Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
There was a time I was happy in my life
There was a time I believed I'd live forever
There was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
Nobody else would ever take the place of you
Nobody else could do the things that you could do
No one else I guess could hurt me like you did
I didn't understand, I was just a kid
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
There was a time I was happy in my life
There was a time I believed I'd live forever
There was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
My mother died when I was five
And all I did was sit and cry
I cried and cried and cried all day
Until the neighbors went away
They couldn't take my loneliness
I couldn't take their phoniness
My father had to go to work
I used to think he was a jerk
I didn't know his heart was broken
And not another word was spoken
He became a shadow of
The father I was dreaming of
I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
I gotta give it up
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I got to give it up
I got to to let it go
I gotta give it up
Oh mother
Oh father
I got to give it up
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
There was a time I believed I'd live forever
There was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
Nobody else would ever take the place of you
Nobody else could do the things that you could do
No one else I guess could hurt me like you did
I didn't understand, I was just a kid
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
There was a time I was happy in my life
There was a time I believed I'd live forever
There was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
My mother died when I was five
And all I did was sit and cry
I cried and cried and cried all day
Until the neighbors went away
They couldn't take my loneliness
I couldn't take their phoniness
My father had to go to work
I used to think he was a jerk
I didn't know his heart was broken
And not another word was spoken
He became a shadow of
The father I was dreaming of
I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
I gotta give it up
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I've got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I've got to give it up
I got to give it up
I got to to let it go
I gotta give it up
Oh mother
Oh father
I got to give it up
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
(I gotta give it up)
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Wow....this song seems like it was written for me. Very heartfelt.