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The Greatest Lyrics

They call me the greatest
'Cause I'm not very good
And they're being sarcastic
They're being sarcastic

Oh, I'm taking names
But I'm not doing much
With the names that I'm taking

G-O-A-T
They're being sarcastic
They're being sarcastic

They call me the greatest
But those tears can be quiet
So I listen close
I listen close
Yes I'm taking notes
But those notes aren't helping
The ink washes away

G-O-A-T
It washes away
It washes away
Song Info
Submitted by
mellow_harsher On Jan 19, 2018
1 Meaning

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Cover art for The Greatest lyrics by They Might Be Giants

This song makes me imagine someone suffering from Imposter Syndrome, which is when I high achiever has psychological issues which cause them to believe that they are less intelligent and competent that they actually are, and they live in fear of being exposed as the "fraud" they think they are.

It's kind of like every so often when yo, I hope no one figures out that I have no idea what I'm doing.'look around and go 'holy crap, I'm adulting, something is very wrong here.'

It's basically the polar opposite of Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is where Bubba the high-school dropout mysteriously thinks that he understands science better than a climatologist or an astrophysicist.

@Doom Shepherd Something broke while I was editing that. 2'n paragraph should read "It's kind of like every so often when you look around and go "holy crap I'm adulting, something is very wrong here, I hope no one realizes that I don't know what I'm doing."

 
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