It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy

I interpret this from my personal experience (which may skew the actual meaning)/

I think the song takes the role of a victim of some sort of sexual assault that is in the process of recovering. During this time you feel frozen while the rest of the world keeps moving.

Eventually it begins to anger you that the world around you isn't as upset as you are, you begin to look at people like they are terrible just for being happy while these horrible crimes happen all around us.

I frequently lost my temper with my family and said some pretty horrible things to them because of how they couldn't fully acknowledge the suffering in the world like I could.

Sexual assault is not fair to the victim, ever, justice is never enough (if it even ever occurs), and there is an incredible amount of shame that goes along with it.

So why does nobody seem to care. How can they be happy living in this world?

Their reply when you get angry with them is something along the lines of "it's not my fault that I'm happy".

If you have the capacity to help someone, you also bear the responsibility to do so

The singer/songwriter of Passion Pit has Bipolar disorder. I think that is what this song is about.

When you are depressed, you might feel tied to a chair, and you can't even move, its called psycomotor retardation.

The next verse is about mania. It feels great opposed to the depression, you're funny and you have tons of energy, so you literally could run around and still have so much energy.

And when he says "its the numbers, its the numbers we dont stand a chance" I think he is referring to the statistics on relationships when you are bipolar, relationships have a high failure rate.

Obviously this is a song very open for interpretation, but I personal feel it is talking about politics and the general disparity between laws made and laws that effect our lives. I feel like it also questions why politicians get to decide who the war is fought against, all the while corrupting the country. As well as mentioning the general consensus of the population in the title "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy" -"its the number its the numbers" = lobbying? -"They're slow, so slow that they never know where I go"= laws always take to long to be passed to be relevant -"Who says those bastards don't deserve to pay"= whether its war or taxes others are always paying for decisions that the politicians make

sorry if that was poorly organized...its late...

I think it's intentionally abstract, so there wouldn't be a specific meaning, more of a general feel. And maybe it's just me, but I think the general concept is more about society being what it is (you can fill in the rest), and the few who don't blend in so well (and society's reaction towards them).

I think when you listen to the song in the context of the lead singer's battle with depression, this song takes on a whole new pertinent meaning. I think that viewed through that lens, this is a very, very sad and heartfelt song. I think he is talking about how he has been chained by his depression, "tied to a rocking chair," "rocking back and forth. "

"I'm just working with what I've been given; It's not my fault, I'm happy; Don't call me crazy, I'm happy" -- Man oh man. I think thats it right there. He is talking through his depression. It isn't his fault, as he's fine.

One of my favorite, and saddest, passion pit songs.

It is about sharing good news with people. How when you know something amazing and notice a flaw in society you are ridiculed and hurt but no one else seems to care.

No lyrics are provided for this interpretation because you can look at the lyrics and it will become apparent.

Well, they said in an interview about Gossamer that this song was about "How I felt everybody was against me."

I have to correct something. It is "Petty Little ROSE."

Along with many other people in this song, I think that the whole song is about bipolar disorder. I think the chorus refers to the two sides of himself. If you listen, it sounds like there are two voices singing for most of the song. There is even a "call and response" part of the chorus where he says "it's not fair" back and forth.

The whole song shows consequences to relationships and friendships because of this disorder, and the two sides of him that he only sees fighting with eachother.

Considering he came out as gay last year, I thought about the possibility that this song is about being gay and dealing with the weight of that. "Happy" is another meaning for gay. Also when he says "It's funny, being funny makes you feel like up and running". Sometimes "funny" is used as a discreet way to call someone gay.

I also wanted to point out that I'm pretty sure it's "I could live with so many burdens", "I know that it's always something", "It's an outrage, it's an outrage, we don't stand a chance"