Blink-182: Adam's Song Meaning
Song Released: 2000
Adam's Song Lyrics
I laughed the loudest who'd have known
I traced the cord back to the wall
No wonder it was never plugged in at all
I took my time, I hurried up
The choice was mine, I didn't think enough
I'm too...
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strofa = strophe :-)
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Look at the last lines of each group (I don't even know the english word for "strofa"):
1) "the choice was mine I didn't think enough / I'm too depressed to go on / you'll be sorry when I'm gone /I'm too depressed to go on / you'll be sorry when I'm gone"
*The boy's who committed suicide is speaking*
2) "the tour was over, we'd survived / I couldn't wait till I got home / to pass the time in my room alone"
*The singer's speaking. Two different meanings:
A) The music tour is over, so he wants to go back home to think about his recent experiences
b) The age tour = youth is finished. At least "we'd survived"
As a matter of fact equation "youth (teens) = war, journey with risks" is common among punk groups - expecially those of the "feelings way". The same happens in Italian punk-rock. See "Tre allegri ragazzi morti - Ogni adolescenza coincide con la guerra" (Three happy dead boys - Each youth coincides with war).
3) Third part ending: "remember the time that I spilled the cup / of apple juice in the hall /please tell mom this is not her fault".
*The dead boy's speaking: the parents boarded with wood his room to avoid people entering there.
He talks about a fact that happened in the past (the spilling on the floor), but it's a metaphor to talk about HIS FAULTS in life: if now he's dead it's not his mother's foult. He asks us (or the group?) to tell her not to worry - she was right with her education.
Ironically, "his faults", boy's faults, are very small - after all he's only a young man... Spilling a cup's not something you should be ashamed of!
SECOND INTERPRETATION:
In Italian the image of the Apple is linked to a particular activity lead by young man - masturbation. Youth is also called "Apple time". I don't know if it is the same in English, but let me tell you the apple juice reminds me (I'm serious) of other kinds of juices.
I think you have a similar expression - the Apple Pie.
If I'm right, there is a clear reference to the sense of guilt that comes after masturbation. This guilty feeling comes of course from education - that's why he says it's not his mother's fault, to give her relief.
4) See n. 2.
5) "...the time goes by / the tour is over, I've survived / I can't wait till I get home / to pass the time in my room alone"
*The singer himself is speaking. In the other parts he uses "we", referring it to the band; now it seems that this experience - of youth, of life - hits him in his soul's depth. As we can see, he uses "I", so he's speaking alone.
Again: in the other parts he speaks about the past (the tour WAS over / I FELT alive). Now he speaks at the present time (the tour IS over / I FEEL) - it looks like time's passed since the first part of the song. Infact, he says "the time goes by" instead of "too late to try". Maybe someone (the singer? the boy who tryed to kill himself?) survived his depression.
As I said, it looks like time's passed since the first part: last part of the song, as you can listen, starts after a quite long instrumental part, that means the time's passing by
He says "I've survived". Maybe it means: "I've survived (at last), but HE HASN't". Of course "he" is the boy. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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yeah it's about both the kid commiting suicide mixed with the band's feelings about being lonely on tour
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This song is about suicide and the band being lonely on tour
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It's about flipping suicide. One day Mark got a letter/email from a fan who committed suicide and this was the letter he left his parents. Mark also says "I hurried up I took my time" in tribune to the late Kurt Cobain R.I.P. He even says it on Chronicles.
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The use of the lines from come as you are by nirvana are obviously another reference to suicide as the lead singer of nirvana (kurt cobain) comitted suicide with the use of a shotgun.
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As most have pointed out, it's about suicide (regardless of whether or not the person actually went through with it. I was suicidal for a time when I was a teenager - the part of the song that resounds with me are the lyrics "remember the time I spilled the cup of apple juice out in the hall? Please tell mom this is not her fault" - when I was at the lowest point, ready to end it - I started getting flashbacks of stupid little incidents that I felt childish guilt over - spilling juice on the new couch; tracking dirt on the floor mom just cleane; etc. The final thought that kept me from going through with it was my love of my mom and knowng that she would blame herself - the thought of her crying afterwards and blaming herself was too much for me and forced me to suck it up and stick it out.
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People, stop repeating the same thing, because you all think your so smart that youve gotten the "hidden" meaning. This song is supposed to be obvious because it has a really important message.
Ps the song picks up at the end, hence the point moral of the whole song. Dont give up because life will get better. -
Ok this song is about a boy named Adam who went to Rancho Bernardo high school and he simply became depressed for what ever reasons (most likely the same reasons that your all slowly getting at) and in the end he commited suicide I'm not sure how the story got to blink but that's what the songs about the end is blink's way of 'lightening the mood' and letting everyone know there is an alternative to suicide.
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Guitarist tom delonge: "the story behind that is mark read a letter someone sent him as an email, that a kid wrote before he committed suicide to his parents. We kind of got together and wrote this sad, slow song. It came out sadder than we ever thought it would, which is good too. Any song that moves you is good. Some people listen to it and go 'wow, that's a real bum-out of a song.' but it's one of those things, a story of a kid not being happy in his life, crossed with us being really lonely on tour. At the end of it there's a better way out, there are better things to do than kill yourself."
that's it , idiots. This song is so sad... : [ -
Posted by Mr. Wacko wackson.
Ok listen up you weirdos, this is a song about a guy, who dosnt feel wanted, he has friends and family around him but it still dosnt fill an empty spot in him, so he starts spending time in his room alone and soon he feels that the outside world has nothing to offer. Thats why he never conquered and rarley came.
He never thought he would die alone because he had so many people around him, but something changed, maby when he turned 16, but it changed for the worse. He was always the first one to understand a joke, or turn a bat time into a good time. He traced the cord back to the wall, no wonder it was never plugged in at all, he retraced his life, and realised it was never right from the start. He was too depressed to go on, he said they'd be sorry when he was gone, he wanted people to know him, to love him, he thought after he had gon they would miss him, even if it ment taking his own life he would do it. He said he couldnt wait to get outside, the world was wide. That was when he was ahppy and he felt he had an importance. Then he said too late to try, beause he was too depressed to go outside and have fun so he stayed in his room alone. ("the tour was over we survived" was what blink were saying) give all my things to all my friends, that's all he has he dosnt want his family to have it, only his friends but yet he still wants his mum to know it wasnt her falt, it was his choise. You have to see the film clip to gt a better understanding of it, but in the end, after all the rocking and singing, it turns out blink is just another picture on the wall.... There are so many people in the world, we are as well known as a single picture among millions of other pictures. There are thousands of 'adams' out there, its easy to fall into a state of depression. Dont let our friends fall that far.
I know I just took ages explaining who adam is and what the song meens, but I am probably wrong, you are also probably wrong, but it dosnt matter, you can't talk about suicide liuke it just happens, its bad. Blink 182 showed us that if you want to know the meaning of this song, and say you understand what they are saying then you should stop talking about 'adam' as if he is a kid who killed himself. He symbolises other people! You could be an 'adam' some day, your friend could be an 'adam' I could be an 'adam' blink 182 told us what it feels like to be an 'adam' do you want to go through that?
Rock on blink 182........ -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This is a great song, and like any song it can mean a million things. I think that Adam is ALL of us. When we grow up and see the world for what it is and we watch all the dreams and hopes from when you where a kid slip through your hands, Nothing seems worth living for anymore and you get to the EDGE of wanting to let go SO BADLY, but you just don't. It's a song about holding on, and ADAM does, dispite the sadness.....adam holds on.....
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