How To Fight Loneliness

There seems to be a great tendency on this website to interpret lyrics as ironic, or to say "this song is an indictment of phoniness." Often that is just the listener hearing more than is there and imposing his own insecurities and judgments.

I think the song is meant to be taken literally. This song is about how to fight loneliness: deny it. Smile all the time, laugh at every joke you hear, get out where the action is, surround yourself with people, and act cool. Everyone does this, and it works and doesn't work at the same time - which I think is what the song is saying. You'll still be lonely but you'll get through it - or, you'll get through it but you'll still be lonely. He's not saying this is the way to beat loneliness. Nor is he backhandedly judging people for doing this, as loneliness were some sort of rare weakness or wallowing in misery some species of virtue. I think he is simply describing how he (and all of us) deals with something he (and all of us) experience sometimes. The "first thing that you want will be the last thing you ever need" line could be taken literally or ironically: I think it just means that you'll be distracted (for better or worse) from what you needed and couldn't get by superficial desires. Finally, I would also add that the line is not "shine your teeth to meaningless" but "shine your teeth 'til meaningless."