It's alright
There comes a time
Got no patience to search
For peace of mind
Layin' low
Want to take it slow
No more hiding or
Disguising truths I've sold

Everyday it's something
Hits me all so cold
Find me sittin' by myself
No excuses, then I know

It's okay
Had a bad day
Hands are bruised from
Breaking rocks all day
Drained and blue
I bleed for you
You think it's funny, well
You're drowning in it too

Everyday it's something
Hits me all so cold
Find me sittin' by myself
No excuses, then I know

Yeah, it's fine
We'll walk down the line
Leave our rain, a cold
Trade for warm sunshine
You my friend
I will defend
And if we change, well I
Love you anyway

Everyday it's something
Hits me all so cold
Find me sittin' by myself
No excuses, then I know


Lyrics submitted by Ice

No Excuses Lyrics as written by Jerry Cantrell

Lyrics © Royalty Network

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No Excuses song meanings
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  • +16
    My Interpretation

    Whether its about drugs or about Cantrell giving Staley a message to quit drugs, here's what it means to me:

    I hate my job with a passion, and for the most part I hate a lot of my life. I'm not happy with where I live or what I do and I've become incredibly reclusive and introverted and have sunk into a bit of a depression and have lots of problems with anxiety. A lot of people kind of laugh at my feelings and tell me "you and everyone else buddy!" but I take it more seriously and I feel that I am not blind to it like they are. I dream that I might one day pull out of this and make something better for myself. To get a more indepth interpretation, read on.

    In the first verse, it goes "Its alright, there comes a time, got no patience to search for peace of mind". To me and in my situation, it represents my increasingly antisocial attitude and how I find it difficult to find the better qualities in people. I've becoming more and more cynical.

    Then: "Laying low, want to take it slow, no more hiding or disguising truths I've sold". Recently I've been hiding and keeping to myself, not really talking to people or interacting unless I have to. But I've been gradually been being more frank with people when I do interact with them, no more sugar coating things or telling them what they want to hear. I'm blatantly obvious with them even if it is rude or something.

    The chorus: "Everyday something hits me all so cold, find me sitting by myself, no excuses that I know" It seems to me that every day its just blow after blow by people who don't care about me and it has driven me into my own little private world. To me excuses there are no excuses other than the fact that life is cruel and there is no escaping it.

    "Its ok, had a bad day, hands are bruised from breaking rocks all day." "Drained and blue, I bleed for you, you think its funny but you're drowning in it too." I work hard day in and day out to earn my keep and I don't like it, I despise it and I am miserable doing it. Enough so that I'm emotionally and spiritually drained and becoming depressed. When I try to talk to anyone about it I get no sympathy, its almost a joke to people because supposedly everyone is like me. But I feel like I'm more in touch with my inner being than most people are with themselves and am able to understand how I feel and the severity of it better than others. There is a George Carlin joke that represents this well: "You hate your job? There's a support group for that, its called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar." I don't think its funny.

    The final verse: "You my friend, I will defend, and if we change well I love you any way." To me this is kind of like my wife speaking to me, I feel like she is the only person who really understands how I feel and what I'm going through. And if I decide to make a major life change she will be there to support me 100%.

    So that is pretty much the meaning of the song to me. The beauty about most music and especially Alice in Chains songs is that you can interpret them any way. Just because the lyrics say one thing doesn't mean they don't mean something else.

    kc0tmaon August 16, 2011   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Almost every one of their songs is either about drugs, or family. One of my personal favorites. AiC was, and still is, one of the best bands in current history.

    Head_Woundon September 13, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Another great tune with an awesome acoustic intro. I never thought about drug addiction but I did think about friendship. I do believe it is one of their more positive songs. I use the line "You my friend, I will defend..." to endear my girlfriend. I like odd love songs and this song is definitely odd love song.

    OpinionHeadon April 20, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think it's about drug addiction and how it effects friendships. Like in the video when they sing "and if we change, well I love you anyways" Layne and Jerry are looking at each other right in the face. Coincidence? I think not

    Body Hammeron June 07, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    One of my favorite alice in chains songs its got a happy guitar but sad lyrics it seriously lmost makes me cry

    BananaKingon November 02, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This song speaks of life lived under the shadow of something, but going on each day without regrets. Most of us who can identify with this band or who are reminded of another season of our lives can really understand the quiet desperation.

