Neko Case – That Teenage Feeling

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Send "That Teenage Feeling" Ringtone to Cell

Now that we've met
We can only laugh at these regrets
Common as a winter cold
They're telephone poles
They follow each other, one, after another
After another

But now my heart is green as weeds
Grown to outlive their season

And nothing comforts me the same
As my brave friend who says:
"I don't care if forever never comes
'Cause I'm holding out for that teenage feeling,"

All the loves we had, all we ever knew
Did they fill me with so many secrets
That keep me from loving you?
'Cause it's hard...

Send "That Teenage Feeling" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by delial

Track duration: 02:43


That Teenage Feeling song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • 0
    Song Meaning:In an interview Neko said that this song was written for her guitarist and close friend Paul Rigby. He was the one who came up with the line that he was "holding out for that teenage feeling". To me this song is about her lack of desire for a romantic partner, a stance that she's had to defend in countless interviews. But I want to believe that this is also a love song to Paul, only purely platonic. But from past research, Ms. Case's songs are often not what they seem.
    Flag ginintonicon August 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I feel like what she's saying is that, with every disappointed love, those feelings become increasingly rare. Our hearts become tougher, to withstand abuse, but the downside of not feeling as much pain is not feeling as much in general. She remembers when she was a teenager, and every experience with love was pure and consuming, and even when we've grown beyond our teenage years, sometimes that feeling returns, and it's just like being in high school again. Meanwhile, everyone around her is buckling under pressure to get married to the next acceptable option, so she takes comfort in the words of her friend, who would rather be alone than settle.
    Flag nostalgicBadgeron December 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the comfort that she finds in her friend's... naivete let's call it... only comes after she is jaded. After her heart is like weeds grown to outlive their season. only after she has time to laugh at her regrets which are so common in her mind

    this song is so wistful that it's heartbreaking. It's as if she felt that she was on the cusp of something truly special that kind of slipped away... or rather, there were too many things (mental and emotional) in the way
    Flag overlyelectricalon March 07, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:these lyrics are so spare that analyzing them at all seems to strip them of their meaning.

    it's about what it's about. :D
    Flag closetome543on August 14, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think skybluepoet has this song almost exactly right, except that i think when neko writes "i don't care if forever never comes..." i think its more in reference to an unwillingness to settle with any love that isn't her idea of perfect, passionate love ("that teenage feeling"). She (the friend) is willing to except being alone rather than being in a passion-less relationship
    Flag lilbigmouth1287on August 22, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's about that great feeling, when you've fallen in love, about how your past is sort of erased -- it becomes unimportant that you used to hold regrets. You're in love *now* and that's all that matters. The heart becomes 'green as wheats' again.

    But at the same time, the speaker isn't naive anymore, they know love might not be forever ('it's hard' with all the baggage from the past). That's why it's comforting to hear that it doesn't have to last forever, as long as it's as strong and wild as in the teenage years.
    Flag Purrtyon April 13, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I take the first part in a wider sense, not only referring to past lovers. She talks about those regrets in a very non-dramatical, non-tragic way. Just as winter colds, everybody has some, and just like telephone poles there are thousands of them in line, all the same and all unimportant (who pays attention to a single telephone pole or streetlight?). The way I see it, at first things may look terrible and you may think of yourself as the most unlucky or miserable person on earth, but with time and maturity you end up realizing your problems were mostly silly things that just had to happen, and you can only "laugh at them" to get over it.
    Flag pollyanneon December 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've taken it more as maybe they didn't work but she takes inspiration from a friend who doesn't give up waiting for "the one"...someone who they will always feel that beginning...um...passion?...for. Like you do when you're a teenager and there's that first love. So maybe this one wasn't the one that fits that, but someone, someday will be. And if she doesn't find that, she's not settling for less.
    Flag MeetMeinStLouison May 26, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The speaker is talking to her lover, she is thinking about all of the loves that have come before they got together, for each of them. But now she is jaded (my heart is green) about love, she doesn't seem to feel it the same way anymore. The friend says that she doesn't care if she ever finds someone to spend forever with, that she is okay with having a lot of relationships that are hot and consuming...that teenage feeling. This comforts the speaker, but she still wonders if maybe there aren't too many skeletons in the closet to ever find lasting love...
    Flag Skybluepoeton March 13, 2006   Link

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