Pain Lyrics
You have the meaning wrong. It's not about drugs or what drug use has done to someone, or those around them. The song is about relationships, and the speaker in the song is struggling with someone He loves, who does not love him back. This love makes him feel addicted to her the way a drugie is addicted to drugs. The part about a kiss with open eyes, simbolizes how the one he loves shows no intrest in him, and is not breathing back the same feelings that he shows for her.. He is telling himself that he can not let it bother him, but infact it does. The false sence of accomplishment is when he thinks he is over her, the way a drug addict is over their addiction, but then something happens that makes him come back to his obsession. See the simbolism between drug use and love? it's there.
Maybe I just have a flair for drama but I like to imagine that it's about his relationship with the addiction after his girlfriend overdosed on the same pills he is singing about. (painkillers, obviously)
Maybe I just have a flair for drama but I like to imagine that it's about his relationship with the addiction after his girlfriend overdosed on the same pills he is singing about. (painkillers, obviously)
"I never thought I'd walk away from you" He loved the pills and was happy with his life and his partner. He never thought he would quit until his lover's overdose. Now he knows he needs to quit or he'll eventually fall to an overdose as well.
"I never thought I'd walk away from you" He loved the pills and was happy with his life and his partner. He never thought he would quit until his lover's overdose. Now he knows he needs to quit or he'll eventually fall to an overdose as well.
"But it's a false sense of accomplishment, Every time I quit" It feels good to quit...
"But it's a false sense of accomplishment, Every time I quit" It feels good to quit the pills but only for so long.
"It's a lie a kiss with opened eyes, and she's not breathing back" He's remembering the tragedy. His final goodbye kiss as his lover is lying cold in front of him, overdosed on opioids. It's his excuse to use pills again to take away the pain. However he knows that he's fooling himself. "Anything would bother me" shows that it's truly the addiction in control. If not his lover's death, anything would bring him back to the pills. In the next chorus he says "Well anything would bother me." The subtle change of diction implies he's giving up on himself. One excuse or another, whatever makes the pain stop.
"Nevermind these are horrid times" The addiction comes back, he tells himself it's okay to use for now. It's just hard times.
"Anyone can see my every flaw" "Anyone can say they're above this all" He's both embarrassed and defensive about his situation. He knows it's going to kill him. He can't make himself stop. He has failed himself. It "bothers" him. This only fuels his addiction further.
"I can't let it bother me" Every use of "bother me" in this song is an event that brings him back to drugs. He's going to die and this is his final defense. He's itching for a fix as he says this. "Anything but bother me". I imagine him sobbing as he says it because he knows he will use anyway. Practically begging himself to stop.
Maybe I just have a flair for drama but I like to imagine that it's about his relationship with the addiction after his girlfriend overdosed on the same pills he is singing about. (painkillers, obviously)
Maybe I just have a flair for drama but I like to imagine that it's about his relationship with the addiction after his girlfriend overdosed on the same pills he is singing about. (painkillers, obviously)
"I never thought I'd walk away from you" He loved the pills and was happy with his life and his partner. He never thought he would quit until his lover's overdose. Now he knows he needs to quit or he'll eventually fall to an overdose as well.
"I never thought I'd walk away from you" He loved the pills and was happy with his life and his partner. He never thought he would quit until his lover's overdose. Now he knows he needs to quit or he'll eventually fall to an overdose as well.
"But it's a false sense of accomplishment, Every time I quit" It feels good to quit...
"But it's a false sense of accomplishment, Every time I quit" It feels good to quit the pills but only for so long.
"It's a lie a kiss with opened eyes, and she's not breathing back" He's remembering the tragedy. His final goodbye kiss as his lover is lying cold in front of him, overdosed on opioids. It's his excuse to use pills again to take away the pain. However he knows that he's fooling himself. "Anything would bother me" shows that it's truly the addiction in control. If not his lover's death, anything would bring him back to the pills. In the next chorus he says "Well anything would bother me." The subtle change of diction implies he's giving up on himself. One excuse or another, whatever makes the pain stop.
