So maybe I wasn't
That good a friend
But you were one of us
And I will wonder
Just like anyone
If there was something
Else I could've done

So maybe it's true that
Your cry for help
Was oh, so very faint
But still I heard
And knew something was wrong
Just nothing you could put your finger on
And I will wonder
Just like anyone
Just like anyone


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Just Like Anyone Lyrics as written by Aimee Mann

Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

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Just Like Anyone song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    No-one will ever know IF Jeff meant to drown himself.

    There is a possibility he did

    Fullerovon December 06, 2006   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    In Aimee's words:

    "This is a song I wrote when Jeff Buckley died... I hadn't known Jeff extremely well, but we kept bumping into each other here and there.

    "One night we met for a drink at a pub in NYC, and started writing messages to each other on a paper place mat that was there, instead of talking, because the music in the bar was really loud or something. An interesting effect of that was that we found ourselves writing things that we would never would dare to say to each other out loud. I remember thinking that he seemed to be sort of lost and sad although he outwardly was very funny and lively and confident, and wrote something about that, among other things.

    "I didn't talk to him for a long time after that -- I went to England to live for a while and we talked once or twice and then nothing for over a year.

    "Then one night I got a voicemail message from him that said, 'I just realized what you were trying to tell me that night.' I tried to call him back but the number I had for him was old, and then I got his new number but I was out of town again and it was difficult to call, and then I heard that he was missing, and presumed dead."

    Eamonon October 10, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Terrible! I'd assumed the song was about a suicide. I guess with the ambiguity over Buckley's tragic passing we'll never know.

    Wilder2on April 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think I heard that Aimee wrote this song about her friend, Jeff Buckley, who committed suicide. I love this song. It's quietly plaintive and contemplative. And she doesn't try to portray her feelings as noble or great - she's "just like anyone" who has lost a friend to suicide. It's soothing to those who have undergone a similar experience.

    zeiton June 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    He didn't commit suicide, he drowned.

    GraceFireFantasyon January 18, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    he definitely didn't commit suicide and they weren't friends, just a musician she admired and miss like all of us do...i love jeff

    scholesgirlon March 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    he definitely didn't commit suicide and they weren't friends, just a musician she admired and miss like all of us do...i love jeff

    scholesgirlon March 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song reminds me of my friend Josh who gave me this Aimee Mann album...he seemed like such a troubled guy, but very subtley (nothing you could put your finger on)....morbid as it is, I always imagined that this would be the perfect song to play if he ever killed himself.

    ReginkaLovesToJamon July 28, 2006   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    Nope this song is not the same as Soul Asylum's "Just Like Anyone." Only the title is the same.

    stoolhardyon December 28, 2005   Link

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