I Can't Win

first of all, i love this song and it's very emotional and touching to me, so this definition is gonna be probably very personal and maybe you guys won't think of it the way i do. it's actually quite easy to understand.

the song is about being stuck in on some kind of "painkiller" routine. it's gonna end somehow and, sooner or later, you'll feel the pain all over again. the song talks about a "lost" lifestyle, maybe some parties and drugs and drinks to forget about your problems but they're always gonna be there when the night ends, doesn't matter what you do: you can't win.

julian means that, he tried so hard to do something right, to be someone good and ended up in nothing. so, he chooses to party and forget his problems and the fact that, when the "painkiller" efect ends, he won't be winning. we'll be just as miserable as he was before and he alredy fucked-up a lot to try again. and he knows it's not gonna work, though.

this song is actually quite simmilar to "trying your luck" because both of them explain how julian feels wrong and fucked-up and he can't do anything to fix it. he feels like a LOSER.

i love this song.

I agree with what other's said (except the record deal ones...The Strokes don't sing about things like that) and also that this is a awesome song.

Best frickin solo ever.

this is my personal song. i claim it.

come on,it,s not that bad a song "peace on earth, can it be, years from now. perhaps we,ll see.......... that,s real lyrics for ya

great song, relaxing and puts you in a great mood. i think it's about losing sometimes in life and not beating yourself for it

Yeah this song is about accepting losing and kind of embracing it, seeing the humor in it I guess. Well it seems like he's reveling in his failure (real or imagined) - "laughing at the life youre wasting". At the same time he obviously sees it as kind of haunting him.

I see this as the ending to a story. The whole album has this "getting over you" feel to it, and this is the end. He's saying "I give up, I can't win." He finally decides it's time to move on and stop thinking about it.

i dunno if it's just me, but i think this song is a perfect way to end a soph album.

everytime i listen to this song i believe it's talking about record company deals and all the problems bands could face at the beginning... Good try We don't like it" "Good try We won't take that shit." that's an old fat guy smoking a cigar telling the band 'your music's shit, you're losers' ... because it is hard to get into music business, but i don't know, it might be about something else, or maybe about it all 2gether.