Tonight We're Gonna Give it 35%

This is probably my favorite Against Me! song. Pure greatness, I think the lyrics are absolutely amazing and they really show Tom's talent when it comes to songwriting. I can't listen to it without feeling some kind of emotion. I like how the lyrics tell a story but also leave room for interpretation.
What are your thoughts on the song?


We drank bottled water together and talked business, I think I played the right moves,
You were looking over my shoulder, as I went through the motions of another night.
And it was alright, because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them.
My heart is anywhere but here.
And how tired I was from the past couple weeks, from the past couple years, well it hit me all at once.
On a balcony overlooking nothing, with snow falling all around, I called just to say good-night.
And you hadn't done anything wrong, really, it's me not you.
I can't believe how naive I was to think things could ever be so simple.

And can you live with what you know about yourself, when you're all alone,
behind closed doors, the things we never said but we always knew were right there.
It's got me on my knees in a bathroom, praying to a god I don't even believe in,
"Dear jesus...are you listening?"
If this is the one chance that really matters, don't let me fuck this up.
If you had told me about all this when I was fifteen, I never would have believed it.

This song is definetly one of the best ones. And it gives me emotion too when i listen to it. As corny as it sounds, makes me think of how good life is. I dont know why. I can't believe a band like this could make me think so much. I love this song, alot. Im not 100% on what it means. But i could listen to this song over and over. It is pure amazing.

One of my favourites too. On the face of it, it's about only putting 35% effort into a relationship and then discovering later, after it's over, what you're missing out on... And praying for a second chance at it.

You've probably seen this one on here sooo many times,
but ive only been on here a few weeks and 35%, dont kid me wrong,
is an amazing song. I am kinda oblivious to what this song means.
I have some ideas but its not clear to me.
i was wondering what is tom talking about in this song,
if its something personal or what.
i dont really have a clue.

help?

There's already a thread on this song, I'll move it.

oops, thought i opened a new thread

This is an awesome song! I feel like it is about only giving 35% in a realtionship because the other 65% is dedicated to the band, music, traveling, etc. He is mad at himself for pushing the other person away. It is his fault they can't be together. It is too late to fix everything that has happened no matter how bad he wants it.

I created an account on this forum JUST so I could argue with you people about the meaning of this song. It is obviously not about a relationship.

"We drank bottled water..." is a reference to the "business" side of music. He is in meetings with record executives trying to sign his band, and he is hoping that his amateurish negotiation tactics (made the right moves) are working. Of course, this whole business thing isn't what his band is about (bottled water?) and it is making him uncomfortable knowing that his actions are being scrutinized (looking over his shoulder), and so his performance is lacking (went through the motions). He expresses fears that his band is changing, because the audience now has an ulterior motive (thought I knew who everyone was; he's in denial).

The stress of this situation is impacting his personal life - the band is taking over his life (he has to phone to say goodnight) and changing his personality (it's me, not you). Making music is what he wants to do, but now he can't just play music for fun (naive, so simple).

There are philosophic stressors involved in making music your career, and this is upsetting him. You have to be able to morally justify your actions (live with what you know about yourself), and in his anarcho life schema, a record deal is hard to agree with. The stress and fear of compromising his morals is terrifying, to the point that he feels physically ill and goes to the bathroom to vomit and pray for guidance (on my knees, praying, obviously). This is a decision that will unalterably change his life (if this is the one chance... fuck it up).

He started making music because he liked it, now he's making music as a business - he wouldn't have believed it if you'd told him this would happen (told me this at 16).

I can't for the life of me understand how one could read this song any other way. I'm thankful I got to see the band perform this song as an encore at a show in 2007. I was doing promo photos for Fake Problems on two shows, one in Calgary and one in my home town of Winnipeg, and they played this at the Calgary show. It was amazing.

That actually makes a lot, lot more sense. I had wondered a little bit about the "bottled water" thing, and the rest of it clicks nicely into place. Cheers for that.

Zedeff wrote:

I can't for the life of me understand how one could read this song any other way.

That's fair enough, but considering several others (myself included) here thought it was about a relationship, it's obviously a touch ambiguous.

Zedeff, you described it exactly as I imagined it, but you put it much, much better than I could have. That was awesome, have some points.

JamaicaSka wrote:

That actually makes a lot, lot more sense. I had wondered a little bit about the "bottled water" thing, and the rest of it clicks nicely into place. Cheers for that.

