I think it's about living every day with the awareness that you could die at any time. Which is something that everybody "knows" on an intellectual level, but most of us have defense mechanisms in our minds that don't let it fully sink in. Because it would be a terrible burden to be fully aware of that, wouldn't it?
Not entirely.
When you know that, at any moment, you could be dead, it makes you grateful that for now, you aren't. In this moment, you are a living, breathing human being. The past doesn't exist anymore, and the future is just an idea, and one that could be ripped away from you in a second at that. Right now is all you have, and the only thing you can count on, thus, every day that you can open your eyes and take a breath is the "greatest day," no matter what is happening to you. It's the only day you really have, after all, and it would be a shame to waste it. Note the line at the end: "that I have ever REALLY known." Finally realizing the true value of another day of life.
It sounds like the speaker in this song spent a lot of their life hesitating. Until they were a better person, until their life was better, until they were "sure" about everything... Always worrying and never satisfied. But that isn't any way to live, is it? No matter how flawed you or your life is, your time to be happy is NOW. Because you might not get another chance.
I don't think it's really a "cheerful" song or a "dark" song. I think it has a bittersweet sense of urgency, with all the happiness, fear, and sadness that go along with it. Sure, you might not get another tomorrow. But you have today.
Wow, I think you've got it entirely backwards! Particularly the lines after "Can't wait for tomorrow" both times imply he's not looking forward to a long future!
Wow, I think you've got it entirely backwards! Particularly the lines after "Can't wait for tomorrow" both times imply he's not looking forward to a long future!
Life may or may not be preferable to not being dead, but just not being dead isn't much of a high water mark, is it? Not much to aspire to!
Life may or may not be preferable to not being dead, but just not being dead isn't much of a high water mark, is it? Not much to aspire to!
Remember that bit in the Simpsons, where Homer resolves to live as though every day is the last day of his life? And immediately starts crying!
Remember that bit in the Simpsons, where Homer resolves to live as though every day is the last day of his life? And immediately starts crying!
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
Today is the greatest
Day I've ever known
Can't wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I'll tear my heart out
Before I get out
Today is the greatest
Day I've ever known
Can't wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I'll tear my heart out
Before I get out
It sounds like he's chosen to put up a fight, give himself over to his art completely, rather than just give in a die. If he wanted out, he knows he could just get out, but he says before he gets out. That being the case, how does sarcasm fit? He can't wait for tomorrow's fight because it's his preferred new identity, not "Gee, I just can't WAIT to see how bad tomorrow gets..." More pugnacious than depressed, he's turned the inner pain outward against whatever imagined enemy it'll stick to.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
Today is the greatest
Day I've ever known
Can't wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I'll tear my heart out
Before I get out
Today is the greatest
Day I've ever known
Can't wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I'll tear my heart out
Before I get out
It sounds like he's chosen to put up a fight, give himself over to his art completely, rather than just give in a die. If he wanted out, he knows he could just get out, but he says before he gets out. That being the case, how does sarcasm fit? He can't wait for tomorrow's fight because it's his preferred new identity, not "Gee, I just can't WAIT to see how bad tomorrow gets..." More pugnacious than depressed, he's turned the inner pain outward against whatever imagined enemy it'll stick to.
I think it's about living every day with the awareness that you could die at any time. Which is something that everybody "knows" on an intellectual level, but most of us have defense mechanisms in our minds that don't let it fully sink in. Because it would be a terrible burden to be fully aware of that, wouldn't it?
Not entirely.
When you know that, at any moment, you could be dead, it makes you grateful that for now, you aren't. In this moment, you are a living, breathing human being. The past doesn't exist anymore, and the future is just an idea, and one that could be ripped away from you in a second at that. Right now is all you have, and the only thing you can count on, thus, every day that you can open your eyes and take a breath is the "greatest day," no matter what is happening to you. It's the only day you really have, after all, and it would be a shame to waste it. Note the line at the end: "that I have ever REALLY known." Finally realizing the true value of another day of life.
It sounds like the speaker in this song spent a lot of their life hesitating. Until they were a better person, until their life was better, until they were "sure" about everything... Always worrying and never satisfied. But that isn't any way to live, is it? No matter how flawed you or your life is, your time to be happy is NOW. Because you might not get another chance.
I don't think it's really a "cheerful" song or a "dark" song. I think it has a bittersweet sense of urgency, with all the happiness, fear, and sadness that go along with it. Sure, you might not get another tomorrow. But you have today.
Wow, I think you've got it entirely backwards! Particularly the lines after "Can't wait for tomorrow" both times imply he's not looking forward to a long future!
Wow, I think you've got it entirely backwards! Particularly the lines after "Can't wait for tomorrow" both times imply he's not looking forward to a long future!
Life may or may not be preferable to not being dead, but just not being dead isn't much of a high water mark, is it? Not much to aspire to!
Life may or may not be preferable to not being dead, but just not being dead isn't much of a high water mark, is it? Not much to aspire to!
Remember that bit in the Simpsons, where Homer resolves to live as though every day is the last day of his life? And immediately starts crying!
Remember that bit in the Simpsons, where Homer resolves to live as though every day is the last day of his life? And immediately starts crying!
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
Today is the greatest Day I've ever known Can't wait for tomorrow I might not have that long I'll tear my heart out Before I get out
Today is the greatest Day I've ever known Can't wait for tomorrow I might not have that long I'll tear my heart out Before I get out
It sounds like he's chosen to put up a fight, give himself over to his art completely, rather than just give in a die. If he wanted out, he knows he could just get out, but he says before he gets out. That being the case, how does sarcasm fit? He can't wait for tomorrow's fight because it's his preferred new identity, not "Gee, I just can't WAIT to see how bad tomorrow gets..." More pugnacious than depressed, he's turned the inner pain outward against whatever imagined enemy it'll stick to.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
@Atagamay41 This is how I see it, too. I don't see sarcasm in the lyrics, and despite Corgan saying he was suicidal, the lyrics don't reflect someone who is going to do it.
Today is the greatest Day I've ever known Can't wait for tomorrow I might not have that long I'll tear my heart out Before I get out
Today is the greatest Day I've ever known Can't wait for tomorrow I might not have that long I'll tear my heart out Before I get out
It sounds like he's chosen to put up a fight, give himself over to his art completely, rather than just give in a die. If he wanted out, he knows he could just get out, but he says before he gets out. That being the case, how does sarcasm fit? He can't wait for tomorrow's fight because it's his preferred new identity, not "Gee, I just can't WAIT to see how bad tomorrow gets..." More pugnacious than depressed, he's turned the inner pain outward against whatever imagined enemy it'll stick to.