It's clearly about eating disorders (mia=bulimia, ann/ana=anorexia)... As well as the constant references to food, etc. I love this song, it's so emotional.

rockin it.

ok, i just heard this song last night and i think its awesome!

i just heard this song today and it rocks my sox.

this song really is amazing - and this record is just as solid

i think i read that this song is actually about democracy "Do you believe in something beautiful? Then, get up and be it!" i do see the eating reference. more than likely just a metaphore.

from personal experience i'm pretty sure its about eating disorders--he does a really good job capturing the mindset of someone going through recovery

"Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it"

how can someone NOT like a song with a chorus like that

Eating Disorders

As I was walking through a life one morning
The sun was out, the air was warm but ohh,
I was cold,

Well, when you have an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia, and it makes you lose weight, it will also make you lose body heat faster.

and though I must have looked a half a person,
to tell the tale in my own version,
It was only then that I felt whole.

Because this person has been subjecting themselves to restrictive eating, they look irregularly skinny, or 'half a person'. But because this person feels good being hungry (I have read that some people actually like how veing starved feels), they feel 'whole.'

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it!

This could be about trying to fit in with society's standards of beauty. Do you think you should look like her? Then do it!

Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.
I know how hard you try.
I see it in your eyes.

The smallest goal would be losing weight, or 'gaining self control' over what you eat. The singer is also saying that this is just some people's way of trying to fit in. They try hard for something they feel is important, but in the end it just ends up hurting them.

Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
and what's eating you alive,
might help you to survive.

Basically: get help!! Call your friends, eat some food. 'What's eating you alive' refers to the person worrying that their eating disorder is getting out of control. And the singer says this worry is what could help you stay alive: listen to your body! Feed it!

We went on, as we were on a mission,
latest in a Grand Tradition.
Ohh, what did we find?
It was Ego who was flying the banner,
Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, ohh,
we'd been unkind.

Here the singer takes on the persona of one with an eating disorder. 'Ego flying the banner' refers to his and Ann's unhealthy desire to look 'beautiful.' I think the grand tradition is a reference to how many people nationwide struggle with eating disorders. 'Me and Mia' is the singer and his/her trouble with bulimia and 'Ann and Ana' is the friend, Ann, and her troubles with anorexia. The reason they have 'been unkind' is because the eating disorders went too far, 'Me' and 'Ann' are now dangerously unhealthy.

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it!
Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.
I see it in your eyes,
I see it in your spine,
But call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive

Again, the standard of beauty. Also 'I see it in your eyes, I see it in your spine' shows that the person is now very very thin. And it shows that people with eating disorders really are trying very hard, even if it's for all the wrong reasons.

Even the nights that could get better.
And even the days aren't all that bad.
And after a week of fighting,
As more and more it seems the right thing

A week into the eating disorder's clutches, their doubts about it being unhealthy or wrong are slowly disappearing.

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To gain a little self-control

This is the same as before.

Won't anybody here just let you disappear?
Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad,
But me and Mia, Ann and Ana
Know how hard you try,
Don't you see it in my eyes?

It seems that the singer and Ann's parents have been taking them to doctors and making a fuss over thier disorder's. The singer sympathizes, saying 'won't anybody here just let you disappear?' which translates into 'why won't they just let you become as skinny as you want?' The lead singer says that doctors and their parents don't understand how important this is to them, so the struggling people feel like only their eating disorders understand: that not eating is the only thing that can make them feel better.

Sick to death of my dependence,
Fighting food to find trancendence.
Fighting to survive.
More dead, but more alive.
Cigarettes and speed to live,
And sleeping pills to feel forgiven.
All that you contrive,
And all that you're deprived.

The lead singer and Ann are sick of relying on food. They fight it because it makes them feel better. In order to help the cravings, they take speed or smoke cigarettes. Clearly the disorders are becoming more and more serious as time goes on. Because they are taking so many chemicals into their system and have not eaten for a long time, it is difficult to get to sleep, so they take sleeping pills when they can't get to bed on their own, to escape thier problems.

