If We Never Go Inside

If We Never Go Inside is about Dan's summer after graduating college.

It's about all the fun they had, but the inevitability of it all ending, and them having to move on. On the other hand they want to move forward, but can't bare to leave behind the only life they've known.

Symbols:

CALENDER PINNED TO SUMMERTIME: Symbolizing the few months they are free. TRAIN: To take them away to the land of adulthood. WONDERFUL AGE: 18 GRAVEYARD: Life. Walk, don't run through it.

It's a song about punk, getting old, staying honest, asking yourself when's the time to leave.

Think about it:

"for some of us it saved our lives" "It happens at a wonderful age, with the traffic lights your mind can change" "We made up rules to follow for good, No wonder we're fucked up, some of us did"

And the chorus asks the final question:

"Were you planning on staying forever? You don't fit in this hole, or don't you remember?"

Walk slow (respect) through the "graveyard", the scene of the dead, the people who got stuck here forever, not willing to admit there's more to life than pretending to be 18 forever. We all know them.

It's a wonderful song, full of unanswered questions that bother us all. And it shows no disrespect for anyone.

Your calendar is always pinned on summertime ..... this and blue carolina are such good summer songs.. i'm glad dan has more songs on this album.

this song is definitely the lyrical killer on this album, i tried my best but it was too cryptic for me, anyone feel free to im me with any ideas that might occur to you.

A train appeared in town one night, for some of us it changed our lives A few of us never saw it coming, then like the fire it disappeared (the "train" is the keyword which i couldn't figure out, if we knew if the "train" was figurative or literally a train then the song should make sense but i don't really know; my only guess is that a train derails in a small town and it kills a bunch of people that would explain the "changed some of our lives" and they removed the train when they cleaned the area so it "disappeared" ) It happens at a wonderful age, with the traffic lights your mind can change We made up rules to follow for good (modern technology changed everything?) No wonder we're fucked up, some of us did (no wonder were fucked up, some of us did fuck up) Tonight never ends if we never go inside The moon is always full Your calendar is always pinned on summertime (time stands still or the dead, never to go inside or see a day pass again) Were you planning on staying forever? (did you think your life would never end) You don't fit in this hole, or don't you remember? (this couldn't happen to you) Hold your breath Walk, don't run, through the graveyard ("hold your breath" is a play on the old superstition to hold your breath when you passing a graveyeard but the dead person literally can't breathe, take your time going through the graveyard in your hurse it'll be your last trip you ever make) A train appeared in town one night, for some of us it saved our lives (it changed everyone's lives, for some of us who survived we turned our lives around in the right direction after it happened ) A few of us never saw it coming, then like the fire we disappear (like the fire the train disappeared and so did those who died)

I'm just scared I might never say goodbye I won't be around to hold you down, pry open your ears and ask you why (i'm afraid i'll die before i get to say goodbye, i won't be here to take care of you anymore)

Is this why you've worked so hard? Is this why you've run so far? Same place, same hello, same goodbye (everything is the same but different, everyone is affected somehow) Helps you pick through beat up insides (the scars stay with the survivors)

looking back at this i could only see one other explanation and that is that the "train" is an analogy for some other catastrophe that happens and is gone right after like a tornado ~DS

i think the train is more likely an analogy for a way out of all of it. a chance to move on with life

To me I see this song as like a way of moving on and hoping that you dont fuck up in your life ahead of you after something like Highschool or College.

obiwan6986's explaination really got me to understand the song. thanks!

That first line in mine should say "summer after graduating HIGH SCHOOL".

I'm an idiot.

This is what I got from the song. This is part of my review of the album for another site

If We Never Go Inside-Perhaps Dan's best entry on the CD....And His last...And I can see why, becuase thsi song would of ended the CD perfectly...but Skiba has an acoustic song coming up, so instead this song just ends of Dan's portion of the CD off....a song about change, growing up, losing friends...and perhaps, now that he is getting (got) married, he is looking back on the past...the friends that have come and gone...and perhaps thatt first love he was talknig about in "She Took Him TOo THe Lake"...Because he sings probably one of the most prolific and stand out love lines we've ever heard from the Trio..."The night never ends if we never go inside...the moon is always full...your calendar, is always pinned on summertime"...He once again brings up a summertime in his life that he wished, and maybe somewhere deep inside still wishes, would never end...Perhaps eluding to that first love that none of us ever forget...He once gain has an AMAZING hook towards the end of the song, one of the most powerful hooks I've ever heard...and he ends that hook sadly..."Helps you pikc through beat up insides..."...And the references to old gorups of friends are evident throughout the song..."We made up rules to follow for good...no wonder we're (by we're, he pretty much means himself), some of us did"...and the chorus...just a great song.

Basically....let me put it to you like this....If they were to make a video for this song, it would start off witd Dan standing at the alter about to say "I do"....the camera zooms into his eye....the music starts...The band is jamming in Dan's childhood neighborhood...with "young Dan" hanging out with his friends....and with that first love that Dan sung "She Took Him To The Lake"...I see young Dan laying in a field with the girl just as the "the night never ends" line starts.....Somthnig like taht.....Dan's thinking about all his past friends and his first love just as he's geting married...

That's my opinion

best dan song on good mourning. hands down.