The test begins, now
I thought I was smart, I thought I was right
I thought it better not to fight, I thought there was a
Virtue in always being cool, so when it came time to
Fight I thought I'll just step aside and that the time would
Prove you wrong and that you would be the fool

I don't know where the sun beams end and the star
Lights begins it's all a mystery

Oh to fight is to defend if it's not
Now than tell me when would be the time that you would stand up
And be a man, for to lose I could accept but to surrender
I just wept and regretted this moment, oh that I, I
Was the fool

I don't know where the sun beams end and the star
Lights begins it's all a mystery
And I don't know how a man decides what right for his
Own life, it's all a mystery

Cause I'm a man not a boy and there are things
You can't avoid you have to face them when you're not prepared
To face them,
If I could I would but you're with him now it'd do no good
I should have fought him but instead I let him, I let
Him take it

I don't know where the sun beams end and the star
Lights begins it's all a mystery
And I don't know how a man decides what right for his
Own life, it's all a mystery

The test is over, now


Lyrics submitted by SpaceManSpiff

Fight Test Lyrics as written by Steven Drozd Wayne Coyne

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Fight Test song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

73 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +4
    General Comment

    The song is about a relationship with a girl. At some point she was either going to go with the singer or the other guy and the singer decided to just step back and let her decide, thinking that she'd eventually chose him. But she doesn't.

    I think the ironic thing about the song is the line "If I could I would but you're with him now it'd do no good". The whole song is about how he should have tried harder for this girl, but then he is still making excuses and refusing to try. I don't know if that's intentional or not, but I always thought it was funny.

    hemlock_echoon March 21, 2007   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    IMHO, this is the best song on Yoshimi. Of course, I'm an idiot, so you can just ignore that.

    pkjunon March 21, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    This song means sometimes fighting is your only option. If you surrender, well, you will always be ashamed of it.

    flaminglipsruleon June 14, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I think this song has a lot to do with the Flight or Fight stress response phenomenon. That is, when faced with a decision, you can either stand your ground and fight, or you can flee. The title "Fight Test" makes a pun out of the term "Flight Test." In a flight test, you are testing the aereonautical virtues of an aircraft, whereas in a fight test, your girlfriend (or object of your affection) is testing to see if you will fight for her. Or will you flight? In many situations, especially when dealing with physical violence, fleeing is the best choice, however, when your relationship or honor is at stake, you may have to throw down and fight. This song, I think, is the story of a guy who flees rather than fights for his girl. If he had fought, he may have been able to keep her.

    AmnesiaVertigoon May 23, 2007   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    It's about Neon Genesis Evangelion, obviously.

    heavyhosson October 03, 2010   Link
  • +3
    Song Meaning

    This is a complicated and beautiful song. I'll try to organize the breakdown chronologically but I am not sure that the song is written in linear time.

    With the song and the official video it seems like a straight forward struggle for the love of a woman. He seems to be addressing his foe in the video but if you read the lyrics it seems that he is fighting his lover. He says that "to fight is to defend", but he did not realize that he was supposed to fight to defend the relationship from the anger of his lover. He did not realize that he had to fight her for her love and that "playing it cool" (letting her blow off steam/win) was not what she needed.

    "I don't know where the sun beams end and the star Lights begins it's all a mystery"

    Refers to the passage of time and his wondering where it has gone.

    The song uses the chorus to show that the singer often revisits his memories of this breakup and that the woman he let go might have been more than just a girlfriend.

    He did not fight to keep her, and he regrets not fighting for her as much as he regrets losing her. When he says that he is a man and not a boy, he tells us that he recognizes that he should have been more assertive and his ambivalence about the relationship is gone now that she left him. He wants to try again, but "you're with him now do no good"

    Without the opportunity to fight for her, he slips back into indecision. He knows what he has done wrong but he is having trouble changing and moving on. He knows that he needs to stop thinking about her so he tells himself "the test is over, now"

    The echo on the "now" feels like the these memories are not over and will continue to haunt him.

    This is a great song and I've revisited it for years.

    madscience84on November 20, 2013   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Wonderful track and band....about a man's struggles to find his way in life while he marches to his own drumbeat...

    ManofSteelon November 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song isn't about physical violence...stand up and be a man. Fighting for a girl is a lot harder than getting into an actual fight. I've lost fights and I've lost girls and I know which is harder.

    slaorenzon December 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i just saw these guys in philly... their show was amazing... so different from anything i'd ever seen... kinda weird, but respectable b/c no one else does these things.... i love this song and they totally blew me away with it

    AncientMelodieson August 28, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I first saw these dudes in '94 when they opened for Candlebox (yes, dating myself a bit). They started off kinda sounding tinny, but with the first real power chord, Xmas lights all over them and the stage went on. Spectacular. ANyway, this song is phenomenal. It's the kind of music I wanna make out with a cute girl to. Hats off.

    CTbrthrhdon September 17, 2002   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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.