Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
I always looked up on the ones who walked away
choosing themselves over preset
ways of looking at a future that had no room for the
questions they lived for
always knew i never could have walked away myself
my self worth was beyond any help
and i didnt care to test it against the rejection i had seen before
but those i loved so much they underwent a change
they're working fourty hours they got caught in the game
like junkies running dry, the vulnerability
they're always there on time
we're never satisfied like junkies running dry
this wonderful generousity
a third of our lives to do what we please
doesn't look that great to me
in fact it doesnt even look fair they call it youthful idealism
and even I would have to agree with them
except some of us grow up and its still there
I grow up too slow I don't wanna go
but now i'm working just like everyone else
but ill get out of here
choosing themselves over preset
ways of looking at a future that had no room for the
questions they lived for
always knew i never could have walked away myself
my self worth was beyond any help
and i didnt care to test it against the rejection i had seen before
but those i loved so much they underwent a change
they're working fourty hours they got caught in the game
like junkies running dry, the vulnerability
they're always there on time
we're never satisfied like junkies running dry
this wonderful generousity
a third of our lives to do what we please
doesn't look that great to me
in fact it doesnt even look fair they call it youthful idealism
and even I would have to agree with them
except some of us grow up and its still there
I grow up too slow I don't wanna go
but now i'm working just like everyone else
but ill get out of here
Lyrics submitted by emoJustin
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Not like anyoen actually interpretted the meaning, but its about people craving labor like a junkie craving drugs. We need to stop obsessing over such restricted lives and break out, in a sense, and give up our drug and just live.. free. How nice alfklsdfkls
"this wonderful generousity a third of our lives to do what we please doesn't look that great to me in fact it doesnt even look fair they call it youthful idealism and even I would have to agree with them except some of us grow up and its still there"
Just wow.
jesse michaels is amazing.
This song sounds a lot like Rancid would sound years later.
this song is referenced in "Unwritten Rules" by Rancid
Kind of sounds like the guy from catch-22 in Keasbey Nights.
You're not serious, right?
Serious as fuck, in this song I think he does.
In my opinion the song is about how people work to much and get hooked on it or something.. just like junkies running dry.. does that make any sense? LOL
"this wonderful generousity a third of our lives to do what we please doesn't look that great to me in fact it doesnt even look fair"
a third we're asleep, a third working, and a third we get to actually get to "enjoy"? sounds shitty to me too..
i had to comment to say that the first time I heard this I thought it sounded like tom kalnoky too. op ivy obviously came first but i agree. i like this part:
always knew i never could have walked away myself my self worth was beyond any help and i didnt care to test it against the rejection i had seen before
sometimes it feels like you're stuck in what you're in and all you have is your ideals because it's not practical to just radically change your life, but the fact that Jesse Michaels sang this kinda gives hope because you can feel like that but you can still, at least for a while, come out of it and do some fucking cool things in your life.