Heaven

I partly agree with "charmed"

Marc (the lead singer of O.A.R.) said that he was inspired by the "It Gets Better" video campaign, and that was a small part of the inspiration for this. He also said that this album would be about owning who you are, and he also again pointed to some of the bullying incidents that made major news headlines last year.

To me, this song is both an anti-bullying and love-who/what-you-are song. It sends both a message to bullies and a message to the victim.

I don't think this song is about religion itself, but I DO think this song uses the symbolism of the hatred or bigotry that comes from some religious interpretations or from some religious people. This song uses the symbolism in responding to the people that say "if you keep doing this/loving this person, you will go to Hell when you die". Mostly this type of argument occurred around LGBT youth and whether it was "right or wrong" to be gay. As I said, I don't think this song is ABOUT religion itself, but it uses the symbolism of the hatred or bigotry that sometimes can stem from religion from certain people.

This song is saying "well, I really just want to live the way I live, and if thats not good enough for your religion/club, then I'm fine not going to you 'Heaven'. I'm happy enough just being me."

A lot of people see this as an anti-Christian songs. But, judging by the lyrics aside from the chorus, which is what everyone is basing their decisions on, I see it as more of an anti-church son. The narrarator is rejecting the ideas of having to earn your way into Heaven by living a certain way.

Just like their other songs, O.A.R. usually writes in a way that the song can take a specific meaning to each individual. It's more personal. For me, its about equal civil rights for LGBT individuals. The speaker is appealing to others to stand up for something.... I see the "I Don't Want To Go To Heaven If I Can't Get In" part as how traditional by the book religious members whether they are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc. use sacred scripture to "provide" reasons why being lgbt is wrong.

I think the song is about a potential relationship where one party is not as accepting of the idea as the other. The party that wants the relationship is saying that I don't want to be in one with this person if they don't want to have one with me. "All I ever wanted was a shot at your love" and he is trying to persuade her that the love he will give her will "take us somewhere else" and "everything we got is everything we need." Also, the fact he is saying "Im no criminal, Im no enemy" is his way of saying I am not a bad person, you can trust me. This song kind of hits home for me becaus for over a year I have wanted a relationship with this girl and recently she has lost interest and I have constantly tried to tell her that I would be perfect and give her everything, but maybe its time for me to realize that I cant get into heaven and I should move on because the girl (heaven) does not want me.

IMHO

I believe this song is about owning yourself. Living how you wish. Not caring what others may think. Deeper its about figuring out what that life is. Further its abut enjoying that journey.

And in the end it does not matter (per-say) where your life ends. What matters it what you did with that life. And that you would do it again the same way.

I agree that a lot of O.A.R. is very open to personal interpretation. My interpretation of this song is very generic - but I believe this is a very simple messaged, broad, generic song aimed and making you think about how you are living your life.

I think this song is about wanting someone who doesn't want you back. When he says "All I ever wanted was a shot at your love" and then later says "Don't wanna go to Heaven if they don't want me" meaning he has given it everything and he is leaving it up to the girl to want him back. This is my interpretation maybe because I can relate.. but I think "I don't wanna go to Heaven if I can't get in" means he doesn't want a girl if she doesn't want him back. She should love you for you so just wait for the right person and it will be like "heaven".. "Thousand hearts feeling just like me, Man, it feels like Heaven out here in the street"..

This song is about the final episode of the TV show Angel.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misunderstandings about how to get to Heaven. Many people make up there own theory on how to get there. But God didn't put us here to "guess" or make up our own way to get to Heaven. He told us how and the answer can be found in the bible. John 3:16 says: "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son-Jesus, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life". The bible tells us that we are all sinners. Whether you are gay or straight, or whatever, we all sin. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He was buried and he rose from the dead after the third day. The penalty of sin was paid by Jesus. If we believe that he died for our sins and rose again, we will be saved and will be able to go to Heaven. If we do not accept Jesus as our saviour, we cannot enter Heaven. God loves all people and it is His desire that every person accepts Jesus as their saviour so they can spend eternity with Him. I urge you to pray to Jesus today and ask him to be your saviour.

First off, I think it should be "everyone got a PROBLEM with the way i live" not probably.

Secondly, this may just be me but I feel like this song is hypocritical. They write about how they have lived the way that they've wanted to; taking the left, not the right. People have a problem with the way they live. But then the line "I don't want to go to heaven if I can't get in" seems like they don't want to keep music if they don't become unbelievibly popular. So, I feel that they explain who they've been and then just ask us to accept the way their music is becoming more mainstream by reminding us who they've been and why they're doing it.

Just my take.