"Welcome to the real world", she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat
Take your life
Plot it out in black and white
Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings
And the drama queens
I'd like to think the best of me
Is still hiding
Up my sleeve

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

So the good boys and girls take the so called right track
Faded white hats
Grabbing credits and
Maybe transfers
They read all the books but they can't find the answers
And all of our parents
They're getting older
I wonder if they've wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

I am invincible
I am invincible
I am invincible
As long as I'm alive

I want to run through the halls of my high school
I want to scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

I just can't wait til my ten year reunion
I'm gonna bust down the double doors
And when I stand on these tables before you
You will know what all this time was for


Lyrics submitted by Ice

No Such Thing Lyrics as written by John Clayton Mayer Douglas Clay Cook

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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No Such Thing song meanings
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  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I didn't take the time to read all of the posts here, but I don't think this song is primarily about being "nonconformist" or whatever. It's fairly clear that there is an element of nonconformity but more importantly this song is about being comfortable doing things your own way even if it isn't the popular way. The perspective that I see in this song is one of somebody who is about 22 or 23 and in college or who just finished with college and is really developing into their own person and accepting that.

    All through high school and most of college people discount you like you aren't a part of the real world because you are still in school and aren't really part of the "real world" yet. You aren't out there in a career or working 40+ hours a day with full adult responsibilities.

    In college and even to some degree high school, people are always trying to get you to "take a seat and plot your life in black and white..." pick a major, a career, and set your life up before you've even had any experience or really lived life! That's the "right" track, but few people ever do this successfully and are actually happy in doing so. I think the point of the song is you don't have to do it that way. At that point in life, everybody is looking for answers, some are looking in books, some were prom kings or drama queens, or whatever else. You can live your life and make a plan and try and stay inside the lines, or you can get out there and live life and really find out what life is about. The people who do this are going to be far happier and better off then those who sort of walk the prescribed path.

    I think that the main character or narrator of this song has done that and realizes that the whole process is a sham and that living life is what it is all about, and doing things your own way is all that really matters. There is no such thing as the real world and all of this responsibility and heavy handedness that everyone always references, there really is only yourself and your life and whatever you want to make of it.

    Sorry if this rant made no sense, but I think the song has much more of an existentialist slant than simply being about not conforming.

    meteorcoreon August 24, 2009   Link

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