Typical Situation

Dave Matthews Band

Ten fingers counting we have each
Nine planets around the sun repeat
Eight ball the last, if you triumphant be
Seven oceans pummel the shores of the sea

It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices
It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices

Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

It all comes down to nothing

Six senses feeling
Five around a sense of self
Four seasons turn on and turn off
I can see three corners from this corner
Two's the perfect number
But one, well

Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

Oh, Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

It all comes down to nothing

It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices
It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices

We can't do a thing about it
Too many choices
It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices

Yeah, well
Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

Oh, Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

('Roi!)

(yeah)

It all comes down to nothing
It all comes down to nothing
It all comes

Oh, Everybody's happy
Everybody's free
We'll keep the big door open
Everyone will come around
Why are you different
Why are you that way
If you don't get in line
We'll lock you away

It all comes down to nothing

It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices
It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices

We can't do a thing about it
Too many choices
It's a typical situation
In these typical times
Too many choices


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae

Typical Situation song meanings
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52 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment
    Haha! Yea I'm such a dave fanatic... this is one of my fav's. But yea... it's so reflecting on the society of America. The US is supposedly known as the one place where diversity is accepted and appreciated, when, in reality, we are so superficial and exclusive- holding understood expectations that are required to be met....
    leh0425on May 10, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment
    the lyrics poetically demonstrate certain qualities of the world that people accept as true, the "eight ball last if you triumphant be" as in pool, or the "six senses feeling five around a sense of self" which suggests not only our tactile senses but the possibility of another higher sense of connection, spirituality or divinity that many people ascribe to in their own unique ways. then the lyrics contrast this with american dream "everybody's happy, everybody's free" tongue in cheek though, because it's easy to point out all of the discrimination that still exists here today. This is a beautiful song. Poetically or lyrically if you prefer, musically, and in how it cuts at an issue so difficult to talk about sometimes.
    trillnewmaon February 20, 2014   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    WHEN HE SAYS, 'i can see three corners from this corner' HE IS SAYING THAT HE IS ABLE TO SEE ALL PERSPECTIVES, NOT JUST HIS OWN. THEN, 'two is the perfect number, but one well everybody's happy, everybody's free.' IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S ALWAYS EASIER TO SEE ONLY ONE CORNER (one perspective, that one being your OWN), BUT IT'S ALSO THE IGNORANT WAY TO BE. THIS SONG IS ABOUT THE ABILITY, OR INABILITY, OF PEOPLE TO BE OPEN-MINDED AND NOT JUDGE ONE ANOTHER FOR BEING DIFFERENT, OR SEEING THINGS FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. IT'S ABOUT BEING ABLE TO SEE ALL THINGS FROM MORE THAN ONE 'CORNER' OR PERSPECTIVE.
    analytical1canthelpiton August 08, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I think this song is saying that in this world everyone is the same and everything seems to be uniform and that if youre different you wont be accepted. It's definitely one of my fav. dave songs
    Lainy04on January 18, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    i love this song, the chorus is awesome. This song was inspired by the poem "Prayer in the Pentagon", by Robert Dederick...heres the poem for anyone interested Nine planets, Sir, endlessly circle, Sir, one yellow star among Sir's galaxies: Pluto Neptune Venus Jupiter Saturn Uranus Mercury Mars and this- this watered and this aired this favored one where all that crawl and swim and fly and run that drove and swarm and herd and flock are in with tooth and leg and lung and claw and fin created clothed and colored are by Sir Eight colors (counting white) Sir's rainbow makes when whiteness on Sir's broken waters breaks arched over tidal blue and branching grey and grazing green and foaling brown down and away with gorsing yellow glow and honeyed hay and petalled blush and mottled winging whir; the limpid eyes each of Sir's colors wakes dark-irised are and cleared and curved by Sir Seven tossing seas Sir's pent-up lands divide where silver shoals in aching green-ness glide turn suddenly and dart and flatly lie break surface plunge and from each other hide and stare as though by staring they aver what sweet surprise had widened each wide eye that once looked early on creating Sir Six senses there were then in us who were salt-tasting all along the salt-scented shore who felt crust cool and looked on shrinking sea and heard gull-cry on draining estuary and found back of these five a something more: a sense of self and back of self--Sir Five fingers though (counting a thumb) were what we mostly were aware of as we fought Sir's elements and cleared Sir's forests and sought creation-wise new metalled ways to go by spinning wheel and wing off runway. So? Four quarters of our world began to grow too few and of Sir's yellow star we thought equations scribbled bubbled in retort distilled its hot explosive secrets. So? Three questions pose themselves now as we wait: did Sir not know how to end what Sir began? Or could we choose? Or did Sir always plan? Two hands of ours to bring us soon or late bent to destroy what the hands of Sir had wrought One day when we and all our world are brought to Nought?
    Traumattizingon May 14, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    wow, I thought dave was the originator of that countdown too but wherever it comes from, I think it's amazing. It's so refreshing to have someone who creates actual poetry for lyrics instead of singing conversational sentences like punk bands or rappers.
    voodoochld000on June 09, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I was on a recent trip to Argentina and talking to someone about living in Brazil during the cold war. I began to cry because I remembered that I was terrified during the time period that the United States would be attacked and I wouldn't have a country to come home to. For those of you who were really young when the cold war ended, you may not realize that it was really a war. While the violence was not explicit, it was there daily... This song is a protest against the arms race and the ideology that backed it. If you compare the song to the poem it is based on, it is a very stark criticism of the destruction of everything we hold so dear. Today we have other threats that we must deal with (See Al Gore's movie). This song also criticizes totalitarianism (thus the lyrics: If you don't get in line we'll lock you away) and makes fun of governments that claim people can do what they want yet lock them away for their opinions. Remember Dave lived in an authoritarian state, (South Africa during apartheid). Dave also ridicules imperialism and colonialism in other songs. If you are not up on cold war history I would suggest looking at some of the sites on exactly what nuclear destruction can cause. The pictures are very graphic and disturbing.
    mommyon July 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    i agree with you. i dont like people who hold others back. we should let everyone be free and different and happy.
    musicluva44on March 03, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    i also agree. this song is so..normal. I mean that in a sense of it works for everyone and relates in one way or another. yet agian, a good song.
    dmbfan14on May 09, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    And all this time I thought Dave came up with the "countdown." Thanks for printing the complete poem. I love this song even more now. Peace
    Rogue1on May 22, 2002   Link

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