Album: Third Eye Blind (1997)

License This Song 

• Summer time and the wind is blowing outside
  In lower Chelsea and I don't know
  What I'm doing in this city
  The sun is always in my eyes
  It crashes through the windows
  And I'm sleeping on the couch
  When I came to visit you
  That's when I knew I could never have you
  I knew that before you did
  Still I'm the one who's stupid
  
  And there's this burning
  Like there's always been
  I've never been so alone
  And I've never been so alive
  
  Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by
  The cigarette ash flies in your eyes
  And you don't mind, you smile
  And say the world it doesn't fit with you
  
  I don't believe you, you're so serene
  Careening through the universe
  Your axis on a tilt, you're guiltless and free
  I hope you take a piece of me with you
  And there's things I would like to do
  That you don't believe in
  I would like to build something
  But you never see it happen
  
  And there's this burning
  Like there's always been
  I've never been so alone
  And I've, I've never been so alive
  
  And there's this burning
  There was this burning
  
  Where's the soul I want to know
  New York City is evil
  The surface is everything but I could never do that
  Someone would see through that
  And this is our last time
  We'll be friends again
  I'll get over you, you'll wonder who I am
  
  And there's this burning
  Just like there's always been
  I've never been so alone, alone
  And I, and I've, I've never been so alive, so alive
  
  I go home to the coast
  It starts to rain I paddle out on the water alone
  Taste the salt and taste the pain
  I'm not thinking of you again
  Summer dies and swells rise
  The sun goes down in my eyes
  See this rolling wave
  Darkly coming to take me home
  
  And I've never been so alone
  And I've never been so alive Writer/s: Stephan Jenkins
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 24

• Graham from Mesa AzGoing off of what Doug said, it is about a friend you have a crush on and the bitter-sweet feeling he has with her, so alone and alive. In the song their seems to be three acts, The acoustic beginning where there is a sad feeling of dread, a more energetic middle with something that kind of reminds you of a feeling of agony, and then back to the sad acoustic again, but it feels (to me) more bitter-sweet rather than dreadful. Keeping this in mind, to me the story is he is hanging out with his crush (act 1). Then he tells her how he feels and it isn't reciprocated and it makes him feel like crap (act 2). Then the acoustic again where he is alone on the lake (act 3). To me this bitter-sweet feeling at the end isn't like candy, feels good in the moment but is bad for you, but more bad tasting medicine, doesn't seem very great then but will heal you if you take it. Suddenly the last time it says "never felt so alone and never felt so alive," has a different meaning, "alone" means you lost all of your relationship with her, but instead you feel free from the prison your relationship with her puts you in, it makes you feel "alive." I think that this song has a new theme with this view. The song isn't just a heartbreak ballad, it's telling you how to free yourself from your bitter-sweet enslavement. (Also this isn't super related I just think it's interesting, the third to last line is "Darkly coming to take me home." There's another song by blink-182 called "please take me HOME" that is similar to same thing.)
• Danno from Honolulu/wilmingtonThis is an amazing relatable song. He, a west coast surfer boy in a band has a crush on a girl from NYC who invites him to visit/or at least crash on her couch. Sadly, once he gets there he realizes she’s not into the same things he is, she is a NY-r, concerned about the surface (job, looks, fashion, social groups) vs him (an artist, free spirit, CA resident, surfer…but for the connection with the water, not because it’s cool).
  That’s one of the hardest things to come to terms with…your infatuation isn’t into you and except to use you for his fame. Despite that he stays the summer in hopes he is wrong…but he knows he isn’t wrong. Finally, the summer ends and he decides to go back home to the west coast to drown his hurt heart. He then gets an unexpected realization, when he was chasing his crush he put all of him aside and tried to change for her. But, when he gets home he realizes that wasn’t true emotion, what is true is that feeling of hurt and disappointment, which both sucks and saves him because he again realizes what it feels like to be alive!
• Adam B from PhillyI want to know what does the part mean “the surface is everything, but I could never do that, someone would see through that”
• Kushal from Ghaziabad, IndiaSuch a beautiful song! The lyrics are very well connected and the pain has been depicted by rights.
• Doug from Westfield, MaMotorcycle Drive By is first about the setting of where Jenkins finally had a realization of what his heart would not totally allow him to accept. It only seems like the sun is always in his eyes because he feels like he puts himself in impossible situations and can't figure out why sometimes. In this case he went out to Chelsea to visit a girl with whom he had become infatuated. This raw emotion of infatuation misled him into falsely believing that something could actually wind up developing between the two of them (that she would reciprocate his emotions). Meanwhile, in his logical thoughts, for whatever the exact reasons (likely how he realized she viewed him as only a friend), he knew nothing could ever happen romantically between them. This dissonance gave him that deep in your chest and stomache feeling of being in love and being rejected at the same time. Hence, "I've never been so alone and I've never been so alive". Every time his logical side attempted to convince his emotional side about his actual situation it repeatedly brought back those deep conflicting emotions. So, to finally let go and move on, he had to explain the beauty and serenity of this woman to imagine her as some celestial body that he could never catch up to in the vastness of the cosmos. So, he must let her go on her way in the hopes that she will not actually take a piece of him with her, but that he may actually possess a piece of that type of free, careless, and serene way of being. That serenity will help him let go of her. But alas, there will always be a part of him that will never let go of his hopes at that point in his life, because although it hurt deeply, it also made him feel immensely alive in that process of yearning. That, for him, may have been the deepest feeling of desire or love he has ever had for another person, but that love was all in is head, or perhaps his heart.
• Liv from Long Island, Nyi was at the april 29 2008 show in nyc and jenkins said the same thing. it was funny
• Rachel from Boston<3, Mai really love this song. it reminds me of when i was a kid in high school and this song first came out :)
• Theresa from Murfreesboro, TnGorgeous and honest lyrics. My fave song from this awesome band.
• Nick from Landisburg, PaI disagree. He is saying that they'll never be friends again because he says, "You won't know who I am."
• Emily from Nebraska, NeI think when he says "this is the last time, we'll be friends again" he's trying to say that this is the last time they'll date, or maybe the last time he'll put up with something she keeps doing to him, but over time they can become friends again.
• Chelle from Hilo, Cai love his lyricism... it's amazing... i wish i could write like that...
• Adrian from Gettysburg, PaI first heard this song when I was 15 when I had a horrible crush on this girl that I couldn't even talk to. At the time, I could obviously relate to the lyrics very well.
• Carmelo from Manila, Philippinesyeah, great song that reminds me of my significant half that I could never have, still i'm the one who's stupid. I hope, she takes a piece of me with her! Jenkins did an amazing job on this! But what burns is.. can you really not be friends with the one who dumped you??
• Miya from Seattle, WaDuring the concert on April 30, 2008 in NYC, Stephen Jenkins opened this song by saying it was about "stealing those orange traffic cones" Just a fun fact.
• Kyle from Denver, CoThis song helped me through a really tough break up, just wanted to give props to Stephan Jenkins for makin such a beautiful song!!!
• Pe from Hamburg, Germany"...and there is this buurning, like there has always been...I have never been so alone -, and I - I've never been so ALIVE" ..you can just feel the agony screaming out of him, the love and the broken heart, the kind of emotion that makes you want to speed your bike up to 150miles or jump off a building, into the ocean, just like he does at the end of the sond, when he is surfing out there by himself. "So alive", that is exactly how you feel when you lose the love that hurts underneath the skin, in you tummy, in your chest, like you can't breathe anymore. Only broken or unanswered love gives you this perfect love.
• Tony from Mcchord Afb, WaI love the line "That's when I knew that I could never have you, I knew that before you did, still I'm the one that's stupid". I relate to that so much.
• Diviya from Mumbai, India"And I'll get over you
  And you'll wonder who I am"
  
