The skate park is only fifteen Minutemen songs away.
And there's nothing I would rather do on this terrible fucking day,
Than break my bones and feel the pain of self-improvement.

It's not your job to make everybody happy.
You don't have to answer to anyone or anybody.
Just stick to your guns and don't quit until you feel like changing them.

It's a sin and a shame to keep yourself from knowing
The things that make you beautiful and complete.
When we lie to ourselves we can feel our insides rotting
When the world should be bowing at our feet.
Stick to your guns and don't quit until you fell like changing them.


Lyrics submitted by InspectorMustache

Skate Park song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

1 Comment

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is a real great song, because as always, AJJ uses the most unanticipated of language to pump out an amazing story One of my favorite lines (of many) is "feel the pain of self improvement" because it illustrates how, essentially, hard work pays off, despite the pain one must go through. My favorite verse is the last one though:

    "It's a sin and a shame to keep yourself from knowing The things that make you beautiful and complete. When we lie to ourselves we can feel our insides rotting When the world should be bowing at our feet. Stick to your guns and don't quit until you fell like changing them."

    As someone who's gone through bullying and general self hatred, I love how amazing this sounds. How you really, really can feel your insides rotting, the loudness and sloppyness of this song masks one of the best messages I've heard. Classic AJJ and I adore it

    Franztasticon September 10, 2013   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
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.