Supposed To Be

this song is really chill and cool. i love jack johnson.

Forget the unfortunate, look up and forward better things are to come....Great Song

I think this song is inspired by a song Jack covers Imagine by John Lennon (which he covers well) and by Joseph Campbell's writings he enjoys quoting (from Rolling Stone article). While he does not deny the possiblilty of Heaven thats up with the stars or Hell thats under the sea; he poses the question what if that they might not actually exist? maybe it's nowhere at all. I think his message is that when we get caught up worrying about where we came from and where will go, we do not enjoy the present moment we have now... being here is so easy to do. He is NOT saying there is no God, but says that we should appreciate and enjoy what we have on earth. It's a pretty deep message for a Curious George Album :)

I know people on here tend to hate on people who always relate songs to a relationship but the situation I'm in really seems to fit the song. So here is what I get from the song...I think the song is about a girl and a guy who are really good friends and it works really well for them. (Being here is so easy to do) But at the same time they seem to be looking for something more because they both love each other but are afraid it will ruin what they have together and eventually it just comes down to the guy saying "if you want to" Implying that he's willing to try to make something more work if she is.

I love how he even acknowledges the traps of looking back on things. He thinks of everything-never an incomplete thought in any of his songs. Mad props to my fave artist. Aloha

is this how life's supposed to be...w/ all the hurting and killing the shoes that were fillin' the damage and ruin man the things that were doin

being in the present is supposedly the only way to go...dealing with reality...however desperate it is

its about how people always try to figure out whats wrong with life and why all this fighting and war is happening, and theyll look anywhere for an answer hence 'maybe its up with the stars, maybe its under the sea, maybe its not very far'. hes trying to say that maybe all the war and bad things are supposed to happen, and its just life. instead of looking for an answer, everyone should just deal with it.

I am inclined to connect this song with its associated imagery in Curious George. (The song is from the movie's soundtrack.) WIthin the context of the movie, the song captures a moment when the Man with the Yellow Hat stops railing against all the things in his life that aren't going the way he presupposed they should (like, he's not supposed to have a monkey to deal with!), and instead looks at George and really realizes that what he's got--the love and trust of an innocent friend--is what he has really always needed. Yeah, kinda deep for a kid's movie about a monkey, but there's actually a lot going on in that film. See it if you haven't. Seriously. :)

"Maybe it's up in the stars" etc. seems to me a reference to the search for "heaven", "happiness", "joy", or whatever it is we think will make us happy. The point of the song is that if we are seeking happiness, then we should look at the people already in our lives, that heaven isn't some faraway impossibility or hidden secret, but rather is just love for the people around us. Too often we plumb our pasts or yearn for some particular future, thinking that somehow we're missing our chance, when really, just being here, in this place, now, today, with another person already in our life--that is our destiny. And it's all the destiny we need.