Semi-Charmed type of Life
There are not too many songs that can bring up my moods when I'm in a funk. You know what I mean? Those days when everything seems to either go bad or is just a never-ending trench of mediocrity, but then a song comes on the radio; "do do do, do, dodo-do"
"Oh hell yeah!" I think. My mood automatically changes and I am refilled with an energy unequal to even multiple cups of coffee. My eyes flare-up, my feet start tapping and my body starts swaying.
"I'm packed and I'm holding
I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden
And she lives for me
She says she lives for me
Ovation
She's got her own motivation..."
I fucking love this song! For me, songs that can immediately lift my spirits are not far and few between. I love music, as millions of people do, but I do have a top 5 list of songs that get me going when I am in a funk. I can not think of my life without it and I have a very eclectic ear when it comes to the music I listen to, still, "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind is definitely one of the songs I speak of.
If you have never heard of this song, then I feel sorry for you, son. Third Eye Blind is a San Franciscan based band that came out in the mid-nineties, right when I was coming of age. Though they had many great songs during their time like "Jumper", "How's it gonna be" and "Graduate", Semi-Charmed Life hit a bit closer to my late adolescent years. Not only is the tune lively and uplifting, the lyrics were on point to how I felt coming out of my early 20s, looking back to the experiences I had just been through. Even now, I can look back in joyful reverie of the experiences I had and the people that would share those memories during those times. It's odd that even though there was so much bad that would inevitably accompany those days I speak of, There was also lots good. A true sense of Pre-9/11 freedom that I have not really felt since.
"And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
And I come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give them the games we play, she said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye"
I've written before how, in my most current experiences with the youth of today, it doesn't seem as if they have an appreciation for the story that songs are supposed to tell. Maybe, it's just that they are not at that level of life yet, but I know personally, I have always been attracted to the lyrics of songs, but that's not to suggest that good lyrics are needed for me to enjoy music.
The sky it was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Someplace back there
Smiling in the pictures you would take
Doing crystal myth
Will lift you up until you break
It won't stop
I won't come down, I keep stock
With a tick-tock rhythm and a bump for the drop
And then I bumped up
I took the hit I was given
Then I bumped again
And then I bumped again
How do I get back there to
The place where I fell asleep inside you?
How do I get myself back to
The place where you said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
I honestly don't even know how this song was played so often on the radio with such blatant references to drugs and sex. I can assume that maybe the stations could pull a fast one over the ears of the FCC with the use of slang terms mixed with fast singing and upbeat music. Sometimes, the only thing that is needed to keep the interest of the listener, or in this case, the authority, is to have a catchy hook. This reminds me of another favorite song of mine "Hook" by Blues Traveler.
In the song, The lead singer John Popper tells you from the start "It doesn't matter what I say So long as I sing with inflection that makes you feel I'll convey some inner truth or vast reflection but I've said nothing so far And I can keep it up for as long as it takes and it don't matter who you are If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks because the hook brings you back I ain't tellin you no lies, the hook brings you back on that you can rely”
The lyrics in Semi-Charmed Life speaks of doing Crystal Meth and taking bumps to the nose, tripping and having sex, but the nostalgia he was feeling was less about the drugs they were taking or the spontaneity of life they were living but more about his relationship with his girl. I get it. When they were young and lively they were having unique experiences that made them feel alive and full of energy but then after life calms down, things become routine and at times boring.
Now you hold me
And we're broken
Still its all that I want to do
Feel myself with a head made of the ground
I'm scared but I'm not coming down
And I won't run for my life
She's got her jaws just locked now in smile
But nothing is all right
All right
I want something else
To get me through this life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
For me, this song launches me into reverie. I understand the experiences they were talking about, from the Drugs to the Sex to the energy he was feeling during the fun parts of his song. For me though, when he sings about “I want something else, to get me through this Semi-Charmed type of Life” it was my longing for more than the life I had been using to distract me from what I really wanted; Stability, Trust, Love, and a Family.
My young adulthood and the experiences I had during those times were fun, to say the very least about them but they did also help me understand what I really wanted out of life, which is why I think I love this song so much. Those experiences helped shape my future, and it has been a good future so far. Nothing can take those memories away, and even though this Life may be Semi-Charmed at times, it’s the life I love and enjoy.
Don't be Afraid.
That ringing you hear in your ears
is just a bit of