Our Lady Peace: Clumsy Meaning
Song Released: 1997
Clumsy Lyrics
that keeps you awake
hide the telephone in case, you
realize that sometimes you're not okay
you level off but its not all right now
you need to understand
there's nothing strange about this
you need to know...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Raine, himself, has stated that the song [most obvious through the chorus] is about misinterpretation.
"I'll be waving my hand, watching you drown"
While the person is drowning, he's waving at the shore trying to get someones attention to save him and someone see's him and thinks he's just waving to him and he just waves back.
Make enough sense?
It should.
=) -
I think the song is about mistakes in life and unconditional love."Throw away the radio..."The radio plays all the songs that remind someone of someone else. The suitcase represents the feeling of safety and being able to leave a relationship at any time.
"I'll be waving my hands watching you drown..."means that a person made a mistake (again) but the person whom loves that person isn't laughing or judging. "You need to let me in..."That person would be there if the one drowning would just allow (trust)the other. -
I agree with a lot of the stuff here. I think "I'll be waving my hand, watching you drown" is about a skewed perspective. I also agree that it's about a person in trouble and I think that throwing away the radio and hiding the telephone is like cutting yourself off from society. "Throw away this very old shoelace, it tripped you again" could mean that something/someone you've had/known for a long time is bringing you down and you need to get away. Just some thoughts.
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This songs is about tying to help someone who keeps making mistakes and burning bridges whether it be drugs or whatever...- when what the guy needs to do is help himself. Because there is only so much that one person can do to help..
"ill be waving my friend. Watching you drown.."
He's stating that until someone can go help him- hes gotta keep his head above water until then
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i think its about a person going through a rough time, and the persons friend is saying that he is there watching him go through this, the good (quiet) and the bad (loud). i think the friend is telling the person to go to counselling because the person will be safe in counselling, throwing away the shoelace is like figuring out your past and not letting it haunt you by "tripping you" you need to let me in, is saying you need to tell people for them to help you.
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Im a recent OLP fan. My take is that the singer is reaching out to a friend/acquaintance in distress - maybe depressed or suicidal or dealing with addiction. The radio suitcase and the telephone represent the negative thoughts - the things keeping the person up at night - haunting them. The shoelace represents past mistakes, regrets replayed. The waving is maybe the singers frustration, feelings of inability to help the person, in spite of there best intentions - they are on the sidelines helpless. The friend is trying to empathize, relate - "theres nothing fake about this". No ones laughing refers to the fact that people aren't judging, they just want to help, be that persons friend. The singer is struggling to help.
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SO, what I think is that.. This song is about someone who wants help, desperately, but they keep telling themselves that it's all alright and that the situation they are in is normal. Personally, I'm not sure what I think the situation is, perhaps an abusive household. They can't really trust to tell anyone because they aren't sure how people will take that information. The chorus, to me is someone telling them that if they would only say what was bugging them, that it would all be okay. They just need to confide in someone. I think they perhaps the person is making excuses for the things that are happening to them, ie: if they were hit; it would be that they were clumsy and tripped, you know? That if they told people, no one would consider it "not serious" or a joke. It's sort of trying to be a reassurance..
the second verse, I think is talking about how they keep trying to communicate with the people around them, but the facts about it scare them back. The person talking is telling them that there's nothing normal or not-serious about what's happening to them. Even though the person who is the victim just shrugs it off "shrug it off, it's only skin."
I think that the interpretation that "I'll be waving my hand, watching you drown, watching you scream, no one's around." is kind of a play on words. The person drowning is waving for help.. and the other person doesn't realize that they are crying for help..
That's just my take, and how I took it, I have no idea what Our Lady Peace meant it to mean, which would be cool to know. -
I always heard it as a song about self injury. I don't know if that has to do with my personal experience but it's how I've heard it. Someone who SI's will, when confronted about an injury, will shrug it off and say something along the lines of being "clumsy". "Throw away that old shoelace tripped you again," could very easily be interpreted in the way that they lied about falling or something. "It's only skin" is pretty much the feeling behind a lot of SIers. They feel as if it doesn't matter, it's only skin after all. That's what I got from this song..
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Ok I think this song is about mistakes you've made in your life like the verse "I'll be waving my hand
Watching you drown, watching you scream, quiet or loud" is like your walking by and see somebody drowning but don't realize their drowning you just see them waving at you so you wave back,, its like one of those werid situations where you just take something for its face value, instead of looking deeper and questioning things
and the verse "Throw away this very old...shoe lace
Tripped you again"is telling you to forget about all your old mistakes and move on -
"as clumsy as you've been there's no one laughing you will be safe in here .." may be talking about someone trying to get help(maybe rahab) for the drug abuse and Raine is saying as stupid as the drug addiction sounds and makes you feel its okay to talk and no one is laughing at you.
" throw away this very old shoelace that tripped you again try and shrug it off " .. In this line I think the shoelace is probably something the person used while shotting up ... and he's saying to throw it away it's making you want the drugs more .. Try to shake the craving. -
This song is about watching a friend ruin his life with drugs. The artist is tired of helping him (I'll be waving my hand watching you drown... quiet or loud) or feels that there is nothing more he can do to save his friend.
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I think this song's about what happens when people lie. In the video there's a guy standing in his room when he accidentally knocks over a glass of water. That sybolizes the first lie he told. But the glass won't empty and the water keeps pouring on the floor until it fills his room. This could represent the lies that he has to keep telling make the first one sound like the truth.
"I'll be waving my hand hand, watching you drown, watching you scream, no one's around": he's drowning in lies and nobody can (or will) help him. "And maybe you should sleep, and maybe you just need a friend". He has a choice: he could just go to sleep and let the lies keep filling up his life or he could find help and get out of this mess. "You need to understand, there's nothing fake about this, you need to let me in". Raine wants to help, but this guy doesn't think he needs it or maybe he doesn't trust Raine. At the end of the video, the guy thinks he sees a way out, but it's just an illusion and he's still stuck.
This song could apply to a lot of people. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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