Loser

Album: The Better Life (2000)
Charted: 55
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a song, explains 3DD frontman Brad Arnold, about one of his buddies from when he was a teenager. "He was from a good family, but he just kind of got mixed up in cocaine and stuff." Arnold says that the point of the song is not him calling his friend a loser; in fact, he says, despite the title, he's actually not. Rather, the song is about his friend's self doubt, and how he internalized his feelings. "Thankfully," says Arnold, "he's doing a lot better now. And I get a lot of people saying they can really identify with that song in some way. I think everybody feels like that every now and then."
  • Brad takes a moment to go through the first few lines of the song: "The idea that it's like breathing right away and all that, it's really in the chorus, just really talking about the physical act of doing it, and how the physical act makes you feel. And I could identify with it, because I've done it (cocaine) a couple of times when I was a teenager, and I just never did it like he did it. And I wouldn't ever do it again. And so I knew how it made me feel, and that was always one of those things with me that I could feel that monkey pulling, and I was like, Uh-uh. And a lot of people just couldn't. But the verse is really about the physical act of taking the drug, and the choruses are basically kind of looking for the outcome of the inevitability of sooner or later it's gonna kill you."
  • As much as Brad loves people digging for meaning in his songs, he never gets frustrated when he hears an interpretation that differs from his original intent. Unless the interpretation if offered by his young nephew. He tells this story: "My nephew, when he was about 3 or 4, and we were on tour for the Better Life record, his words to this song were, 'you're pushing me off of lobster legs.' And for the next 6 months, every time I played that song, I was standing there trying not to sing, 'You're pushing me off the lobster legs.' That's more the frustrating interpretation that I'm talking about," he laughs. (Check out our full interview with Brad Arnold)

Comments: 14

  • Brandi from Bangor, Me, UsaI was fortunate enough to win tickets to meet 3 Doors Down and Daughtry here in Bangor, Maine. I only have 1 photo now thanks to Flickr deleting all of the others but I won't ever forget it. It was amazing! Thanks to The Kid and Z107.3 (WBZN-FM) for helping make it happen
  • Michael from Owingsmills , Mdits pretty hard to believe this song is pop but it is i think this song talks about all the downs in his life and he giveing up and giveing in he tired of fighting for something like 1 step forward 2 steps back never getting any where in life
  • Kayla from Oklahoma City, OkThis song is freakin' awesome... not as good as Kryptonite, but still good. I guess everyone feels like this sometime in their life...
  • Cody from Wasilla, AkTo me, this song has allusions to suicide. Example: "Nothing seems to fill this place, sooner or later you know i'll be dead, holding the rope and taking the fall". But it also references drugs.
  • Anthony from Cape May, NjReminder of some high school days, this song gives loser a very general meaning..
  • Alyssa from Houston, TxI love this song....when I first saw the music video on youtube I actually started to cry...it's a great song and it has a lot of meaning...one of my favorite songs...
  • Dale from Santa Fe, NmDefinitely the best 3 Doors Down song.
  • Faruk from Vienna, AustriaI guess everyone can sometimes relate to this song, because nobody feels perfect all the time... great song...
  • Andrew from Brunswick, Mei see myself as the guy that Arnold went to high-school with, as i am...well was very much involved in drugs and my life was heading into a downward spiral. it defintaly shined through my social skills, as i soon fell down a hole and i felt as though everyone was looking down on me, even my friends.
  • Ashley from Moncton, CanadaYes, many of us are losers, myself included! But I'm a semi-intelligent, intellectual, creative, and music, art and poetry loving loser! I'm just a loser because I don't care about anything anymore, and it's pretty okay with me. This song is probably my favourite 3 Doors Down song, probably because I don't really like them that much and I don't know many of their songs, but this song is really awesome.
  • Jacob from Houston, TxThis song is awesome I can relate 2 it so well....
  • Suki from N/a, Inlove this song, because i'm a loser a well
  • Heather from Plattsburgh, Nyme too.. not what i tought it was about though...
  • Rachel from Waurika, OkI'm a loser... You can ask all my friends they are losers too. Kidding. I like this song!
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