All the bourgeois social angels
Telling you you've got to change.
Don't have any idea.
They'll never see so clear.
But don't forget what it really means to
hunger strike,
When you don't really need to
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours.
And even the nights, they could get better

The bourgeois social angels are models and actresses and all these too-thin people we feel like comparing ourselves too. They don't know the horrible impact they are having on people all over who struggle with eating disorders. The last part of the song is the most important, I think. The lead singer says to remember you are not stopping eating for a valid reason. Other people go on hunger strikes for political reasons and it doesn't mean that you should hunger strike for no reason. The reference to 'nights that could get better' is about losing sleep over guilt about the damage disorder sufferers are doing to themselves. It is a difficult and confusing string of illnesses to overcome, and it is not uncommon to lose sleep over it.

i think this song is about a fat girl who is a political activist. the clues are there, dudes.

1 Reply

Holy shit, Fionar, I never would have figured that out. And, not to sound immodest, but I'm pretty good at figuring out what songs mean. Man, I don't know if I can sing along so happily to this song anymore.

What a great allegory, though. Damn.

No offense to Fionar2001, but I think you were pretty off in your interpretations. I agree fully that the song is about eating disorders, but I think that your reasoning behind the lines and whatnot is rather presumptuous and not based on much more than book reading and societal assumptions.

No offense to Fevers et Mirrors but your comment didn't add anything to the discussion of the meaning of the song. Of course anyone that isn't Ted Leo is just guessing what the song means based on knowledge and a few assumptions. I don't see the point of saying "You're wrong" without offering an alternative interpretation.

As for my part I liked Fionar2001's interpretation but I thought the "All the bourgeois social angels" at the end are those around you saying "don't be anorexic" who don't understand what it's like. But the models/actresses thing sounds good too after reading your description so who knows.

I always figured that this song was in second person for a reason. Ted (or whoever) is watching a girl with an eating disorder and it's destroying her life. He realizes that she's struggling with it but can't 100% identify or help her, but she's going to doctors and talking to her parents and it's not helping.

"Not doctors, not your mom and dad but me and Mia, Ann and Anna know how hard you try."

-He and her friends are the only ones who know what she's really going through.

Well, no offense to Fevers et Mirrors, but Fionar2001 was dead on. Good for her for seeing all of that and taking the time to write it all out.

"i see it in your eyes"
that's a direct reference to bulimia. when you throw up your eyes get bloodshot, and is one of the most noticable signs of it.

i think song writers are amazing, and how they can put so much into a few words, blows my mind

I have been annorexic for about a year now. I don't think someone who hasn't struggled with an eating disorder could ever fully appreciate this song. Fionar2001 is so right. I think the line that makes this song so special to me is the line "Fighting for the smallest goal, to gain alittle self control". People with eating disorders don't loose weight just to loose weight. They see their lives as out of control, and food is one thing they can control. I also am inlove with the line "Fighting food to fight trancsendense". I don't think I could explain why.

I do agree with aeouhnts thing about "All the bourgeois social angels". I think it is the poeple who come up and say "Eat something". Or, my all time favourite line "Not eating makes you gain weight, not loose it". They think they know everything. But would an annorexic guy not know how to loose weight the fastest?

I also believed something different about this paragraph:
Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
and what's eating you alive,
might help you to survive.

Basically, I know I havn't eaten junk food in the past 6 months. Infact, I havn't eaten but probably 5000 calories in the past month. I can't sleep sometimes becouse I am so worried about food. I know I need it.
Whats eating me alive, is what will help me survive.

Much love people,
-anathony

I had figured out that this was about eating disorders, but I had never caught on to alot of the finer meanings hidden in the words- wow!

I love this song so much, which is interesting I supose because I've never struggled with any sort of eating disorder, nor do I know anyone who has- I can only claim to having done a bit of reading on the subject.

