Foo Fighters: Best of You Meaning
Song Released: 2004
Best of You Lyrics
I'm your fool
Everyone's got their chains to break
Holdin' you
Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:" 'Best of You' is a song of resistance. It's about the refusal to be taken advantage of by something that's bigger than you, or someone you're in love with. It's the fight in the face of adversity," Grohl said. "I didn't really think of an interesting melody; I just wanted to scream the whole way through. And the first few times we rehearsed it, I thought, 'There's no way I'll be able to play this live. There's blood in my throat.' But now it's great, it's a release. When you go out and sing words from the heart, you scream twice as hard."
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:This song was startlingly clear to me the moment I heard it. It's about getting used/abused by anyone who you've put your trust in. How you get weary of being let down and hurt and having to get over it "I'm getting tired of starting again somewhere new..."
I think it's basically a song expressing the pain of being let down and also having the nerve to stand up to the people who have done it "Were you born to resist or be abused?" -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:I think this song is about moving on from any situation where you've become close to someone... a relationship,friendship,whatever... The feelings you have about that person being "gone & onto someone new" who is getting "the best" of that person that was previously only for you... it breaks your heart. but at the same time you know you need to move on from that person because they are holding you back or repressing you
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One of the great things about this song, besides its obvious raw power & heart, is its ambiguity, which lends itself to a variety of meanings. Like in the chorus "getting the best of you," many have pointed out that this refers to the anguish of knowing someone else may be getting something from a loved-one that you never could; but consider, as well, that "getting the best" of someone can also mean to gain advantage over them. So many things like this in the song, as well as its seeming change of perspective (he's spouting off at his ex, now he's talking to himself, now he's addressing the listener) make it a song that accomodates itself to interpretation for each person who listens to it. LOVE this song!!
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So it’s pretty clear this song is, yes, about some form of relationship that is manipulative and largely one way. Lines like “I needed somewhere to hang my head without your noose” make that extremely clear.
But really digging into this there are a lot of lines that could have multiple meanings based on how you look at it. “Are you gone and onto some one new” to me actually kind of seems like Dave means “has the old you changed into a different person from who you were at the start.” Coupled with the line “You gave me something that I didn’t have, but had no use:” this makes me think of how relationships start out as this bubble that provides everything you could ever want, but if the person changes over time and has no use for the love that once was novel.
In large part this is the same as all the other interpretations, but I think this song is not necessarily as “angry” as people make it out to be but moreso a song about the disappointment of a love that turned over time and the realization that you finally have to leave it. “Too weak to give in...but to strong to lose” I didn’t have the strength to give up on us, but I care about myself too much to stay with someone who has become a stranger.
And then ultimately the line “has someone taken your faith” ultimately leads me to my take on it. That this relationship that was great at the start has shifted to a point that you actual faith in love can be taken from you.
It’s a truly moving song. I think if they had worked out an acoustic version of this like times like these, you would see a very different side of this song -
It’s a song about faith. Starts with a confession , “I’m your fool’ , and an exhortation to the listener to do the same , ‘you must confess’ , then ends with his 2nd confession,
“ I've got another confession my friend
I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new”
Don’t give away your best to anything or anyone in this world , including chasing something new. He’s tired of chasing: the war between his heart and head. He sees it is all self-abuse -that putting his head down to rest anywhere in this world is really putting it in a noose. Resist. Rest in Faith in the Eternal One-Truth. -
For me, it’s feel like your being taken advantage of. Nice guys finish last.
Kindness finish’s last.
It’s like trying to win over a heart that’s not not for you to own.
The anguish and hurt it causes not to be be the best for someone in their eyes.