"Nevermind these are horrid times" The addiction comes back, he tells himself it's okay to use for now. It's just hard times.
"Anyone can see my every flaw" "Anyone can say they're above this all" He's both embarrassed and defensive about his situation. He knows it's going to kill him. He can't make himself stop. He has failed himself. It "bothers" him. This only fuels his addiction further.
"I can't let it bother me" Every use of "bother me" in this song is an event that brings him back to drugs. He's going to die and this is his final defense. He's itching for a fix as he says this. "Anything but bother me". I imagine him sobbing as he says it because he knows he will use anyway. Practically begging himself to stop.
In my opinion, It sounds like he has depression and is taking anti depressants for his problems. The anti depressants take his pain away. The song lists things making him this way (an unhappy relationship, feeling he has no unique accomplishments or unable to be successful).
These lyrics are pretty self explanatory... He broke up with his girl and he's become addicted to these "white pills" to try and cope.. thats where the "takes my pain away" comes from. amazing song
i think the song is about vicodin addiction.
"anyone can take the same white pills... it takes my pain away"
the kiss, the girl, it's all vicodin. everytime, it's a false sense of accomplishment to walk away and quit vicodin, he's an addict.
i can't make up my mind about what this song means. i mean, yeah, it's a drug addiction (seriously, how many songs do they have about drugs??), but i don't know what to think about the girl. maybe he's hallucinating about her. i don't actually know what this song means to me. i don't even know what i'm doing on this website if i'm too much of an idiot to have an interpretation.
I actually thought the same thing and had the same questions, thats why I came here. Your not an idiot. Or we both are. So you are not alone.
I actually thought the same thing and had the same questions, thats why I came here. Your not an idiot. Or we both are. So you are not alone.
@willowhazel It's a metaphor. He's describing the drugs as being inauthentic, "a lie", like a kiss with open eyes, that's all.
@willowhazel It's a metaphor. He's describing the drugs as being inauthentic, "a lie", like a kiss with open eyes, that's all.
A few folks have said it - I agree that the primary theme of the song is drug addiction. The lyric "it's a false sense of accomplishment every time I quit" is absolutely about addiction.
What I think the video is showing is someone who's using drugs to take the pain out of his life. Sitting in the pool, throwing himself down the steps, the meat suit - they're all signs of self-destructive behavior, just like taking drugs. But note that through it all he never winces - never shows a single sign of any feeling.
The twins are the demons of addiction which follow him around as he destroys his life, thinking about the woman he's lost.
At the very end of the video, she comes back to him and starts peeling the meat off - she wants to help him heal and stop hurting himself. And right then, the twins of addiction hit him upside the head - and now he flinches. Now that his life has meaning again, he has to deal with the demons he's invited into his life, whether he wants to or not.
And we see them walk away together - she's going to help him down this road to recovery. Note that as he starts off with her, he's still got the full meat suit on - it's going to take him time to get back to life without his self-induced pain.
From an article MTV did with JEW: Jim Adkins preferred not to go into detail about "Pain" -- other than to say “it's about low willpower and taking the easy way to become pacified, which may or may not solve anything in the long run" -- though he did say that there's usually never one specific instance that inspires a Jimmy Eat World song.
Ferking love this song. Can't wait to get there new album!!
I think this has a pretty obvious meaning, I think it all relates to drug dependancy, and overdoses, and the all the mental fuck up it causes the person and there loved ones around that person.
I love this song too, but can I suggest a correction to the lyrics posted above. To me, it sounds like: "It's a lie, A kiss with opened eyes And she's not breathing back Anything but bother me (It takes my pain away) Nevermind, these are horrid times Oh, oh, oh I can't let it bother me"
should read: "...Nevermind, these are hurried times Oh, oh, oh I can't let it bother me"
It's like the speed, busyness and complexity of the narrator's life are being used as an excuse, and they are temporarily dismissing their fears... Not letting it bother them. I'd welcome anyone else's thoughts?
Great song