If you were to ask me my theme song – it would be this song.
I’ve been listening to Noah for a few years now, and his lyrics describe how I am feeling accurately. He made me fall in love with Folk music again. I have talked to my therapist so many times about Noah’s music. He knows I am a big Taylor fan so he asked me the difference between the artists for me. Taylor is who I put on when I just want to be happy. Even her sad songs fill my soul in a happy, poetic, love way – while Noah [and a few others] are who I put on when I really just need to feel my feelings and absorb the world around me. I decided in my life right now I need to just focus on getting through, rather than setting limitations on myself. So I am going to try to make new lyrical breakdowns and images based on those lyrics once a week – but not committing to only one artist. So I am starting off 2024 with No Complaints. Because it really is the soundtrack to my life.
I love focusing on other artists besides Taylor because there is less noise about who songs are about, and more adaptation to how it makes their listeners feel. So this will be solely my interpretation of the song without the extra noise from the internet.
Lyrical Breakdown
I thought I had somethin’
And that’s the same as havin’ somethin’
The first set of lines can be interpreted with the next set of lines, but alone these lines are powerful on their own. What is the difference between having something, and thinking you have something? Nothing really. They both end in the expectation that you think you have it, and when you lose it – it hurts the same. The let down is real whether you specifically could call something ‘yours’ or not.
I’d get mad at nothin’, blame my dad for somethin’
I pull no punches, then feel bad for months
I think everyone can relate to these lines – a lot. Get mad at something small, blame someone else, hold nothing back and realize you were in the wrong. There are so many things I said to my parents growing up or in my early adult years that I regret. So many things I said out of a knee jerk reaction that wasn’t what I would have intended if I just took an extra minute to process my feelings.
Mm, thought I was raised better, tried to fake better
Tried to blame weather and escape better
Hope the skin heals where the pain enters
Continuing on that – in our times of pain we try to ‘fake’ better reactions, play nice, blame things we cant control around us [the weather], understand we are flawed but don’t want people to see us [flash forward to in love with being noticed and afraid of being seen]. You didn’t raise me like this, I am just being like this – I know better.
Hope the skin heals where the pain enters is such a rough lyric – because skin is surface level. The pain is entering, but only the flesh wound is covered and healed. Which to me means, so no one can see it – but the pain is still there. So this whole first set of lines is the facade of healing. Masking. covering up the pain around us so we remain unseen.
But I finally got sewed up
I set a time, then I showed up
Now the weight of the world ain’t so bad
I finally got sewed up – healed – or at least pretended to be. I set boundaries and guidelines for myself, held myself accountable, picked myself up and showed up for myself and others. To me this reads depression. In our times of depression we want to hide away… but typically doing this feeds the monster and makes it worse. Making ourselves go out into the world and socialize, see people we love, or just walk away from our small comfort zones really does do the world for our isolation and depression. It helps the world feel lighter – or at least our personal ones.
My favorite lines are the ones following
I saw the end, it looks just like the middle
Got a paper and pen and a page with no space
I filled the hole in my head with prescription medication
And forgot how to cry, who am I to complain?
Gut me. I saw the end of the story, the page, it all looked the same. The ending wasn’t glorious or anything of difference – it was the same continued story and struggle. I have a full page of writing and I can’t add any more to it. We can assume the words on the page aren’t anything positive due to the other lyrics of the song – or we can understand that they might not be anything that eludes to happiness.
The paper that can’t be added to or filled any more is left- and the hole that remains in our head is filled with prescription meds that numb us – and leave us unable to feel or show any deep emotion. This line is more personal to me than anything. Sometimes anti-depressants help us not feel so sad, help the weight of the world feel less heavy, but they sometimes leave us unable to show emotion or unable to fill our pages… in my case they have left me with words in my head unable to be said. This may go more into the page with no space… because sometimes we just can’t add to it.
There is also this sense of who am i? who am I – to complain. Like who am I on and off this numbing medication? Am I the same person? Am I just making something – something out of nothing.
And now the pain’s different
It still exists, it just escapes different
And evades vision, makes the rain different
Makes the news boring and my rage distant
The medication that fills our head, makes us exist differently. The pain is still there, it just isn’t as violent to us. It leaves us daily, but it makes the ‘hard rainy days’ feel less drowning and makes big things feel distant. In the beginning of the song Noah states how he was mad at nothing and took it out on his dad. Meds help us control this. Sometimes our depression, anxiety, or disorders have us overreact things we wouldn’t be that upset about if we were in a different state of mind – but meds control those small impulses and make them less of a big deal – however there are side effects to this too.
Yes, I’m young and living dreams
In love with being noticed and afraid of being seen
But I can finally eat and I can fall asleep
It’s fine, fine, fine
“why are you so depressed you have everything you ever wanted?” “she shouldn’t talk about being depressed she lives in a mansion.” These are all comments I’ve read online to successful people as if money solves the depression we all feel. People are so out of touch with the idea of depression, suicide and who is allowed to feel it or end their life. Especially during quarantine – we saw people of all social classes tear down those with money for saying it was a hard time for them. Sure having money helps solve some issues that those of us without money feel daily, but that doesn’t help escape isolation, loneliness, depression and anxiety. Its a human condition.
You can be living dreams, and noticed but terrified of the world to see you as you are. Ashamed of your rage, depression, sadness, insecurities. You can absolutely love your life but still feel empty. You can be prideful of how far you have come but also still feel an empty void.
The meds help feel hunger, and finally sleep, and its fine fine fine, but it’s not amazing. Again – so real for me because I am on anxiety meds that help me sleep at night so my mind isn’t working overtime.
I finally got sewed up
Set a time, then I showed up
Now the weight of the world ain’t that bad
Well, I saw the end, it looked just like the middle
Got a paper and pen and a page with no space
I filled the hole in my head with prescription medication
Then forgot how to cry, who am I
Who am I to complain?
To complain?
To complain
I saw the end, it looked just like the middle
Got a paper and pen but I can’t feel the pain
I filled the hole in my head with prescription medication
Then forgot how to cry, who am I to complain?
I saw the end, it was a continuation of the middle – but this time I have a paper and pen but I can’t feel any of the pain that I’m writing or reading. I have these meds that have numbed me, I have a life full of pain but I can’t feel it any more. Isn’t that what I wanted? Didn’t I want to feel better? But I don’t feel better. I just feel different… I just feel pain differently.
Represented Image
