Either Way

You guys have picked at what I think it means but its not really complete. This song has special significance, coming from a family in which my father was abusive. "Step on a kid, he'll grow up hating you" is significant in that my father was abusive when we were children. We grew up and he tried vainly to repair the bonds he had broken. We, my siblings and I, grew up hating him and because of it he his relationships with us is now twisted. My father "learned in time that he must be cruel" to get what he wanted from us, though it put "poison in everything" he said. Nothing he has ever said has meant anything because of who he once was. "Where did you learn, its either him or you?" He used physical abuse to get what he wanted, pitting my siblings against him. This was a quality my mother never saw in him before marrying him, he was "almost kind, he was almost true" I see this song through the eyes of my brother, and every time I listen to it I remember him being thrown down a flight of stairs by my father. "I'll have to wait to get the best of you." We looked on in spite, waiting till the chance to strike back. This song describes child abuse and the feeling that arise from it perfectly.

Having grown up in an abusive home, the line, "Step on a kid, he'll grow up hating you", was like an arrow shot straight to my heart the first time I heard this song.

it's the anthem of my father. He would lose his temper, lose his self-control, and the next morning he would wonder why his children shudder in his presence.

When you like someone so much, yet their asshole/bitch personality is so unfaltering that you can't believe they are actually human. Yet "I'll have to wait to get the best of you" implies that "their other side" IS tangible..somewhere. In the end though, "what difference does it make"?

I totally agree with you ultimate. to me its more just telling someone who has been a total asshole/bitch to you. and you've always just been super nice to them like their mean to you and you just kinda take it in stride b/c ur a stronger person and finally your just like were you ever kind were you always cruel? almost saying like hey people arent out to get you, lighten up a little. Great Song.

When you like someone so much, yet their asshole/bitch personality is so unfaltering that you can't believe they are actually human. Yet "I'll have to wait to get the best of you" implies that "their other side" IS tangible..somewhere. In the end though, "what difference does it make"?

sorry about the repeat

this song is so powerful... i think it was intended to be from the perspective of a kid who's dad walked out on their family.. but for me, it makes me think of when i've realized that someone i considered to be a real friend turns out to be just the opposite. "poison in everything you say" is when they try to dress up what they're saying to make everything seem right, but you know and can feel that everything is FAKE.

step on a kid, they'll grow up hating you? i never got that lyric. song's pretty, though.

my take on it is that if you hrut someone bad enough they'll learn to despise you for the fact of the pain you've inflicted..

its such a beautiful song. i get the idea its about someone you really love but just don't understand.