The party hasn’t started til there’s spike in the punch.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.
The party hasn’t started til there’s spike in the punch.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

More ups and downs than a trampoline.
Lets do coke like we’re vacuums
and dance our troubles away
before we drive our cars off bridges.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.x2

Lets pry her ribs open,
and bathe in her chest.

I’m the life of the party until I sober up.
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
I’m the life of the party until I sober up.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

And when they find her on the shore they’ll say, x3
And when they find her on the shore...

“The shark that got her was an efficient killer." x4

Some things, some things, some things are better left unsaid.
Some things, some things, some things are better off dead.
Some things, some things, some things are better left unsaid.
Some things, some things, some things are better off dead.

The party hasn’t started til there’s spike in the punch.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.
I’m the life of the party until I sober up.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.




Lyrics submitted by thegreatcreator

Should Have Stayed In The Shallows song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

41 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    Best song off the new album. The screams in this song reminds me a lot of usurp synapse.. This is one of the songs off Art Damage that utilizes the background vocals as well as Odd How People Shake.

    As for what its about, i think its about people thinking you need to get fucked up to have a good time (and the consequences to thinking your invincable) and i think they are kind of sarcastic about it, as they are with a lot of their songs.

    DarkerShadeofWinteron October 31, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with this person completely

    HeartlessNewon November 14, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    fbtmof is so cynical. they are one of my most favorite bands.

    sowhatifyoucatchmeon February 27, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Favorite song, definately. I am going to see them live next month and this song is going to be insane live. I've got it down. Perfect.

    SameShadeAsSteveon March 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Saw them a week or 2 ago in Hartford. They were AMAZING live, but I was a little angry that they didnt play a lot of their old stuff off of Odd How THey Shake (Their best album by far)

    I really wanted to hear The Libson Girls, and a bunch of other older ones.

    Anyways, I do agree with the fact that this song is about people thinking that drugs and alchohol are the only way to have fun, and that eventually it fucks lives up.

    lightthroughskinon May 16, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agre with.. As for what its about, i think its about people thinking you need to get messed up to have a good time (and the consequences to thinking your invincable) and i think they are kind of sarcastic about it, as they are with a lot of their songs..that. i think they're just poking fun at the whole girls gone wild frat boy get loaded and laid party scene which is awesome because that girls gone wild frat boy get loaded and laid scene is a waste of time and lives good band good song good style blahblahblah go get the album

    RawThroatson July 16, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    best song, this has so much energy and i love it..hey lightthroughskin i saw them in hartford too! in april right? well i think this song is mocking people who spend their lives partying and getting wasted because they only feel confident with themselves when they have no control, they dont care who they hurt or what happens as long as they're "having fun"

    emilyc27on July 19, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is so awseome!

    jackie00089on August 15, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree with darkshadeofwinter and with the whole meaning of the song you dont need to get shitty to have a good time

    fear before fucken rules

    definatly one of the better songs off of art damage

    letitXenfoldyouon August 16, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i definently agree with all of that, but i also think there is definently a murder in there somewhere, the whole trampoline thing explains their good and bad trips, or highs. On a bad high i think they murder the girl, the whole rip her chest open thing. Then he sobers up and realizes what hes done (they find her on the shore) and this is where i dont understand what the 5 Oh think because i doubt they think its a shark. But anyway, he knows no one thinks its him so he says some things are better left unsaid so that he can get away with it and it can be forgotten

    blindside1521on August 23, 2005   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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.