all mean?
I can almost taste it
I can almost save it
This shit makes no sense to me
What does it all mean?
I can almost taste it
Yeah, I can't stop now
This maybe be the last chance I get
To be famous
You dream of trading places
I have been changing faces
You can not fill these shoes
There is too much to lose
Wake up behind these trenches
You run around defenseless
There is too much to lose
You cannot fill these shoes
I just want to be famous
But be careful what you wish for
I stuck my dick in this game like a rapist
They call me Slim Roethlisberger
I go bezerker than a fed up post office worker
A Merc her with a Mossberg
I'm pissed off, get murdered
Like someone took a ketchup squirter
Squirted a Frankfurter
For a gangster, you shoulda shit your pants
When you saw the chainsaw get to waving
Like a terrible towel, I faced her around
But his fangs come out, get your brains blown out
That's what I call blowing your mind
When I come back, like nut on your spine
I'm a thumb tack that you slept on, son
Now here I come screaming attack like I just stepped on one
Low on the totem till he showed 'em
Defiance, giant scrotum
He don't owe them bitches shit
His britches, he out grow'd 'em
He's so out cold he's knocked out of the South Pole
And nobody fucks with him
Rigamortis and postmortem
He's dying of boredom
Take your best rhymes, record 'em
Then try to flaunt 'em
He'll just take your punch lines and snort 'em
Shit stained drawers
You gon fuck with a guy who licks the blades of his chainsaws
While he dips 'em in P.F. Chang's sauce
Game's up, homie, hang it up like some crank calls
You think I'm backing down you must be out of your dang skulls
I'm almost famous
You dream of trading places
I have been changing faces
You can not fill these shoes
There is too much to lose
Wake up behind these trenches
You run around defenseless
There is too much to lose
You cannot fill these shoes
I just want to be famous
But be careful what you wish for
I'm back for revenge
I lost a battle that ain't happening again
I'm at your throat like strep
I step, strapped with a pen
Metaphors wrote on my hand
Someone distorted my mint
Read some I wrote on a napkin
I do what I have to, to win
Pull at it all stops, any who touch a mic prior's
Not even Austin Powers, how the fuck are they Mike Meyers
And tell that psycho to pass the torch
To the whacko before I take a shit in his Jack-O-Lantern
And smash it on his porch, now get off my dick
Dick's too short a word for my dick
Get off my antidisestablishmentarianism, you prick
You call me the champ, call me the space shuttle destroyer
I just blew up the Challenger, matter fact I need a lawyer
I displaced my clause with enough plaster to make a cast
Beat his ass naked and peed in his corner like Verne Troyer
You're the Eminem backwards, you're mini-me
See he's in a whole nother weight class
He smokes your BB's you beat back bullets
You're full of it; you were just in his CD's
Left at Infinite, now he's back like someone pissed in his wheaties
No peace treaties, he's turned into a beast
His new Slim Shady EP's
Got the attention of the mighty D. R. E
He's almost famous
You dream of trading places
I have been changing faces
You can not fill these shoes
There is too much to lose
Wake up behind these trenches
You run around defenseless
There is too much to lose
You cannot fill these shoes
I just want to be famous
But be careful what you wish for
Now there he goes in Dre's studio, cuppin' his balls
Screaming the wood off the panel
And cussing the paint off the walls
Spewing his hate to these haters, showing no love for these brawds
He ain't given them shit, he says he'll pinch a penny so hard
He'll leave a bruise on the bronze so dark you can see the mark
With the scars, till Abraham Lincoln is screaming out ah
These metaphors and similes ain't similar to them, not at all
If they don't like it, they can all get fucked instead of sucking him off
They can go get a belt or a neck tie,
To hang themselves by
Like David Carradine
They can go fuck themselves and just die
And eat shit while they at it
He's fucking had it, he's mad at the whole world
So go to hell and build a snowman girl
The bullies become bullied, the pussies get pushed
Then they better pull me, take me back to 9th grade to school me
'Cause I ain't looking back, only forward, this whole spot blowing
Who coulda known he'd grow to be a poet and not know it
And while I'm being poetic let me get a stoic and raise the bar
Higher than my opinion of these winners and lords
So bare witness to some biblical shit
As a cold wind blowing this world ain't gonna know what hit it
Intro- Mad Child
Yeah... And you don't stop... Shit is crazy...
