Semi-Charmed Life

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"Semi-Charmed Life"

Single by Third Eye Blind
from the album Third Eye Blind
Released	1997
Format	CD single
Genre	Post-grunge
Length	4:29
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	Stephan Jenkins
Producer(s)	Colin Thurston
Chart positions
#4 (USA) #37 (UK)
Third Eye Blind singles chronology
	"Semi-Charmed Life" (1997)	"Graduate" (1997)

"Semi-Charmed Life" is post-grunge band Third Eye Blind's first single off their self-titled debut album, released in 1997. It was a major hit of the 90s reaching number four in the U.S., and the Top 40 in the UK. Further, it has had a pervasive cultural impact, getting featured on a wide variety of movie soundtracks. It is almost instantly recognized by the earlier members of Generation Y and is sometimes considered one of the generation's most popular and well known songs. To date, it's popularity has not waned.

Beneath a catchy upbeat melody, the song contains dark lyrics about a drug user's descent into crystal meth addiction and his sexual activities. However, the single still became a major hit. There may have been a public effort to disguise the meaning of the song, as the words "crystal meth" are frequently censored on radio stations, or "blurred" out of recognition.

The lyrics "I want something else" in the chorus, were originally "I want nothing else", but this was changed at the last minute. When the band was asked why, they avoided answering. It is speculated that the replacement of "nothing" with "something" in this instance would make it seem as though the subject of the song wanted to stop using drugs, as opposed to "wanting nothing else" other than drugs.

According to Jenkins, this song was started as a response to the Velvet Underground's "Walk On The Wild Side", but from a San Francisco perspective. The style comes from the changes that were occuring in San Francisco at the time in the way of music, particularly the growing interest in hip-hop.

[edit] Hidden verse

The CD and cassette version of the song contains a verse that was never played on the single or the music video, possibly due to sexual content. However, early radio play was of the CD version. The single also had the words "crystal meth" censored by playing the tape within the duration of the phrase backwards.

The lyrics to the hidden verse are:

"And when the plane came in she said she was crashin'. The velvet it rips in the city, we tripped on the urge to feel alive but now I'm strugglin' to survive. Those days you were wearin' that velvet dress. You're the priestess I must confess, those little red panties, they pass the test. So slap me on the belly, face down on the mattress. One, and you hold me, and we're broken. Still it's all that I want to do just a little now, feel myself, heavy as the ground, I'm scared, I'm not coming down, no no. And I won't run for my life. She's got her jaws now locked down in a smile but nothing is alright, alright."