Amateur

This is my favorite Nada Surf song it kinda reminds me of... ...well me There were some times when I was a bit younger that I found it too easy to get down about things/myself - words to live by = LIFE'S TOO SHORT! (Oh and I submitted some corrections - not to be aheeky monkey or anything it's just that they are on the inlay cover of proximity effect)

this is one of my favorite songs by nada surf, but i must say i've very disappointed to see the best lines posted all wrong. these are the full, real lyrics to the song:

You make me feel like I'm ok, I could be happy Now I can sit, not run away stupidly laughing Wipe out all self-pity, its slowing me down Turn off feeling pretty, dressing up, dressing down I walk around the city out of my way lookin for something I've got all that I need to save my day, so why am I running?

-Chorus- You said I should get professional help It always makes me cry I know I'm just an amateur but I've gotta try

I had a birthday party and it was packed, got friends who love me We hung a disco ball up and watched the lights, they were so lovely.

-Chorus-

When exactly are we? I get the decades mixed up. I like the streets when they're empty, I can make the rest up. I can make the rest up I can make the rest up

I walk around the city out of my way lookin for something I've got all that I need to save my day, so why am I running?

-Chorus-

Every day is new year's eve Every night is the last night Every day is new year's eve Every time is the last time.

This is definitley one of my favorite Nada Surf songs as well. I love it! It's seems pretty self-explanatory, but then it's also kind of contradicting itself I think. At the beginning it's like happy and it sounds like the other person makes him feel happy, but then in the chorus she says he should get professional help...? Hmmm, really beautiful song anyway, and I still really love the lyrics. My favorite part is the very beginning and:

When exactly are we? I get the decades mixed up. I like the streets when they're empty, I can make the rest up.

Song meanings, why don't you change the lyrics to the correct ones? Locust has got it all wrong, it makes no sense! Apart from that, this song is great.

it's not like it's a song that's hard to understand.. his words are perfectly clear and definitely too good to misprint.

i can relate to this song... because im going through a personal struggle and this always encourages me. But.. i thought about it and i think he's talking about his music career. maybe? like.. "you said i should get professional help it always makes me cry... I know im just an amateur but i've gotta try"....maybe that was early on intheir music career.... ah i don't know that's what i suddenly thought of.

To me it seems like a battle with depression, and finding someone who helps to realize that it's a problem. I got that from "You make me feel like I'm okay, I could be happy." The line about profession help is the guy admitting that he's tried to self-diagnose/treat it. The rest appears to be just describing how it feels: That everything is good, but there's still that hopeless feeling. At least that's what I get from it. Tell me what you think.

I may be relating this to personal situations but I think it's about someone who has been down on their luck, maybe a breakup or something else personal. And they're starting to feel like they can be okay again "You make me feel like I'm okay, I could be happy." To me it seems like they may have met someone new, while still mourning their lost relationship.

"Now I can sit not running away, stupidly laughing." Makes me think that that person can be content to not run away from a relationship because they're too scared.

Then the birthday party part makes me think that the person has been trying to go on and move on after the relationship and has their friends there for them, but the rest of the song seems like they still have that lingering hopeless feeling.

this is song is all an illustration of how narrator feels about his life, and about how he feels he needs to change himself but cant do anything to make a difference in his life or how he feels about it: "every day is new year's eve, every time is the last time."

He even gives samples of rules he sets for himself in the song: "wipe out all self pity, it's slowing me down" and "turn of feeling pretty, dressing up, dressing down"

the singer looks at his life very negatively, as he clearly implies, which makes the line "i had a birthday party and it was packed, got friends when who love me," a hollow and ironic attempt at self-assurance, while he truly feels lonely, depressed, and friendless. in the first lines "you make me feel like im ok, i could be happy" he is talking about probably a girl he knows or is dating or a really close friend or family member, and this is the one person in his life that makes him feel ok with who he is. everyone else just makes him feel alone and inadequate.

personally, i think this is the same person he is addressing in the chorus,

you said i should get professional help it always makes me cry i know im just an amateur but ive gotta try

this is someone he trusts, who tells him he needs professional help, which obviously, based on the rest of the song, means psychiatric help. her/him saying this upsets him ("it always makes me cry") because he wants to think he is ok, like that person usually makes him feel, but instead that person is validating his feelings that he is not ok, which makes him feel totally hopeless and worthless because not only does he want to think he is ok, but the wants that person to think he is ok.

despite the pop song structure, this is a really depressing and emotionally deep song. i really want to see what other people think about this one.

It goes...

"Every day is New Years Eve Every night is the last night."