Smile Like You Mean It

according to an inteview with branden flowers (the lead singer/song writer) its about looking back and smiling and accepting the choices that you made. and even though there were bad and hard times you get through them and eventully can smile again even if the pains still there. its not NOT about a relationship. he was really specific about that. great song great clip he really likes that shade of lipstick and style of eyeliner doesnt he? he's worn it in every clip

According to my Media Studies teacher, it's about suicide.

In a way, I can see what she means - the singer killed himself, but still looks at Earth and where he lived etc.

I think its someone looking in retrospect at his past….i think he was in love and they broke up and in the first verse he’s talking to an older person he looks up to about it….maybe he treated the girl badly and this older person is telling him to learn from his mistakes and nip it in the bud while he’s young. He’s remembering all the good times with this girl and he knows that she will find some one else one day – “someone will drive her around down the same streets that I did”. He’s trying to keep a brave face, but inside he’s hurting, he cant truly smile, but he’s putting on a front to act like he’s ok, when he’s clearly not. Its such a melancholic song, but it makes me feel optimistic whenever I hear it. Beautiful music in this one too, its so 80’s.

this song is about not letting precious moments pass

Save some face, you know you've only got one Change your ways while you're young -start your life out good, dont make bad habits

Boy, one day you'll be a man Oh girl, he'll help you understand -this is just explaining to a couple, yeah now your just having fun, but later when youre married, you two will be dependent on each other

Smile like you mean it -this is really just saying enjoy life, laugh until you start crying, smile the biggest smile you can, even at its worst life is good!

Looking back at sunsets on the Eastside We lost track of the time -when he was a kid, he didnt appreciate his youthful innocence and simplicity, youth is wasted on the young

Dreams aren't what they used to be Some things slide by so carelessly -his dreams change, hes changed, he let those youthful things slide by

And someone is calling my name From the back of the restaurant -life is going on without you about you

And someone is playing a game In the house that I grew up in -there is a child growing up in his house, making his own memories, thinking about someone else growing up in your old house is chilling

And someone will drive her around Down the same streets that I did On the same streets that I did -even after hes done with a girl, someone else will come along and they both will move on with different lives

I think, like marquee moon, this song is sung by a dead narrator, and he is like looking back on his memories, and his life, after maybe killing him self around mid twenties, i know thats very bleak, and yeah suicide is really sad and a tradgedy, blah, blah, blah, but yeah, thats just my interpretation of it

im not a big killers fan, but ive realized this is a pretty good song, i find the video heavyhanded tho. My take is its about a guy looking back on his past, and the regrets and losses that are an inevitable part of life. "Smile like you mean it" is actually kind of sarcastic, he is echoing what hes been told all his life, and realizing that it is 100% true, that life is about appearances("save some face"), and the loss, melancholy,nostalgia, existential pain he is feeling isnt really acceptable to express, its not something to acknowledge.

"And someone is playing a game In the house that I grew up in"

This is a reflection on how time goes on, things and people fade, the past is forever gone, everything changes, seems to express existential angst.

Ive found myself thinking these things before i ever heard this song, which is why i like it. This song should strike a chord with artistic types.

"Someone

IMO this song is about Brandon feeling like his whole life he's been on borrowed time. He really hasn't had a place, or a person to call his own. Not necessarily meaning he had an abusive upbringing, or was a social outcast, because he does reference a girl in one line. I think it's really just a simple, straight forward, feeling of never having your own niche. The house where he grew up, the girl he dated, was a place/person he was with for a period of time and now that's over, and someone else gets to call it his/her own. So when he says "smile like you mean it" maybe he means something like so he knows "it's his"? anyone get me?

i didnt know there was a video

I love this song. It just speaks the words I feel but can't explain. "And someone is calling my name From the back of the restaurant And someone is playing a game In the house that I grew up in And someone will drive her around Down the same streets that I did On the same streets that I did"

That, to me, is like so many things happen in the same place. So many memories. The place is no longer your memories', it's other people's too and you have to share it. I thought this went great with the song, enjoy (: flickr.com/photos/hmwlm/132902021/sizes/o/

I Luv this song it makes me tear up every time. To me it is about not wasting time and to enjoy life and to not get caught up in stupid things that don't matter in the end