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I Built A Friend Lyrics

I built a friend, with three pieces of plastic and a pen
I made him on the table in the den
I gave him my old cell phone for a head, for a head

And we spent, holidays in my house and we left
Presents in a stocking and we bought
Bolts and things and strings and a new watch, that's what he got

And we had so much fun together
We knew we'd be friends forever
And we had so much fun together
We had so much fun

Then I left, for college in September and we wept
'Cause we can't be together, so I kept
Pictures to remember my old friend, my old friend

Then I met, this girl at graduation and forget
My oldest creation, and I guess
I'll see him next vacation, send my best, I send my best

And we had so much fun together
We knew we'd be friends forever
And we had so much fun together
We had so much fun

I came home, to find him on the table with a note
Scribbled out in pencil and he wrote
That he just wasn't stable all alone, all alone

Next to him, an empty glass of water that he spilled
All over the body that I built
It fizzled, then it popped and then it killed, and then it killed

And we had so much fun together
We thought we'd be friends forever
And we had so much fun together
We had so much fun

I built a friend
2 Meanings

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Cover art for I Built A Friend lyrics by Alec Benjamin

I assume it means something like this (this is my opinion, though):

I 'built' a friends means I made a friend. He probably made friends with this person when he was young as well. He got older and left for college but for whatever reason his friend isn't going with him. He then meets a girl and forgets to talk to his friend. The friend is unstable without his best friend around anymore. He comes home to find his friend had committed suicide.

ok this is a pretty short explanation but here you go

My Interpretation

@Kattozilla @Kattozilla, while I was reading this, it makes perfect sense. To me, it sounds like he's trying to tell us that as he was away for college with this girl, his friend just didn't know how to feel about the betrayal he was feeling. He didn't know how to tit wouldimself it'll be ok and that they would be together again soon, so he ended up committing suicide when Alec came home. It truly is a sad but amazing song.

Cover art for I Built A Friend lyrics by Alec Benjamin

The way I interpreted it is that the friend that he built is a representation of his childhood, how he had fun and would resort back to his inner child on Christmas (hence the bolts and strings to ‘fix’ or tinker the robot that represents his childhood). When he left for college he grew up and forgot about how much fun it was to be a kid, and he met a girl. For a while he forgets about his childhood, then maybe he comes home and sees all of the memories, pictures, things he left behind, and remembers it all. The suicide of the robot I think is his way of saying the child left inside of him is gone, and that he has the mentality of an adult with no fun left to have.

 
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