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Heres my take; This is about standing up to abuse, like it speaks to the abuser and you the audience "you gave me something that I didn't have but had no use" (ie guilt shame pain) - and then overcoming it and facing the abuser -"my heart is under arrest again, but I break loose...I swear I'll never give in, I'll refuse, Is someone getting the best.....To me the idea of someone getting the best of you is letting the abuse or pain inflicted continue to hurt you, and standing up to the abuser is a key step in healing the pain. For me this song inspires the confrontation / realization by repeatedly asking with the chorus. Also it outlines the perspective shift from begining with "Ive got another confession to make - I'm your fool, everyones got their chains to break" and then later the confession is "I'm no fool. I'm getting tired of starting again, somewhere new" This gets to the point of the song, its a call to the abused / neglected to stand up to that bullshit, and a way to share the emotional process help wake you up to the bull shit in your life and let you know you are not alone, you can stand up and resist, and it fucking rocks to do so.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Honestly...it's all of the above for me;) I keep hearing it over and over in my head. It started when my best friend and bf of 6yrs broke up. Of course we had our highs and lows. I have always given everything in life 100% of my heart, trust and honesty. He had many personal substanceabuse struggles. I stuck w him thru it all. the good,the bad,ugly and when he started to be on the surface who I always knew he was on the inside...he gave the best of himself to someone else. A past someone else who had never excepted him for him...his flaws. So although he got the best of me (my adolescence...if u will...innocence) someone else gets to enjoy the best of him. So also in return he got over on me (best of me) . My efforts, my struggle to help and love him were for nothing. It was thrown in my face because he went back to the idea of the person he use to claim was the love of his life. So now she gets the best part of him. I don't know if that was verbalized right. ..tho it felt good to say. I was looking for Dave's actual intent for the lyrics cuz I know what it means to me And apparently after reading others interpretations...it provokes pretty much the same for most of us
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Honestly it's all of the above... as I've heard
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I was in a relationship with the love of my life until I ruined it. There's no way I'm getting her back. Seeing her and imagining her with someone else breaks my heart, knowing someone else is getting the best of her...
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In my opinion, I can relate to this song because I'm in love with someone that has a girlfriend, and I'm convinced that he is the one for me, and that I could make him a lot happier than he is in his current relationship, but it is so familiar to him that he just keeps it going because he dislikes change. This song poses the questions "Is someone getting the best out of you?" Which is a question that i'd like to ask him, because I feel that I could bring out the best in him.
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For me I can still remember the first time that I heard the song and how powerful it was and still is.
Something about the passion and the way it was delivered just grabbed me.
As for the meaning well it has been documented that it's about Dave's sister and how she is or has been a bit of a door mat.
For me its about growing up and becoming a man. It begins with "I'm your fool" and ends with "I'm no fool" almost a catharsis of what has happened in life and how it has changed the very people that we are. For me it's about leaving the child behind and discovering life beyond the limits set by your parents and your peers. Moving away from where you were and fulfilling the potential that was locked away and for all the years where you looked upon others opinions as acceptance of that you were doing the right thing. As we develop into who we are going to become the realisation that the only opinion that matters is our own one and we give everything now to get the best from ourselves. Ultimately, it doesnt matter what people think it means. What matters is that if you like it then you lke it. Everyone hears it in a different way and that is the beauty of music. What a beautiful song though. -
This song is about Dave's sister who was in an abusive relationship of some kind, on the skin and bones tour he says that before singing this song, if you don't believe me buy the DVD and hear it for yourself
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I think this song is about being in a dark place in your life where you feel isolated and someone or a situation you're in is causing you pain and suffering. I think of a young lady trapped in a life of prostitution and she's held there with no way out. Maybe someone in a religious cult who can't leave or maybe someone in a career where they feel they have so much potential, but can't leave the life they find themself in. (wow - that's heavy stuff).
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I'm german, so I can only interpret what it would mean in german :)
Right now, I am deep in love with a girl. I confessed already, but sadly she loves someone else (she recently got rejected herself, though). This is where 'Best of You' starts for myself.
Everytime I see her, I fall in love with her, over and over again. I guess, I've got another confession to make, since I'm her fool. I can not just hold (hug) her, I have to break a chain first, I have to make her love me.
She gave me something I didn't have, some kind of warmth and hope, the desire to be with her. My heart is under arrest. I'm in her noose again, yet without her noose. Without her, I have no use for these things. She has broken my heart it's painful, and I die to heal. She is my cure. I do not want to start somewhere else anew, I'm getting tired of it.
This makes me do my utmost. Basically she is getting the best out of me.
For me, he sings about my situation and this inner conflict. I love her, and I want to be with her, but I also have to respect that she does not want me. I have to choose, but I have no choice. So I can not choose, I refuse to. My head is giving me life or death, my mind is abusing me.
You know, I feel her breath and body warmth, I smell her odour, I see her heartbeat, day by day. We are as close as two people possibly can be, but I still can't put my arm around her. That hurts. Alot. -
I seriously thought this song was about Dave referring to a friend (possibly a female) and asking if s/he's getting hurt, then telling them not to let that person use them. Best of You is kind of saying 'let the real you shine' and 'no one can use you' and things like that.
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