I still love and relate to this song however- because to me it's all about friends being their for friends though hard times.

i listened to the song again... i don't think i'll ever sound the same

“anathony”, I have some questions for you. What do you mean when you say, “But would an annorexic guy not know how to loose weight the fastest?” I’m a little confused about that statement. And although I completely agree with you when you say the sleep deprivation is because of worry about eating, I think the line about not being able to sleep could also be a reference to the chemical imbalance that causes insomnia in a lot of people with eating disorders.

this song is incredible- the lyrics are so powerful. There is definately a very literal interpretation to eating disorders. but I think what gives the song its kick is the comparison between political movements and individual struggles...
For example, at the climax of the song:
"But don't forget what it really means to hunger strike, When you don't really need to/
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours"
juxtaposes the idea of starving for vanity and the idea of starving for a cause. This song also goes deep into the psyche of someone who is struggling with an eating disorder, and the lyrics almost suggest that the disease has to do with someone internalizing a politcal struggle as a personal struggle.
in any case, this song takes my breath away every time I hear it.

As I was walking through a life one morning
The sun was out, the air was warm but ohh,
I was cold,

- Anorexia, or any eating disorder for that matter, could and probably will lead to anemia (A pathological deficiency in the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, measured in unit volume concentrations of hemoglobin, red blood cell volume, or red blood cell number.) which causes you to feel cold all of the time, even in hot weather. -

and though I must have looked a half a person,
to tell the tale in my own version,
It was only then that I felt whole.

- When reaching your goal weight, you feel a sense of completion, and in an eating disorderd persons mind, reaching an extremly low goal weight makes them feel as if they have made themselves complete, that they are now a whole person. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it

- If you believe that you can be something beautiful, don't sit around and admire what all of those models look like, get up and do something about it. Help yourself, diet, etc,. -

Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.
I know how hard you try.
I see it in your eyes.

- "Fighting for the smallest goal, to get a little self control," is referring to what eating disorders are most commonly known for, control. When everything around you is spinning out of control, and you can't do anything about it, you grasp onto what little control you have left, and you will fight to get more and more of that control, until it controls you. -

Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
and what's eating you alive,
might help you to survive.

- "Call your friends", to me, this isn't meaning literally call up your friends, but to make it obvious that your eating disorder is there, make it noticeable so that you're friends WILL help you. Since you've forgotten why it's so good for you to eat, maybe they will help you. "What's eating you alive, might help you to survive," means that your eating disorder is eating you alive, when you recieve no food, your body starts to eat it's fat, so your eating disorder is eating you alive, but helping you to survive because of that small amount of control that it gives you. -

We went on, as we were on a mission,
latest in a Grand Tradition.

- They went on as if there was no problem, that it was just a mission that they HAD to complete or else something tragic might happen. I'm thinking that the "Grand Tradition" is the whole pressure to be thin, and maybe something about pro-anorexia is explored more. -

Ohh, what did we find?
It was Ego who was flying the banner,

- "It was ego who was flying the banner," means that their ego was in control, and once that it was shot down, the "banner" or in this case, their emotions, were shot down. -

Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, ohh,
we'd been unkind.

- Mia - Bulimic, Ana - Anorexia, "We'd been unkind," could be the influence that they have had on other people, could also be that they got out of control when it was just meant to be an expierement or smething. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.

I see it in your eyes,
I see it in your spine,

- "See it in your eyes," when forcing yourself to throw up, afterwards your eyes are extremley blod shot and teary. When anorexic, your bones show, and your spine is a bone. -

But call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive

Even the nights that could get better.
And even the days aren't all that bad.

- May be referring to that it's not hard to do what they do, and that the facts that they know what they are doing is unhealthy, don't really seem to matter anymore. -

And after a week of fighting,
As more and more it seems the right thing

- The more and more that they do what they are doing, starving and purging, the more addictive it becomes, and it feels right because they feel good. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To gain a little self-control

Won't anybody here just let you disappear?
Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad,
But me and Mia, Ann and Ana
Know how hard you try,
Don't you see it in my eyes?