Everybody got their tool sharpened up man.
Prev1 man kill'em...
1st Verse- Prevail
Oral speech, coral reef, beach submariner,
Orbital bone gets cracked up with the chrome like the punisher,
The microphone transponder, transported galvatron, transformer galvanized, oversized pecking order,
4th quarter hail mary Prevail wins the game again
Westerly winds rip up your sails till they're paper thin, pirate ship, private stock, power plant,
Douse the light house watch as vessel crash into the rocks
Man over board, S.O.S. sharks in the open water, battle axe alumni buddy, thats my own armada,
Northwest villain now since hell is over flowin lava, over grown jungles cover monuments from ancient times,
X and Y chromosomes are known to metamorphosize, alpha beta carotene, kerosine, alkaline,
Genetic alphabetic prime, kinetic algorithmic, times ten, I use my mind to make, time and space bend my friend yeah.- Mad Child
Almost famous, Now I wonder if they've heard of us
Together we are one, when Im alone im just a third of us
Family, bond thats even deeper than blood
Cause we choose to stick together while we creep through the mud
And walk through the fire, we've been to heaven to hell
But when we were at the bottom, fuck it nobody bailed
That's why we got a bond that's even deeper than blood
Cause we chose to stick together while we creep through the mud
2nd Verse- Mad Child
Im a reaper with a sickle, a twisted little sick-o, Im as vicious as a pitbull eating gun powder,
Rottie with a shottie and a snotnose, A lot goes on while I watch my partners locks grow,
Canadian together we are bigfoot and sasquach, psycho killer with a hockey mask that's the mascot,
Blood drips from the machete its a clean kill, I believed in us back then I believe still,
Skulls wash up to the seashore from the ocean, meeting of the minds we should be more ferocious,
Need more commotion, yeah, recoil C4 explosions, yeah, eat more, deport emotion,
Prev and me together spit the lyrics the can paralyze, together we become a pack of wolves that fucking terrorize,
Strategic cult calculator killer under black skies, mixed with orange(?) Burgundy, We preform a surgery,
When we break into Rob the Viking beats like it's a burglary, refection looking back I think it want to murder me,
Almost Famous now I wonder if they heard of us, Together we are one when Im alone Im just a third of us.- Mad Child
Almost famous, Now I wonder if they've heard of us
Together we are one, when Im alone im just a third of us
Family, bond thats even deeper than blood
Cause we choose to stick together while we creep through the mud
3rd Verse- Prevail
Alright, my battle axe and power cane will turns your brian to marmalade,
Armored car, bar spittin, hard hittin gamma rays,
Nowadays a phase can graze and ooze just like an oil painting,
Boiler room money makin some will take him by surprise,
Poisonous to cyanide, suspised I can not take a life,
Break the hive and watch the hornets sting and swarm with killer form,
Fall free, you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all three,
Freestyle cypher life, you know what they call me,
Predator king of the jungle, 2nd part was concrete,
Leviate, decapitate, reactivate the alpha team,
Sith, Lord palpatine, next step dominance
Prevail from the ominous problems with steady rain fall,
Deadlier than Darthmal, heavier than the Deathstar,
This beautiful death machine is nitrous, with?,
Flat black paint with glossy black skull,
So we still kill copy cats who copy what we do, yeah.- Mad Child
Almost famous, Now I wonder if they've heard of us
Together we are one, when Im alone im just a third of us
Family, bond thats even deeper than blood
Cause we choose to stick together while we creep through the mud
And walk through the fire, we've been to heaven to hell
But when we were at the bottom, fuck it nobody bailed
That's why we got a bond that's even deeper than blood
Today's the day I was supposed to be famous
I was gonna have come so far
My face splashed all over the papers
I was gonna be a big, big star
I should be on your TVs right now
Staring back at you with endless charm
You should be watching me and wondering how
I stay so grounded and calm
Through all the madness that I see
There's so much sadness with these dreams
You know those people you get sick of seeing?