Zedeff wrote:

I can't for the life of me understand how one could read this song any other way.

That's fair enough, but considering several others (myself included) here thought it was about a relationship, it's obviously a touch ambiguous.

To clarify, I didn't intend that quote to be mean or inflammatory. Usually when we interpret songs we can develop interpretations and meanings that weren't necessarily intended by the author; the audience is usually pretty good and persuading themselves about the meanings of this or that. I only intended that line to mean that "it never even occurred to me that this could mean something other than what I thought, because I've always been so sure it means this" and not "you're stupid for thinking otherwise."

It's cool man, it's cool. It's difficult to understand what people really mean over the internet at times

Hahahaha I remember Dan and I used to cover this song over and over and over again when he used to come over to my house, in fact I think all we ever covered was Against Me!

Zedeff wrote:

I created an account on this forum JUST so I could argue with you people about the meaning of this song. It is obviously not about a relationship.

"We drank bottled water..." is a reference to the "business" side of music. He is in meetings with record executives trying to sign his band, and he is hoping that his amateurish negotiation tactics (made the right moves) are working. Of course, this whole business thing isn't what his band is about (bottled water?) and it is making him uncomfortable knowing that his actions are being scrutinized (looking over his shoulder), and so his performance is lacking (went through the motions). He expresses fears that his band is changing, because the audience now has an ulterior motive (thought I knew who everyone was; he's in denial).

The stress of this situation is impacting his personal life - the band is taking over his life (he has to phone to say goodnight) and changing his personality (it's me, not you). Making music is what he wants to do, but now he can't just play music for fun (naive, so simple).

There are philosophic stressors involved in making music your career, and this is upsetting him. You have to be able to morally justify your actions (live with what you know about yourself), and in his anarcho life schema, a record deal is hard to agree with. The stress and fear of compromising his morals is terrifying, to the point that he feels physically ill and goes to the bathroom to vomit and pray for guidance (on my knees, praying, obviously). This is a decision that will unalterably change his life (if this is the one chance... fuck it up).

He started making music because he liked it, now he's making music as a business - he wouldn't have believed it if you'd told him this would happen (told me this at 16).

I can't for the life of me understand how one could read this song any other way. I'm thankful I got to see the band perform this song as an encore at a show in 2007. I was doing promo photos for Fake Problems on two shows, one in Calgary and one in my home town of Winnipeg, and they played this at the Calgary show. It was amazing.

That was always my take on it.

JakobDoetman wrote:

Zedeff wrote:

I created an account on this forum JUST so I could argue with you people about the meaning of this song. It is obviously not about a relationship.

"We drank bottled water..." is a reference to the "business" side of music. He is in meetings with record executives trying to sign his band, and he is hoping that his amateurish negotiation tactics (made the right moves) are working. Of course, this whole business thing isn't what his band is about (bottled water?) and it is making him uncomfortable knowing that his actions are being scrutinized (looking over his shoulder), and so his performance is lacking (went through the motions). He expresses fears that his band is changing, because the audience now has an ulterior motive (thought I knew who everyone was; he's in denial).

The stress of this situation is impacting his personal life - the band is taking over his life (he has to phone to say goodnight) and changing his personality (it's me, not you). Making music is what he wants to do, but now he can't just play music for fun (naive, so simple).

There are philosophic stressors involved in making music your career, and this is upsetting him. You have to be able to morally justify your actions (live with what you know about yourself), and in his anarcho life schema, a record deal is hard to agree with. The stress and fear of compromising his morals is terrifying, to the point that he feels physically ill and goes to the bathroom to vomit and pray for guidance (on my knees, praying, obviously). This is a decision that will unalterably change his life (if this is the one chance... fuck it up).

He started making music because he liked it, now he's making music as a business - he wouldn't have believed it if you'd told him this would happen (told me this at 16).

I can't for the life of me understand how one could read this song any other way. I'm thankful I got to see the band perform this song as an encore at a show in 2007. I was doing promo photos for Fake Problems on two shows, one in Calgary and one in my home town of Winnipeg, and they played this at the Calgary show. It was amazing.

That was always my take on it.