- "Won't anybody here, just let you disappear, not doctors nor your mom nor dad," Once someone is diagnosed with an eating disorder, treatment usually stars asap, willing or unwilling to get better, the person is put into some sort of treatment and monitered intensely. No one will let you get as thin as you want to get because you are being monitered. "Me and Mia, Ann and Ana know how hard you try, don't you see it in my eyes?" Referring to that his eyes are blood shot as well, and he understands that you might be going through beacuse he's going through it as well. -

Sick to death of my dependence,
Fighting food to find trancendence.

- Sick of fighting food to become better than everyone else, sick of only thinking and worrying about food and weight and nothing else. -

Fighting to survive.
More dead, but more alive.

- Fighting food to survive in everything else that is so chaotic. The person may be dying from and ED but still feeling more alive than ever. -

Cigarettes and speed to live,
And sleeping pills to feel forgiven.
All that you contrive,
And all that you're deprived.

- Cigarretes and Speed to give you so much energy and not give up, to keep you apetite down completely, and sleeping pills to come down off the high of speed. Sleeping pills to get you to sleep from those racing thoughts from speed. All of those lies and ideas that you create just make you more deprived of what you really need, food and nutrients. -

All the bourgeois social angels
Telling you you've got to change.

- bourgeois means middle class, or average. Social angles are the friends who are trying to save you(which would make them angels) and your friends are average weight, and they are trying to tell you that it's okay to be average and normal. -

Don't have any idea.
They'll never see so clear.

- But your friends don't really have any idea why you do this to yourself, and they will never see why as clear as you because they are not in the same position as you are. As much as they will try to help, it won't make a difference because all the reasons to do it are so much stronger (control) -

But don't forget what it really means to
hunger strike,
When you don't really need
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours.

- Don't forget what the real purpose to hunger strike is, things with actual purposes. Some people are dying from hunger strikes for a great cause, and what you are doing isn't so important compared to other causes. It doesn't make your cause a good reason to hunger strike, but that isn't going to stop you so people remind you that "Some are dying for a cause, but that don't make it yours," -

And even the nights, they could get better...

- And all of these problems could get better if you would just try. -

So, that's my opinion on the song. MY opinion, not what it acctually is. But I have an eating disorder and that's what i means to me. There are MANY meanings that could be coming from this song. The writer could have not even written it ABOUT an eating disorder adn it could have a TOTAL abstract meaning. No one knows, but everyone can think about it.

As I was walking through a life one morning
The sun was out, the air was warm but ohh,
I was cold,

- Anorexia, or any eating disorder for that matter, could and probably will lead to anemia (A pathological deficiency in the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, measured in unit volume concentrations of hemoglobin, red blood cell volume, or red blood cell number.) which causes you to feel cold all of the time, even in hot weather. -

and though I must have looked a half a person,
to tell the tale in my own version,
It was only then that I felt whole.

- When reaching your goal weight, you feel a sense of completion, and in an eating disorderd persons mind, reaching an extremly low goal weight makes them feel as if they have made themselves complete, that they are now a whole person. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it

- If you believe that you can be something beautiful, don't sit around and admire what all of those models look like, get up and do something about it. Help yourself, diet, etc,. -

Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.
I know how hard you try.
I see it in your eyes.

- "Fighting for the smallest goal, to get a little self control," is referring to what eating disorders are most commonly known for, control. When everything around you is spinning out of control, and you can't do anything about it, you grasp onto what little control you have left, and you will fight to get more and more of that control, until it controls you. -

Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
and what's eating you alive,
might help you to survive.

- "Call your friends", to me, this isn't meaning literally call up your friends, but to make it obvious that your eating disorder is there, make it noticeable so that you're friends WILL help you. Since you've forgotten why it's so good for you to eat, maybe they will help you. "What's eating you alive, might help you to survive," means that your eating disorder is eating you alive, when you recieve no food, your body starts to eat it's fat, so your eating disorder is eating you alive, but helping you to survive because of that small amount of control that it gives you. -

We went on, as we were on a mission,
latest in a Grand Tradition.

