Best I Can

I 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.

Guitarist 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."

The 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.

Wheelchair 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.

= 0 ! cheesy opening sequence ? i luv the opening sequence in thissong...

Great song.

When 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.

The 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.

If 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.

One 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.