You

This song to me is clearly about the aftermath of abuse and how the person is dealing with it now in his adulthood. It seems that he is saying that the trauma of sexual abuse as a child is the reason he is damaged, and why he acted out all his life and has not been the nicest person. It sounds as if he is having flashbacks of his past trauma, and he can no longer stay in denial. All of this brings him closer to a truth that he has tried to keep hidden and secret for so long. It's almost like he's talking to his inner-child at points like he has to be a father figure to the child who is still trapped in time so he can heal from all of this. He may feel broken and messed up from this but he is free because he is facing it all finally.

Okay so I actually just wrote my interpretation above before I researched the story behind this song which was really interesting because I was pretty spot on!

"Everclear frontman Art Alexakis lived in a rough neighborhood when he was young: a Los Angeles housing project. In this song, he tells the shocking story of being beaten and raped at the projects when he was eight years old.

Alexakis never told anyone in his family about it, and carried the guilt and shame with him for most of his life. This incident was a dramatic turning point in his life, making him angry and aggressive, but also determined. "That incident opened up a large part of me that is my addictive behavior," he told us. "But at the same time, that's what I think has driven me hard in life to do a lot of the good things I've done, as well. But it's also left its damage on me: I'm f--ked up and angry. Even though I'm doing really well. But most of the time I'm doing great, but that person is still inside of me." The "you" in this song is Alexakis' inner child. He believes that the child inside is part of every adult, and with that come the memories of any difficult experiences that child encountered. According to Alexakis, it's very important to deal with those memories in order to move on emotionally."