Songfacts®:

• In this early tune from Toad The Wet Sprocket, the alt-rock band's frontman and lyricist, Glen Phillips, finds it hard to rely on his good intentions when his head's full of things that he can't mention. In other words, he's trying and failing to live up to his own expectations.
  
  When Songfacts asked Phillips about the song's lyrical inspiration in a 2022 interview, he said it was about "general misunderstandings. Operating on the edge of 'moral okayness' as a young person. Flirting or something." As the 20-something lead singer of a popular band, flirting kind of came with the territory, but not much else.
  
  "I never messed around on the road... I'm kind of proud of that," he laughed. "But I probably flirted. I think it was about that, like pushing those edges and everybody trying to figure out where they stand in a relationship that way."
• The band first recorded this in 1991 during sessions for their breakthrough album, Fear, featuring the Top 40 hits "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean." They nixed "Good Intentions" from the track list because it sounded too pop, and they were going for an indie feel with the help of Scottish producer Gavin Mackillop (Hunters & Collectors, Shriekback).
  
  At the time, Phillips was really into acts like the English band Talk Talk - in particular their post-rock farewell album, Laughing Stock - and Peter Gabriel, whose 1986 So album boasted a rich and textured production by Daniel Lanois. "You know, we wanted to make a big record in that way, something that was really textured and interesting and they just let us go in and make whatever record we wanted," he told Pop Dose in 2016.
• This tune didn't show up until 1995 - but it showed up in a big way. Aside from being included on In Light Syrup, a collection of B-sides and rare tracks, it was used on Friends and featured on the show's official soundtrack. In the season 2 episode "The One With The Two Parties," the gang stages two separate parties to celebrate Rachel's birthday in order to keep her bickering parents apart - a boring affair at Rachel and Monica's with Rachel's dad, and a fun bash (with this tune on blast) at Joey and Chandler's with her mom.
• The single went to #20 on the Alternative Airplay chart, #16 on Pop Airplay, and #19 on Mainstream Rock. It also peaked at #19 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
• The music video was directed by Hans Neleman, a Dutch-born artist who designed the Fear album art and helmed the clip for "All I Want." In the semi-animated clip, we're introduced to the random paraphernalia that floats around in Phillips' brain as the band performs the tune. Friends star Courteney Cox also appears toting a mysterious suitcase and flying around with angels' wings.
  
  Although she's better known for playing Monica Geller on the sitcom, Cox is also a familiar face in music videos, having appeared in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark," Counting Crows' "A Long December," and, of course, The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There For You" - the Friends theme song.