Voted most likely to end up on the back OK a milk box drink
Looks like I'm letting them down
'Cause seven, seventy-five isn't worth and hour of my hard work and time
When you cant afford half the shit they advertise
Oh I'm worth more then they ask more then the two-tag generation full of regret
Oh I won't settle no, oh I can't settle

I wanna break the mold, I wanna break the stereotype
Fist in the air I'm not going down with out a fight
It's my life
And I'm sitting on the sidelines watching

It pass me by
I'm leaving you my legacy
I gotta make my mark
I gotta run it hard
I want you to remember me
I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints on you

Representing you and me
Don't you wanna go down in history?
Rather then end up begging on the streets
Trading under table favors for a place to sleep
'Cause I'm worth more then this so stop writing prescriptions for my Ritalin
I can't focus my attention

I wanna break the mold, I wanna break the stereotype
Fist in the air I'm not going down with out a fight
It's my life
And I'm sitting on the sidelines watching

It pass me by
I'm leaving you my legacy
I gotta make my mark
I gotta run it hard
I want you to remember me
I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints
Don't give up
Don't give in
Because your arms on the rock
Oh I'm not innocent, innocent, innocent, innocent

Effortless and I'm sitting on the sidelines watching
It pass me by
I'm leaving you my legacy
I gotta make my mark
I gotta run it hard
I want you to remember me
(I want you to remember me)
Effortless and I'm sitting on the sidelines watching
It pass me by
I'm leaving you my legacy
I gotta make my mark
I gotta run it hard
I want you to remember me
'Cause I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints, in the end


Lyrics submitted by SophieSomething

Fingerprints Lyrics as written by Katy Perry Greg Wells

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Fingerprints song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

16 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song is great! About how we're worth more than minimum wage, how LIFE is worth more! How we shouldn't settle and take what we can get; how we don't all need to be medicated and compartmentalized into little boxes... and how we're going to leave a change on the world 'in the end'.

    Love it. You should too. =D

    sketchymurron June 08, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Yeah i agree...doesnt really sound like her..its got a littlle bit of Avril Lavigne or Hayley Williams about it...I Love It...x

    deedee38on August 18, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    one of her best songs :) i like this katy way more than the "i kissed a girl" sellout katy. i like her songs, the ones that are down to earth. like simple

    xbrokensoundsxon September 03, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Does anyone else she sounds a LOT like hayley williams in the chorus of this song? lol anyways, this another great song by katy there's ona wrong lyric, instead of 'Effortless' it should be 'It's my life' :]

    canezruleon June 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    One of my favorites off the album, I hope it's released to the radio.

    SMUSER17185761on June 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Its about proving yourself to a world where you are categorised before you are even seen

    white_stone_3on June 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Doesn't sound like herself in this one. i kinda like it =^.^=

    Sweenys_waitingon July 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    GAHH I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH!!!

    tis been on repeat for like ever. ahahah love it, and katy =D

    KerrodKoncussionon September 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    katy perry is really talented and you can tell from songs like this i think the first line "Voted most likely to end up on the back of a milk box drink Looks like I'm letting 'em down" is that people thought she would just end up "lost", the way that people's missing pictures go on the back of milk cartons (which is the name of another song on the album) but she knows who she is and what she wants in life and they're wrong

    LieutenantLaurenon October 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh ny gosh, very good song. Somehow the song sounds VERY alternative/Rock to me.. It's really good! I love how she changes her voice in her songs. Shows like many different sides of her.

    Antisocialon March 24, 2009   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
In regards to the meaning of this song: Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.” That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.