    "You my friend I will defend And if we change, well I love you anyway".... One of my favorite lines ever written- beautiful stuff.

    truthnexileon June 04, 2010   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I don't think this song is directly about drug use. Maybe the situation he's talking about are what lead some people down that path.. but I really don't think that's what this is about. For me at least, I relate it to going further into adulthood and your relationship with good friends which you've had throughout earlier years. It sounds like Jerry might have hinted at that when saying it was about his relationship with Layne. My interpretation also mimics kc0tma's post a bit.

    "It's alright There comes a time Got no patience to search for peace of mind"

    When I was younger it was easier to fit everything I knew into a puzzle on how the world works and where I fit in. It's easier to have "piece of mind" when you aren't as worried about your life and it just seems there's a whole world ahead of you without limits. You never lose the desire to have this feeling but once you get into the grind, no matter what you're doing, you're so wrapped up in a whole new set of problems that it's very easy to slip away from that feeling... but you never forget about it.

    "Layin' low Want to take it slow No more hiding or disguising truths I've sold"

    Slipping into this time period of my life, I want to keep trying to recreate the good times and go out and have fun. Problem is, as you keep trying you realize each time it's barely ever that way. Friends who are going through the same thing are still trying to live that way and you get to a point where you're tired of trying to force it. It hurts your relationships but it hurts more to be let down by it, so you get blunt and just tell the truth that you're going to do nothing.

    "Everyday it's something hits me all so cold Find me sittin' by myself, no excuses, then I know"

    As the theme of the song, no matter what path you take you're being let down nearly every time. You're avoiding the things you once loved realizing it's just not there, which is a cold feeling. It's not that there's something else going on that's better but it's better to expect nothing than to be let down again.

    "It's okay Had a bad day Hands are bruised from breaking rocks all day"

    To me it just enforces the fact that this song is about going into a later period of your life. You're now working your ass off, it's not glorious but you know you have to go through it.

    "Drained and blue I bleed for you"

    If Jerry wrote this about Layne, maybe it's direct in the fact that he was working hard to keep the band going. For me at this point, right now I'm working just to keep afloat and to be able to see my friends when there actually is a good opportunity.

    "You think it's funny, well you're drowning in it too"

    My friends and I always joke and say "living the dream". We joke about it with a large sense of seriousness. I don't take this as a jab at anyone or people in general, just a sad way of everyone of realizing what's coming to be. Of course, it could also be directed at someone who isn't really realizing it.

    "Yeah, it's fine We'll walk down the line Leave our rain, a cold trade for warm sunshine"

    I take this as the reason you're putting up with this all to begin with. You're walking down the line, in the hopes of one day getting to the point that was once there, and being able to eventually enjoy that again someday.

    "You my friend I will defend And if we change, well I love you anyway"

    Hands down, in my opinion this is one of the most powerful lyrics ever written. I think it says a lot about Jerry's character. You realize that these kind of times change people drastically and with your good friends you see it happen right in front of you. Only a true friend would still love you and have your back no matter how things end up.

    Again, I just don't see any possible way there is a drug reference in this song directly. If Jerry wrote this about Layne, maybe it's because he saw what he was slipping into but not necessarily blaming him for his choices. For some people these times are good, for others it's rough and everyone handles it in their own way.

    DontDwellon April 09, 2013   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I've heard this was a song written by Cantrell for Staley about his drug use. Probably just a rumor. I can see it being more universal than that. I think everyone has a time in their life that they just don't have the motivation and patience to deal with others. Even family and friends. Depression is a bitch. But if you tell people "I'm depressed" most won't understand. They'll take it as just an excuse to get out of doing something, or an excuse to isolate, or an excuse to get drunk and high. I think the lyrics definitely seem to fit Layne's attitude towards the last years of his life. He knew he was a drug addict. He knew he was throwing his talent away. He didn't want to lie and give some bullshit excuse for his bad behavior. He, unlike most people in that position, was honest. There was no excuse, so he didn't give any.