Well, that was gonna be me
Overexposing until I end up being
A kind of monster in your dreams
I had been planning all my intimite moments
To be uncovered on the ET news
This is a business of failing upwards
So you can never really lose
Through all the madness that I see
There's so much sadness with these dreams
So now I'm standing with the faceless people
And they have stripped my sheen
There's just enough of me left to measure
How big I could have been
If there's a hell it will be all these people
With nothing special to behold
They never tell you that you might need someone
Might need a hand to hold
Through all the madness that I see
I see light as a blur so what is your concern? Aint nothin comin free, just one day i learned im playin with the fire cause
im lookin for the burn, now help is on the way, cause i feel that i have earned, im tryin not to sweat, aint feelin no
regret, feelin what im doin, but you gimmie some respect, some days i wanna write, get the block then im tight, stacks otha
bullshit, dont have words ta feed that mik,
Do i know what im going through, do i like the things that im suppose to do, its hard to pick and choose, i dont know,
should i care what the neighbors saying, would i like the fame, if things just fall my way, i pray be for i blead cause i
know.
Hey there yes it's me - That guy from TV
Surely you have seen my daily show
Don't be shy
I'm used to be noticed
For guys like me there's just one way to go
Get it on
Cause I'm more than ready
It's time to start the show
So look at me
Cause I'm almost famous
I was born to be a superstar one day
Look at me
Cause I'm almost famous
And I'll do anything to make things go my way
Hey now did I see you here last Sunday ?
I'm the guy who brought you that moet
Partied all night long 'til early Monday
Yes I know I'm certain that we've met
Heading out for my fifteen minutes
It's time to start the show
So look at me
Cause I'm almost famous
I was born to be a superstar one day
Look at me
Cause I'm almost famous
And I'll do anything to make things go my way
Everybody's watching
Gonna rise to the top now
I'll be a superstar one day
Everybody's watching
Gonna give it all I got now
And I will make things go my way
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams, come along"
[Chorus]
Nothing Less, nothing less
[Grouch]
Well I bet you that I get the last laugh
Bet you that my funerals packed
And the tune you all blast is my crew's shit
New shit or old it don't matter
Bold I get swole in the zone where you gather
I'm alone but together with the folks
Not really knowing where I'm going
But my goal's to provoke thoughts
Devote lots, show some fools the ropes to hop
Scope the top from above it
Love it, then leave it alone
I believe that I'm grown showing the way
Owing the bay for going astray, now I'm blowing away
Like that bag in American Beauty
Truly blessed and nothing less
[MURS]
I'm nothing less than a criminal
With minimal convictions
Serving up my customers a hustler of the diction
Crushing my afflictions, I'm sick in the mind
Depends on how you ask
And I can do anything depending on the task
I tend to be on blast more often than not
Between a rock and a hard place
I soften my spot, talking a lot
That's if my CD's get played
But if that's not the case then I had nothing to say
My crew been tight since we was up in the bay
Been down for a while, now watch us
As we take it, up and away
Something to play when you're laying on back
Felt the love when I wrote this
So I know y'all feel what I'm saying on tracks
[Chorus] - repeat 3X
[Slug]
The first step was birth
Now forever cursed to analyze his self-worth
The second step was belief
He had to make that move before he even grew teeth
The third step, respect awareness
He could trip over the next step if he's careless
That next step, number four, was love
Can't touch it without stepping the other three above
As he froze for a moment
Ignoring the remaining ones
He was approaching, focus stolen
Looking down at his hands to see what he was holding
Nothing, empty
No choice but to keep going
The fifth step felt like a misstep
It was a re-evaluation of the first four
The anxiety, fear of what it hurts for
Caught in somewhere between the earths core
And the first floor
When he finally made it to step six
He could no longer see it for what it is
All of his views and family and life were askew
Number six had been twisted by the previous two
The last step, the seventh
Was the only thing left that kept him outside of heaven
One last breath and everything could be pleasant
Life through death, man's final lesson
[Chorus]
[Sunspot Jonz]
Nothing less, god bless the days I rest
In this mess called life
Trying to be the best for the best dressed
Female, but she just brings hell
In the wishing well, I drown pieces of my soul
Born to rebel
I'm the black James Dean of the underground
Yelling at shows
Like rallys in Cali, I blow rhyme under the trees
Wanabees talk shit all day
But don't got a tape to play
Nothing genuine to say
So they bite the next man
Like they gonna make him the best man
In this crusade the future looks black
Like Taye Diggs' forehead
We can't go ahead and let the whack break our spirit
[Chorus]
[Scarub]
I know my expectations are high
But I refuse to lay low
No compromises only improvising
From what I manifest in the mind
Even though they say no
I follow through if it's true
You know those type of serious questions
That are asked in a playful manner
So if assumptions are wrong
They can act like it's a joke?
