Family Friend

Wow, hard to believe no one has commented on this yet. It's my fave song on the album and maybe of 2011.

I think it's a song about being at this in between point in your life where you don't feel like an adult but you aren't a kid either. I think the reference to summer seems like a pretty obvious metaphor for youth.

Also, it seems to be about meeting someone who is in the same sort of position as you with where their life is. Maybe what the protagonist needs is just a bit of love to get out of this mid/late-twenties funk. Anyways that's my take. Peace.

Justin Young (Vaccines' frontman) said this about "Family Friend" "This song has two parts. The first is sweet. The second is bitter. I like the big build at the end. Classic album ending."

(Source: http://www.craveonline.com/music/articles/168591-advance-vaccines-full-album-stream)

In an interview, Pete Robertson (Vaccines' drummer) was asked if he had a favorite song to play live. He mentioned "If You Wanna" and also said the following...

Pete: I really like playing ‘Family Friend’, the last song on the album. We actually don’t do that song a lot. We play it when we feel like it. It’s quite different from the rest of the album. It’s difficult to pull off live because it’s quite sparse and very slow at the top, and then ends up going a little crazy.

Interviewer: ‘Family Friend’ almost feels like a b-side. It is a notably different style of song from the rest of What Did You Expect? and it feels like a track that you were playing around with in the studio, that you all liked enough to add to the other eleven songs on the album.

Pete: Yes, that’s not far off. We spent a while in the studio with that one. It kind of took a few goes to get it right, because it’s kind of a spontaneous thing the way it speeds up and the way the guitar in it builds. We wound up waiting to do that song until really late in the recording process. That was an all-nighter that we pulled and we had a few drinks beforehand and just tried to relax into that song when we recorded it. So we’ll do that song live when we feel the setting is right. It’s kind of a special thing for us.

(Source: http://lithiummagazine.com/interview-pete-robertson-vaccines-may-30th-2011)

I don't think it is about growing up per se. I think it tells a story about a guy at an in between age like around mid twenties to mid thirties. Where he is not young but not old, he still feels young and wants to continue to be young but time is going by and he's aging "You wanna get young but you're just getting older".

"They've all got their opinions but then what do they know If you can't go back, where the hell do you go? These lines describe how he's acting too young for his age and people are judging him for it. But if he can't go back to a young age where does he go from there? if youth is what he wants

"Does everybody really feel as high as a kite? Half baked girl Hey, I'm hardly surprised Snake eyes disguise everybody's lies Faded nail marks on pale thighs and an awkward secret that someone denies And now you're trying to get yourself back in Come on in"

These lines I think tie in together the meaning and the title of the song: Family friend. The guy is friend of a family and is left alone with the daughter of the family. He does marijuana with her or some other kind of drug to get eachother high: "half baked girl" The faded nail marks on pale thighs could mean he tried to forcibly have sex with her(rape?) or they had rough sex. The awkward secret could be their copulation that they do not want to own up to.

You're trying to get yourself back in, come on in" could be a sexual innuendo and double entendre. He's trying to get himself back in to youth by being with this younger girl and doing drugs with her, something teenagers do. It could also mean "come on in" as in being tempted/seduced to have sex with her.

Just my opinion. Not sure how accurate the true meaning is.

in my opinion this is about a 16-20 year old girl who is depressed

"They've all got their opinions but then what do they know If you can't go back, where the hell do you go?"

This is about people telling the girl to cheer up and be happy, but they don't understand how she really feels

"Does everybody really feel as high as a kite? Well I don't really know if they do but they might"

I think the girl is asking why everyone is always happier than her THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WEED or drugs when you say someone is LOW it means there depressed therefore HIGH is the opposite she is asking why she always feels LOWER or more depressed than everyone else and then in the next line is the answer

"Faded nail marks on pale thighs and an awkward secret that someone denies"

this line is probably about self harm

so yeah thats my opinion what do you think?

This is my new favorite song. I know it’s 10 years old, but I just heard it for the first time this last weekend when my friend played it. It reminds me of everything I’ve been thru for the past 5 years, how hard it was, and then finally feeling like you’re coming out on the other side of it.

Let me just say, what an amazing song. I am making this guess on the meaning based on what I originally thought and what I read from other users.

The first part They've all got their opinions but then what do they know If you can't go back, where the hell do you go?

Is about youth in a more obvious sense. As you're growing up and reach that in between stage, can you really "go back" to your youth, your parents, your old friends? Once you finally reach a certain point in your life, you have to move on and become what society expects you to become- an adult.

Does everybody really feel as high as a kite? Well I don't really know if they do but they might

The teen years were glorified when we were kids. They were seen as the happiest, fastest, and most fun times of our lives. The line that asks if everyone is actually as happy they're supposed to be is followed by a statement saying maybe they do, but it hints that really not everyone experiences this youth that was glorified when we were kids.

You wanna get young but you're just getting older And you had a fun summer but it's suddenly colder If you want a bit of love put your head on my shoulder It's cool

The first line might play off of "If you can't go back, where the hell do you go?" because, once again, this song is about youth and growing up. I think summer is another reference to youth and how suddenly we have to grow up.

Half baked girl Hey, I'm hardly surprised Snake eyes disguise everybody's lies Faded nail marks on pale thighs and an awkward secret that someone denies And now you're trying to get yourself back in Come on in

The last part seems just to be about the regular things in the teenage years: lies, secrets, and awkward situations.

Maybe I'm reading too far into this, but there are my thoughts on this. Amazing song