Guess I'm Doing Fine

This song is such a great song to listen to after breaking up with someone. He captured the feeling of that experience perfectly.

I've been visiting songmeanings.com since I was old enough to appreciate music, and this is the first comment I have left. What a gleeful day.

It's obviously not Beck's meaning, but as a young, gay man in the closet, I found this song immensely powerful after listening to it most recently. The chorus exceptionally:

It's only lies that I'm living It's only tears that I'm crying It's only you that I'm losing Guess I'm doing fine

I've lived a lie most of my life, the only expense being my immense sadness. I've lost numerous friends because of something as stupid as liking other members of my gender. However, at the end of the day, I force myself to "guess I'm doing fine." To quote another Beck song, "some days [I] get a thrill in [my] brain, some days it turns into malaise."

Another difficult part to hear:

I just wade the tides that turned Till I learn to leave the past behind

I fear every person who learns I'm gay due to some traumatic childhood experiences. Though most I meet now could not care less, I'm long from leaving the past behind.

Finally, the final, most emotionally crippling part of the song:

Press my face up to the window To see how warm it is inside See the things that I've been missing Missing all this time

I do not feel I have ever been legitimately close to another human being, romantically or otherwise. I did not go on a date with a man until recently, and am single yet still. I am turning 20 very soon. Everywhere I go, I'm faced with the things that I've been missing. Relationships, displays of affection, unconditional positive regard, self expression without fear of disapproval, etc. I press my face against the window of my friends lives, and often see that I'm missing something many consider integral to being a fully self actualized human being.

Again, this is simply the way the song subjectively relates to my life. What a beautifully sad piece.

"It's only lies that I'm living It's only tears that I'm crying It's only you that I'm losing Guess I'm doing fine"

In my opinion, he WANTS to think that losing her will not be much painful. He still has his family and friends, his life must go on. However, he feels sad for his lost.

One of my Beck's favourite songs.

Beck is as true as a modern-day human can be. - - - - Amazing.

he wrote this song right after his friend and fellow musician Elliott Smith died in 2003. I remember watching an interview and he was talking about Elliott Smith and Beck's grandfather's death's (a lot of possessives) impact on his song writing during this album.

I means purely that he wants to say he is o,k but he really isn't. Dur

This song is beautifully written and sang. There's so much pain in it, but it remains poignantly sad. It depresses me and makes me feel better at the same time, because someone has felt it all before.

really pulls at your heart. I listen to it a lot with bitter irony

Elliott's death might have had an impact on Beck's writing, but it's not in this song. This song was written and released over a year before Elliott's death.

It's only tears that I'm crying --> such meaningful lyrics....

He is in pain but looks down to his own pain at the same time... amazing...