    Personally I can relate. I'm an alcoholic in recovery. Sober from booze since July 17th 2011. Once I quit drinking I started to realize I wasn't the happy go lucky person I had been in the past. Drinking gave me confidence, gave me the energy to want to go out and socialize. I didn't know until I stopped drinking that I suffer from social anxiety, really generalized anxiety all around.

    Now that I don't drink I don't have that urge to go out with friends. Even if drinking isn't involved. I am a freelance photographer, I started in 2008. But after getting sober I found myself more and more anxious about shoots, being around people I didn't know, being judged, facing all the pressure (I specialized in weddings, so LOTS of pressure!) Right at the peak of my "success" I got sober. And it was hard to accept that I couldn't face the world, and do the job I loved, now that I was sober. I've done three shoots in the past 2 years. I barely even bring my camera out of the bag. I find people like my Mom, who have never suffered from anxiety or alcoholism, always say things like "you just gotta get out there and do it!" or "you'll never know if you don't try" or "isolating yourself isn't healthy" "you're just depressed, and if you got out of the house more you'd feel better." As if it was all that simple. I can't be mad about it, they just don't get it because they've never felt it from the inside. And when they give all this advice they expect a response. But I don't have one. There is no excuse. It just is what it is, and I'm doing my best to figure it all out. But to give an excuse would just be giving them a lie.

    The 3rd verse means a lot to me because it reminds me of my best friend. She's an alcoholic/addict too. But she doesn't want help. I know from my experience it's not something you can force someone into. I mean, you can get them to go to rehab. But if they don't want to be sober, if they don't feel they really have a problem, it's all a big fucking waste of time. Because of my sobriety I don't get to see her...well...at all. We might as well be living on different planets. Even if I was to see her, spend time with her, it would be in vain. She doesn't understand where I am coming from. She's been baker acted, and I visited her in the hospital while she was there. I told her then that no matter what I will always love her, she will always be my best friend. She's the closest thing to a sister I have. But I just told her straight up, if she didn't get help I would have to keep my distance from her. Not just because to protect my sobriety, trust me, there is NO place you can go where you aren't reminded of alcohol in some way. Whether it's when you go out to eat, or go to the grocery store, or watch a football game with every other commercial promoting some beer or liquor. I would have to keep my distance because I have a kid, and she was getting high on bath salts and coming over to my house high as a kite talking bat shit crazy stuff. Like the world is really flat, and her Dad was in the CIA. I can't have that around my child. And the stuff I listed was actually pretty mild for the stuff she was using. She could have done literally anything when she was high on that shit. I couldn't put my son in danger. But even more than all that, I couldn't be in her life if she didn't get help because I couldn't stand to watch her kill herself slowly in front of my very eyes. I told her if she was getting help (even if she wasn't able to be completely sober) I would be by her side through it all. Go to meetings with her, even though I don't do the whole AA thing. Just didn't work for me personally, not putting it down in anyway. But basically I would support her in every possible way I could if she was willing to make an effort to help herself. That was over 2 years ago now, and needless to say things didn't work out that way. I haven't spoke to her in I don't know how long. And not because I'm not willing to. Even though I won't allow her to come to my house high, I would never stop talking to her via phone, email, letter, etc. She doesn't want to talk to me, and I get it. She knows I don't approve so she doesn't have anything to say to me. She looks at me as the enemy now. But that's ok. I get it. I hope someday that changes, because she's a beautiful intelligent woman who deserves to be happy. But no matter what the future holds she will always be in my heart. She'll always be my best friend. And even if I can't see her, and spend time with her, I will always love her. Nothing she could do could change that.

    Anyway, sorry for writing so much. I tend to talk a lot. This is just what the song speaks to me.

    carrieolsoncardenon November 25, 2014   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    shit, i think everyone of aics songs have a drug reference to them, haha

    TransparentSunChildon April 17, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Not every AIC song is about DRUGS! Holy crap....what, do you think Nutshell is about drugs? Or man in the box? Well...nutshell may be, BUT THAT ISH NOT THE POINT.

    Anyway, yeah, this song is about detoxing(SP?) from heroin

    FellONblACKdaySon March 27, 2005   Link

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