I always got the very beginning part of he is in a business meeting with some music guys, but you nailed everything else. Good job. My band covers this song. Along with about every other against me song...haha.

interesting bump.

as of late, i haven't been able to stop listening to the disco ep. i've listened to it for up to an hour on repeat at times. i think it's a logical interpretation to feel as if 35% could be about the music business, but I think it's pretty obvious that it's about a relationship. the main reason i say that is because it accurately describes the most intense breakup of my life, line for line. even the bottled water thing.

but that's the beauty of lyric interpretation. i never want the artist to let me know what he/she was thinking when they wrote a song, because i make my own meanings out of the lyrics i hear from every band. if a song i think is about suicide is actually about cottage cheese, i'd rather not know.

even taking that into consideration, when you take the whole "disco" ep into consideration, i find it hard to dispute that it's about anything besides a relationship. even if there are double entendres, the theme of those three songs seem pretty consistent.

Can you give a breakdown? Some lines don't make sense in the relationship context.

"You were looking over my shoulders as I went through the motions of another night, but it was alright because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them."

?

I agree however that Disco and Beginning are relationship songs.

"You were looking over my shoulders as I went through the motions of another night, but it was alright because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them."

That's one of the lines (first bit especially) that made great sense to me in a relationship context. It's difficult to explain, but assuming (as I did) that it's an old & tired relationship then it makes sense that they're only giving 35%.

"You were looking over my shoulder as I went though the motions of another night"
-Sex? Perhaps out of force of habit rather than because it means anything any more. Sex can easily become like that in tired relationships.

The next line's a bit more difficult.

"but it was alright, because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them."
-Perhaps it's looking beyond that relationship and at people in general; people hiding behind a façade when they're out & about, "on the pull", entering relationships; only for it to be washed away and revealing what they're really like as time passes and the relationship ages. He "thought" he knew who everyone was just by looking at them, but in reality they're very different people.

"you were looking over my shoulders as I went through the motions of another night."
you've never had someone stand over your shoulder in an intimate sense? watching you do something (draw, write, build an Erector Set)? Seems pretty self-explanatory.

"but it was alright because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them."
i'm with ross on this one. i think it's about the kind of blind faith you start putting into people when you feel like you're walking in air in a relationship. something to that extent.

You guys are both chopping the line in half. It's one phrase, not two. The actual phrase is "you were looking over my shoulders as I went through the motions of another night, but it was alright because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them."

The interpretation you've given doesn't make sense with one line. In one phrase, he couldn't be saying that "you were literally standing behind me looking over my shoulder as I did something unclear, but I still see lots of people and have faith in them." That's just not how people speak or think; you've put two independent scenarios into one phrase and it's unnatural.

I don't think it's one phrase at all. Here's it quoted from the band's website

Quote :

You were looking over my shoulder, as I went through the motions of another night. And it was alright, because I thought I knew who everybody was just by looking at them.

There's a period there. Separate thought. Separate phrases. Separate sentences.

and songwriting isn't about how people think or speak. it's about how a lyric works for a particular track.

Fair enough. Either way, while it fits a business scenario nicely, I'm back on my original interpretation of it being about a relationship now. It means a lot more to me that way anyway.

i second that!

I think the relationship interpretation is really interesting, it hadn't even occurred to me before that it'd be about that. It also does complement the other two songs very well. In any case, we'll likely never know what it's REALLY about, but it's very good writing that it could have duplicitous meanings.

Mark Narra wrote:

interesting bump.

as of late, i haven't been able to stop listening to the disco ep. i've listened to it for up to an hour on repeat at times. i think it's a logical interpretation to feel as if 35% could be about the music business, but I think it's pretty obvious that it's about a relationship. the main reason i say that is because it accurately describes the most intense breakup of my life, line for line. even the bottled water thing.

but that's the beauty of lyric interpretation. i never want the artist to let me know what he/she was thinking when they wrote a song, because i make my own meanings out of the lyrics i hear from every band. if a song i think is about suicide is actually about cottage cheese, i'd rather not know.

even taking that into consideration, when you take the whole "disco" ep into consideration, i find it hard to dispute that it's about anything besides a relationship. even if there are double entendres, the theme of those three songs seem pretty consistent.

i totally agree with you. the song too describes the most intense breakup of my life as well. this does not necessarily mean that i can relate the ENTIRE song to my past. though, usually people seek the lyrics to songs to be all about themselves, at least that's what i usually do. it only adds to the listening experience, i guess to hit a personal level.