Dearest Helpless

Always loved this song, it's gritty and self loathing, but also sort of hopeful, at least for someone else's sake. It was one of the theme songs of my teenage angsty years.

The song to me has always had a clear meaning. It's kind of a love song, but not in the traditional sense.

"Dearest helpless intent's not as bad as the action Take a breath to distort the fear in your eyes I don't mean it to hurt But every time I hate you I think of you first"

Basically, the POV of the song doesn't want to hurt the one they love, they don't mean to, but as "But every time I hate you I think of you first", he is trying to push them away for their own protection.

"He's made you blind You're better on your own I'm just the kind To bring you down"

The person he's singing about has probably been in an abusive relationship before, the POV can recognize this, sees they're damaged, but also believes they themselves are just as bad for her as the last person was.

"Equalize the pressure It's all too much Sex drugs and image is just enough to get you by in the Real world"

This is the most esoteric and hard to interpret part of the song to me. They're either singing about themselves, or whoever the song is directed at. Either way, highlighting the self-destructive actions they take. They're overwhelmed, they try to cope with sex, drugs and presentation, but at the same time they know that's not a healthy way to handle it.

The rest of the lines are just repeated. Regardless, that's what the song has always meant to me. It's a song about someone who loves someone, but at the same time, recognizes that they themselves can't help the person, that they actually damage them more. Those who are in an abusive relationship will often leave one to go into another. The singer recognizes this, and hates himself for being part of the problem. He tries to push his love away by being hateful, but that only perpetuates the problem.

It's a very angsty, introspective song, about someone who means well, but feels they're too broken to be able to help someone else.

this reminds me of my ex best friend...i was kinda a bitch..but it was never my intent to hurt her...our little fall out was over a guy...a stupid cliche if u ask me...but we were too immature to rise above it...oh well..i moved on and she has too...it was for the better...still when all this was happening i listened to this song a lot

I think Daniel is singing about this girl that has fallen in love with the wrong guy and she has placed him on a pedastal so to speak....and when he says "I'm just the kind to bring you down", he's trying to bring this girl back down reality and show her that she doesn't need him, that she's better and stronger alone.

You know, in a way, this song kinda reminds me of the Good Charlotte song, "Bloody Valentine" I kinda think that maybe he's singing about having a good friend that's a girl and he's really in love with her, but she's in love with another guy and he thinks the guy isnt good enough for her...so he murders either the girl or the guy. I dunno, that's kinda how I looked at it. I'm sure he probably didn't write about that, but thats how I like to think of it.

I read somewhere that this was about a girl that Daniel knew who's boyfriend abused her.

it doesnt remind me of bloody valentine...lol... but this song is really good...Silverchair is one of my alltime favorite bands

yeh i liked this song alot

This song seems to me to be about a guy who is watching a girl he cares/cared about do something very stupid. She's going off with a guy who is shallow and will probably hurt her. My take on the line "I'm just the kind to bring you down" is that he's beating himself up about his outlook on her relationship. He's wondering if he's only seeing this guy she's dating as so bad because he cares about her. "Every time I hate you I think of you first" is saying that when he starts to think about her, he hates her because she's doing something he doesn't respect and yet he still can't stop thinking about her.