"What do you do for a living?"
That's the words they spoke
When they first heard that I wrote to stay alive
While they work a 9 to 5
I work just as hard as you
But got a different focus
And while you focus on me I'm gonna be all that I am
honest SIAM, while others run at the mouth
With nothing to show
I'ma use what I know, manipulating my flow
From here to there
I origami the situation from what is considered
Unsuitable to something beautiful
The outcome is legendary, and nothing less
[Verse 1:]
I hurt you bad, then I let you go
I put you down for another (ooh)
Now I'm looking like damn man
Where do I go from here?
Cause every second feels like hours
And every minute I'm without you
Feels like forever yeah
And now it's too late, for another chance
For me to be your man
[Chorus:]
If I could travel back in time, I'd hit rewind
Take you back and make you mine
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
Turn back the hands of time
And change your mind
Put you back into my life
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
[Verse 2:]
Feels like I'm real low to the ground
What goes up comes right back down
How I wish I saved us, damn
Should have been a man and changed up
Now minutes and hours and days pass away
Hoping that I'd see you again yeah
But no it's too late, can understand why I ain't your man
And If I could I would go back in time
What we had was meant to last
Go traveling back together, into the past
Lights speed ahead, this time we won't crash
Cause you know (Cause you know)
Like I know (Like I know)
You're the only one for me
If I could be anywhere I choose
I'd be back in time with you!
[Chorus:]
If I could travel back in time, I'd hit rewind
Take you back and make you mine
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
Turn back the hands of time
And change your mind
Put you back into my life
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
[Bridge:]
If I could travel down memory lane
I'd take a vow to never argue again
It's so cold here without you
It's so lone here without you
If I could travel down memory lane
I'd take back all of the pain
It would'nt be so cold here without you
I wouldn't be so lone here without you
[Chorus:]
If I could travel back in time, I'd hit rewind
Take you back and make you mine
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
Turn back the hands of time
And change your mind
Put you back into my life
Then I'd be lying here with you, with you
With you, with you
If you like to play on the water
Well so do I
Float around on your back
With the sun in your eyes
I got a cooler full of cold ones
What do ya say
Let's spend the day on the bay
Call up your girlfriends
Bring em all along
Everybody just loves it when
They got their bikinis on
And if things get a little crazy
Well what can ya say
It's just a day on the bay
(Chorus)
They got rockin' country music
Life out on the barge
And when the bands takes a break
The radio comes on
Blastin' fifty thousand watts above
The air and water waves
Everybody loves a day on the bay
Boaters and inner tubes
Cover the water blue
I just can't imagine not sharin' this with you
Someone check the anchor so we don't float away
It's just a day on the bay
(Instrumental)
(Chorus)
They got rockin' country music
Life out on the barge
And when the bands takes a break
The radio comes on
Blastin' fifty thousand watts above
The air and water waves
Everybody loves a day on the bay
If you've never played on the water
Then give it a whirl
Float around on your back
Not a care in the world
Throw in some country music
Then you've got it made
Right at the day on the bay
If you want to play on the water
Just let me know
We can head out and time you wanna go