  I guess this song is so lovely because most of us have been through something like this - wanted someone or something we couldn't have. And one day you just sit and wonder if it was anywhere close to being real.
• Trevor from Menomonie, WiI don't think the like "this is the last time we'll be friends again" means they had a rocky relationship at all. I think it means he got dumped by someone he Loved deeply, and will continue to love. Once you feel that feeling, you can't just go back to being friends with the person, it's just not possible. You have too many intimate memories. It's too painful.
• Kristin from Manhattan, NyI think the line this is the last time we'll be friends again means like they had a rocky relatinship and fought alot and then made up. You know..you get in a fight with someone and when you get make up you say "so we're friends again". well the last time we'll be friends again either means that he can't get over a fight or if it doesnt work out this time, then it is over for good
• Amber from Austin, TxI don't know the answer to that one ummm.. I believe it's A, but I can tell you one thing, you guys are right it's a beautiful song, but it's funny there's not more to it.. just that he's dumped and such. Still an awesome awesome song.
• Joe from Wilmington, DeI have a question for you anyone who knows. When he says "This is the last time we'll be friends again." Does he mean A) That this is the last time they will date, and they will go back to being friends or B) That this is the end of their friendship?
• Sabs from Jun, Akthe last part where he talks about "I go home to the coast
  It starts to rain
  I paddle out on the water
  Alone
  Taste the salt
  And taste the pain
  I'm not thinking of you again
  Summer dies and swells rise
  The sun goes down in my eyes
  See this golden wave
  Darkly coming
  To take me
  Home
  And I've never been so alone
  A-a-and I've never been so alive"
  
  is talking about, how he went home after visiting her, realizing it wasnt going to work, and went out surfing to clear his head, and be alone.
• Katie from Prince George, Canadathats it? what a beautiful song for a man to write for a girl who dumped him. i love the part "And I've never been so alone
  and I've never been so alive"
  
  

More Songfacts:

Walkin' On The SunSmash Mouth

You wouldn't know it from the upbeat melody, but "Walkin' On The Sun" by Smash Mouth is about the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

How To Save A LifeThe Fray

"How To Save A Life" by The Fray was inspired by a teenager lead singer Isaac Slade mentored at a camp for troubled youth in Colorado.

Just DanceLady Gaga

"Just Dance" was Lady Gaga's first hit, and it also brought the techno-synth sound that had been popular in Europe for the previous decade to the United States.

Don't ChaThe Pussycat Dolls

Sir Mix-A-Lot is credited as a writer on The Pussycat Dolls' biggest hit, "Don't Cha," because it interpolates his 1988 song "Swass," where he goes, "Don't you wish your boyfriend was swass like me?"

Can't Get You Out Of My HeadKylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" received more airplay during the 2000s than any other song in the UK.

Rock And RollLed Zeppelin

According to Jason Bonham, who has filled in for his father on Led Zeppelin reunions, "Rock And Roll" is the hardest Led Zep song to play on drums.

Editor's Picks

Eric ClaptonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Chris Fehn of SlipknotSongwriter Interviews

A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.