Best I Can

Queensrÿche

Don't worry, dear he'll never find the gun

A child alone in daddy's room
The gun was hidden here
No one home to catch me when I fall

A young man now in a private chair
I've seen the world through a bitter stare
But my dream is still alive
I'm going to be the best I can

I want to be a busy man
I want to see a change in the future
I'm gonna make the best of what I have
I want to write for a magazine
I'm gonna be the best they've ever seen
I know I'll win if I give it all I can

I won't let go
Gotta make the grade, no I won't let go
To be the best man, the best man that I can

Back street hoop star you've got it good
You were the wonder of the crumbling neighborhood
Now taking bids on the next six digit plan
Showed me that my will survived
The tragedy that came into my life
Giving me hope and the new start that I have

And I won't let go
Gotta make the grae no, I won't let go
To be the best man, the best man that I can

Step by step I dream the plan
From my chair to walking man
This constant dream is on my mind
Chase the light I see ahead
Luminate the path I tread
I live to be the best I can

Now I'm moving forward and I'm never looking back
Straight ahead, focused on the big attack
On a roll and I'm never slowing down
I won't be torn between
The man in the chair and the man that's in my dream
I'm going to melt the two men into one

And I won't let go
Gotta make the grade I set no, I won't let it go
To be the best man,
The best man that I can
The best man that I can
The best man that I can


Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by digitalmanMKII

Best I Can Lyrics as written by Christopher Degarmo

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Best I Can song meanings
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10 Comments

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  • +2
    General CommentI love how the first reviewer gets so arrogant and snotty, yet gets it wrong himself. Nice attitude.

    At the very start, the spoken words are "Don't worry dear; he'll never find the gun." Not what the other reviewer wrote above.

    I always thought the female voice then said "Don't risk it." but I had never listened to it at high volume. It does sound more like "Don't be scared."

    I think this is about a child who finds his father's poorly-hidden gun, and accidentally shoots himself and ends up a paraplegic.
    despondenton October 19, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentGuitarist Chris DeGarmo, who wrote 'Best I Can', explained to Kerrang! Magazine in June 1990: 'It's about a young boy who has a tragic accident as a child, and has to overcome his handicaps to make something of his life, and overcome what others perceive to be a handicap. It's a song, basically, about beating the odds."
    Porchon January 10, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThe boy has found the gun (despite that Dad telling his wife "Don't worry dear" and has shot himself by accident.
    The rest is about beating the odds and making his life what HE WANTS it to be despite his wheelchair.
    philpy1999on June 25, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General CommentWheelchair bound kid, trying to make something of his life. Maybe he'll become a writer. A nice touch is how he is dazzled by this local basketball player, who is obviously the opposite of him, physically.

    All signs (in the lyrics and video) point to a gun control message about how parents keep guns for protection and kids end up shooting themselves. This political / educational angle mixed with dark fiction definitely fits the Queensryche M.O.
    pygmydynamoon June 25, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment= 0 ! cheesy opening sequence ? i luv the opening sequence in thissong...
    -ZERO-on March 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentGreat song.
    Engel78on December 26, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWhen I heard this song in 1990 I enjoyed it for the sound quality and awesome guitar licks (I was a guitar player). 4 years later after unexpectedly worsening walking difficulty forced me from military service, I found out I had MS (multiple sclerosis). Now 30 yrs later the song has a deeper meaning for me. I've been fighting the odds of a progressive illness since age 19, and been exactly like the subject of this song- both in a wheelchair and also back up and running, playing basketball, and "normal" again. Anyone who hasn't been in a helpless, hopeless situation like portayed by this song has no idea how alone it feels. I continue fighting to be the best man that I can.
    legalfieldson May 05, 2020   Link
  • -1
    General CommentThe song appears to be about a wheelchair bound person with aspriations to eventually walk again. The Christopher Reeve like hero states: "I won't be torn between the many in the chair and the man that's in my dream". There are also other references to the chair. The first verse, along with the rather cheesy opening sequence, indicates that the cause of the injury was a parent's gun.
    Porchon January 04, 2005   Link
  • -1
    General CommentIf you've watched the music video, the child is alone in a room by himself. If you listen carefully at the beginning of the song, you'll hear Tate saying, "Don't worry Daron (or Danny), they'll never find the gun." Then you hear another voice saying, "Don't be scared." This is apparently the voice of someone who has entered the house, such as a robber. After the child sings, "No one home to catch me..." you hear a "gunshot" as the robber shoots the kid. As a result, he is bound in a wheelchair and is trying to be the best he can and walk again.
    sigmund1989on August 27, 2006   Link
  • -3
    General CommentOne of the bests uplifting songs I've ever heard! Obviously about a child that had maybe killed someone, but realized the mistake and vows to be the best person that he can, despite his tragedy. You have to be some kind of fucking idiot NOT to listen to this song and follow it.
    musicoolon August 25, 2002   Link

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