Ivy Diash Mahinda - Some Nights ( Fun )

 IVY DIASH MAHINDA (04 / X MIPA 4 SMT)

Interpretation of the meaning of the song " Some Nights - Fun "

The song is about the loneliness, uncertainty, and self-doubt that often comes with

the painful progress of self-actualization, or fulfilling one's potential.

"Some Nights" is a personal reflection of Nate's life, family, career, the sacrifices he

made to achieve success, the sometimes disappointing emptiness of that success

(how prophetic now that he's a mega-star), struggles with the choices he made, loss,

guilt, even simply the pain of growing up, and hope.

"Some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck

Some nights I call it a draw

Some nights I wish that my lips would build a castle

Some nights I wish they'd just fall off"

Some nights he's performing in concerts, singing the songs he wrote, many of which

deal with aforementioned themes. He vacillates between dreams of achieving

superstar success in his career, and occasionally wishing he didn't have the burden of

such a dream and the responsibilities and problems that can come with it.

"But I still wake up, I still see your ghost..."

Said "ghost" appears several times, and could be his late mother, or his old self.

"Well that is it guys, that is all

5 minutes in and I'm bored again

Ten years of this

I'm not sure if anybody understands

This one is not for the folks at home

Sorry to leave, Mom, I had to go

Who the f** wants to die alone

All dried up in the desert sun?"

This line tricks people up, in conjunction with the war-themed video and the ongoing political and military conflicts in desert regions. It's got nothing to do with that.

Nate's been writing and performing for a long time. He had to leave home, in Arizona, to focus on his career, leaving behind his family, which is a very close-knit one. His mother has since passed away, and he feels a lot of guilt and loss.

It was a difficult choice, wether to leave or stay. Many of us must make the choice at some point, maybe more than once. Simply put, this song is about leaving home, striking out on your own, and learning about who you are.

"So this is it?

I sold my soul for this?

Washed my hands of that for this?

I miss my mom and dad for this?"

He left home and everyone he loved, and isn't sure it was worth it. The success he's achieved isn't as fulfilling as he expected. At the time, it wasn't even the phenomenal success he'd go on to, but still impressive and life-altering.

"When I see stars that's all they are, etc."

Stars are another recurrent theme, representing fate as well as fame. Here it means he no longer believes in fate, and possibly also that fame is not as glittering as we all dream. One could even maaaybe stretch it to believe that celebrities are just people, and stars are just stars.

The question of "What do I stand for?" is literal, also meaning "What inspires me?", "What motivates me?", "What do I really want from life?", "What makes me happy?","What defines me?", and other questions we all must ponder. What defines us is constantly changing, but it's up to us to decide how we define ourselves.

"Most nights, I don't know anymore."

On the nights when he's doing what he loves, performing, "ruling the world", he feels secure. But most nights he's left struggling with the uncertainty that naturally bubbles up in everyone as we get older, lose friends, lose loved ones, start to drift a bit, start to move forward in our careers, our lives, essentially start realizing we're adults. (Making his "We Are Young" so much more bittersweet and powerful.) The trials of growing up and changing what you are, how you are, why you are, are universal. The one constant is who you are.

Additionally he has the more personal complications of fame, the loss of his mother and his former band, all exacerbated by his own heightened sensitivity and emotional perspicacity. Without his mother, who was such an important part of his life, he might be feeling like he's lost some of his ballast, setting him off balance. When the person who knows you best is gone, your very understanding of yourself, your own relationship with yourself, is shaken. You relied on that person to know you better than you know yourself, to give you guidance and insight into your own soul. It's a life-changing loss that forces you to wobble for quite some time.

Ironically, as Nate becomes more and more well-known, the very question of "What do you stand for?" will be asked of him almost relentlessly. We're doing it right now by attempting to extract as much meaning as we can from his lyrics, often assigning intentions that aren't even there. In doing so, we're revealing more of what we ourselves "stand for" even if we're not conscious of it.

Nate's very hard on himself in his songs. He's also incredibly honest, and lays bare a lot of his greatest fears and struggles. At its most basic, "Some Nights" is about those fears, doubts, regrets, and struggles, as well as hope.