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Fabulous Friend Lyrics
That hard, cruel, hostile town
There’s no place you’d want to fail
If somewhere you were to fail
Success at any cost
If fade the same and fall
If fade the same and fall
But even there I did not think of
Someone I should have thought of
She was my fabulous friend
I could but be impressed
I could but be impressed
I wish I’d been hers too
What good does wishing do?
What good does wishing do?
I was born afraid
I miss her to this day
For me and only me
My concern it was for me
My concern it was for me
How am I to accept?
I could show such thoughtlessness
I could show such thoughtlessness
I can’t stop thinking of
The person I did not think of
I’m not brave
I’m not special
I’m not any of those things
I’m not any of those things
This guilt that I do feel
I deserve to always feel
Fully deserve to never not feel
There’s no place you’d want to fail
If somewhere you were to fail
If fade the same and fall
If fade the same and fall
But even there I did not think of
Someone I should have thought of
I could but be impressed
I could but be impressed
I wish I’d been hers too
What good does wishing do?
What good does wishing do?
I miss her to this day
For me and only me
My concern it was for me
My concern it was for me
I could show such thoughtlessness
I could show such thoughtlessness
I can’t stop thinking of
The person I did not think of
I’m not special
I’m not any of those things
I’m not any of those things
I deserve to always feel
Fully deserve to never not feel
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This is my favourite song by The Field Mice. I love this song! Every time I hear it I have to press repeat and listen to it again, before I go on to the next song. So I was quite upset to find the lyrics that were posted didn’t resemble what I heard at all. Here’s a more accurate interpretation of the lyrics:
That hard, cruel, hostile tone There’s no place you’d want to fail If some where you were to fail
Success at any cost If fade the same and fall If fade the same and fall But even there I did not think of Someone I should have thought of
She was my fabulous friend I could but be impressed I could but be impressed I wish I’d been hers too What good does wishing do? What good does wishing do?
I was born afraid I miss her to this day For me and only me My concern it was for me My concern it was for me
How am I to accept? I could show such thoughtlessness I could show such thoughtlessness I can’t stop thinking of The person I did not think of
I’m not brave I’m not special I’m not any of those things I’m not any of those things
This guilt that I do feel I deserve to always feel Fully deserve to never not feel
@tootwee4u Actually, you both have the first sentence slightly wrong. And 'sentence' is key, for the first three lines are all part of a single sentence, with the word "town" making sense as the place he treated her poorly, and the mistake of "There's', which is actually "Is" adding further confusion. Instead, it should read like this, and the rest of the tune makes more sense.
@tootwee4u Actually, you both have the first sentence slightly wrong. And 'sentence' is key, for the first three lines are all part of a single sentence, with the word "town" making sense as the place he treated her poorly, and the mistake of "There's', which is actually "Is" adding further confusion. Instead, it should read like this, and the rest of the tune makes more sense.
That hard, cruel, hostile TOWN IS no place you’d want to fail If some where you were to fail
That hard, cruel, hostile TOWN IS no place you’d want to fail If some where you were to fail
So, just one change to the main lyric...
So, just one change to the main lyric body, "Is" for "There's"
Also "some where" should always be a single word, "somewhere."
Also "some where" should always be a single word, "somewhere."
Pretty basic stuff, but so well done. Basically, I get a sense that the narrator fucked over a very kind friend at some point in their life (seems to be a competitive/job type of thing, if you look at the first two stanzas -- "success at any cost"). It served them well at the time, but now the narrator feels guilty, wishing they could have been the "fabulous friend" that the friend was to them. The narrator can't accept that they were so thoughtless, and now he paradoxically thinks about this friend, when he didn't at the time of screwing her over. He misses her. The last stanza is just pure self-loathing -- the narrator thinks he "fully deserve[s] to never not feel" (which is a double negative of "always," in the line earlier) guilty about what they did to this friend.
I relate to this song a lot. Screwed over a female friend pretty badly in university, and it still haunts me. I too fully deserve to never not feel guilty about it. Oh, and that jangle-y melody that plays throughout the song is perfect.