Can't See (Useless) Lyrics

Lyric discussion by CanadaStoleMyName 

Cover art for Can't See (Useless) lyrics by Oingo Boingo

This is actually a really beautiful song, personally I think this is the best off their last album.

The song, I think, has a couple of interpretations.

  1. It could mean losing someone that the person telling the story was madly in love with, but she left him for whatever reason, and she's moved on and is with someone else. She just doesn't acknowledge the him anymore or his feelings he still has for her. He struggles with this reality, as his feelings seem to be eating him alive at this point.

  2. It could also be about a family member, or just a family in general. They used to have been close once, but at some point drifted away and no longer have that close relationship. I think its possible that the person had become so eaten up with drugs that his family has basically shunned him (much like in Mary, which is also on the album). No matter how hard he tries to clean up his life, his family still rejects him, either out of embarrassment or disgust. The rejection clearly hurts him, as he simply wants to be loved and have their acceptance.

Either way, the end I think possibly denotes him possibly taking his own life, unable to live with the rejection any longer. If he can't live with them and have their love, then he has no point in living.

I don't know why this same song is listed twice... anyway, something that struck me was that around the time the album was released/being composed, was the same time that Elfman and Burton had their falling out (that caused Ed Wood to be the only Tim Burton film which was not scored by Danny Elfman) which was so bad they weren't even on speaking terms anymore. While the song seems like a bit much for a fight with a friend, love songs do sell better than friend songs, and phrases like "You're everywhere" and "You're right there but I can't...