- They went on as if there was no problem, that it was just a mission that they HAD to complete or else something tragic might happen. I'm thinking that the "Grand Tradition" is the whole pressure to be thin, and maybe something about pro-anorexia is explored more. -

Ohh, what did we find?
It was Ego who was flying the banner,

- "It was ego who was flying the banner," means that their ego was in control, and once that it was shot down, the "banner" or in this case, their emotions, were shot down. -

Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, ohh,
we'd been unkind.

- Mia - Bulimic, Ana - Anorexia, "We'd been unkind," could be the influence that they have had on other people, could also be that they got out of control when it was just meant to be an expierement or smething. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
to get a little self-control.

I see it in your eyes,
I see it in your spine,

- "See it in your eyes," when forcing yourself to throw up, afterwards your eyes are extremley blod shot and teary. When anorexic, your bones show, and your spine is a bone. -

But call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive

Even the nights that could get better.
And even the days aren't all that bad.

- May be referring to that it's not hard to do what they do, and that the facts that they know what they are doing is unhealthy, don't really seem to matter anymore. -

And after a week of fighting,
As more and more it seems the right thing

- The more and more that they do what they are doing, starving and purging, the more addictive it becomes, and it feels right because they feel good. -

Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To gain a little self-control

Won't anybody here just let you disappear?
Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad,
But me and Mia, Ann and Ana
Know how hard you try,
Don't you see it in my eyes?

- "Won't anybody here, just let you disappear, not doctors nor your mom nor dad," Once someone is diagnosed with an eating disorder, treatment usually stars asap, willing or unwilling to get better, the person is put into some sort of treatment and monitered intensely. No one will let you get as thin as you want to get because you are being monitered. "Me and Mia, Ann and Ana know how hard you try, don't you see it in my eyes?" Referring to that his eyes are blood shot as well, and he understands that you might be going through beacuse he's going through it as well. -

Sick to death of my dependence,
Fighting food to find trancendence.

- Sick of fighting food to become better than everyone else, sick of only thinking and worrying about food and weight and nothing else. -

Fighting to survive.
More dead, but more alive.

- Fighting food to survive in everything else that is so chaotic. The person may be dying from and ED but still feeling more alive than ever. -

Cigarettes and speed to live,
And sleeping pills to feel forgiven.
All that you contrive,
And all that you're deprived.

- Cigarretes and Speed to give you so much energy and not give up, to keep you apetite down completely, and sleeping pills to come down off the high of speed. Sleeping pills to get you to sleep from those racing thoughts from speed. All of those lies and ideas that you create just make you more deprived of what you really need, food and nutrients. -

All the bourgeois social angels
Telling you you've got to change.

- bourgeois means middle class, or average. Social angles are the friends who are trying to save you(which would make them angels) and your friends are average weight, and they are trying to tell you that it's okay to be average and normal. -

Don't have any idea.
They'll never see so clear.

- But your friends don't really have any idea why you do this to yourself, and they will never see why as clear as you because they are not in the same position as you are. As much as they will try to help, it won't make a difference because all the reasons to do it are so much stronger (control) -

But don't forget what it really means to
hunger strike,
When you don't really need
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours.

- Don't forget what the real purpose to hunger strike is, things with actual purposes. Some people are dying from hunger strikes for a great cause, and what you are doing isn't so important compared to other causes. It doesn't make your cause a good reason to hunger strike, but that isn't going to stop you so people remind you that "Some are dying for a cause, but that don't make it yours," -

And even the nights, they could get better...

- And all of these problems could get better if you would just try. -

So, that's my opinion on the song. MY opinion, not what it acctually is. But I have an eating disorder and that's what i means to me. There are MANY meanings that could be coming from this song. The writer could have not even written it ABOUT an eating disorder adn it could have a TOTAL abstract meaning. No one knows, but everyone can think about it.

hey wow. sorry about posting that twice. *new to this*... sorry. ack!