Semi-Charmed Life, Pt 1

So I recently realized that I have never explained the reason for my blog name. I thought for sure that, at some point, I must have . . . but I looked and nope! So here goes. . .

I'm sure most people remember the song "Semi-Charmed Life." It was by Third Eye Blind, one of my favorite bands of all time and was released in 1997, square in the middle of my high school years. It was a pretty popular song for a while. I loved the song as soon as it came out and for me and my friends it became an instant beach song. You know, the kind of song that you blast in the car over the summer as you and a car-ful of friends are driving to the beach with the windows rolled down, singing into your hairbrush. I'm sure everyone has that song (or two or three) that just sums up a certain time in your life. Well, Semi-Charmed Life was that song for me for my high school years.

It's a song about a dude who does crystal meth and his descent into addiction. The chorus talks about wanting something more in life but not really knowing what or even how to get it. So why did it resonate with us? With me? A 15 year old kid who made great grades, never got into trouble and who wouldn't know what to do with crystal meth if you handed it to her!

Well, first and most obviously was the beat and the music, it was just awesome. The music and the lyrics were all over the place and a bit A.D.D., which works great for any 15-year old. It was just good, happy music. Not so much the lyrics but the beat, definitely. It was energetic and we would blast it, start jumping around and just have a great time. The fact that it was about drugs made it "edgy" and even more fun. (It's 15-year-old logic . . run with me here.)

But the song wasn't just about addiction. If you listen closely and know the lyrics, you'll see that it talks a lot about being happy and then sad and confused about life all at once. And then there's that part about wanting more. Well, if that doesn't sound like an angsty teenage, I don't know what does.

This post is getting pretty long, so more on what about this song inspired my blog title to come. Until then, here are the lyrics to a great song, in case you never knew them and a little video to remind you of the song itself.

Enjoy!

Semi-Charmed Life lyrics
Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do

I'm packed and I'm holding
I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden
She lives for me
Says she lives for me
Ovation, her own motivation
She comes round and she goes down on me

And I make her smile
Like a drug for you
Do ever what you want to do
Coming over you
Keep on smiling,
What we go through
One stop to the rhythm that divides you

And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
I come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give 'em the games she play,

She said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life (Baby, baby)
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye

Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do

The sky it was gold, it was rose
I was taking tips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Some place back there
Smiling in the pictures you would take
Doing crystal meth
Will lift you up until you break

It won't stop, I won't come down,
I keep stock with a tick-tock rhythm,
A bump for the drop
And then I bumped up
I took the hit that I was given
Then I bumped again
And then I bumped again

I said, 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 (Baby, baby)
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye

I believe in the sand beneath my toes
The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows

And the four right chords can make me cry
When I'm with you I feel like I could die
And that would be all right, all right

And when the plane came in
She said she was crashing
The velvet it rips, in the city
We tripped on the urge to feel alive
But now I'm struggling to survive
Those days you were wearing that velvet dress
You're the priestess, I must confess
Those little red panties
They pass the test
Slides up around the belly
Face down on the mattress

One, and you hold me
And we're broken

Still it's all that I want to do, just a little now
Feel myself, head made of the ground
I'm scared, I'm not coming down, no no
And I won't run from my life
She's got her jaws now locked down in a smile
But nothing is all right, all right

I want something else
To get me through this life.
Baby
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye, good-bye

Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do,
Do do do,
doot do doot do

The sky it was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get there
someplace, back there
In the place we use to start our lives