Peak
4
Weeks
43
Score
8,167
Chart Year
1997
The video starts with a satellite in outer space before quickly transitioning to an American flag patch on a man's leather jacket. With the refrain playing, the band members and a dog are shown driving a car on a highway. As the first verse begins, Jenkins walks down the sidewalk on Valencia Street in San Francisco while singing. He passes through an outdoor cafe as the video intercuts with scenes of people riding motorcycles. Once the first chorus begins, the video focuses on the band performing in a dimly lit room with a large spinning clock hanging behind them. As the refrain begins again, the video intercuts between scenes of the band performing and of them riding motorcycles throughout the city. Following these shots, Jenkins is shown to now be singing in front of a car parked alongside a strip, as intercuts play that focus on the faces of strangers surrounding Jenkins. The video also briefly focuses on two women kissing while walking on the sidewalk, before abruptly arguing. Once the second chorus begins, Jenkins begins to run through an alleyway while shots are also shown of the band continuing to perform. As the bridge ends, various people on scooters are shown to drive around the city. The band continues to perform while a group of young adults dance, argue, and kiss around them. The video ends with a shot of one of the women watching a moon landing on television, noticing that the American flag being planted is reminiscent of the patch in the beginning of the video.
In a Songfacts interview with Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, he said this song is "about falling apart." It relates specifically to a drug-induced high that makes everything fleetingly better. Said Jenkins: "Perfection is the moment right before gravity comes back in." This song describes a drug user's descent into crystal meth addiction. The line, "I want something else..." contains a reference to crystal meth in the song. Stephan Jenkins explained on the HBO show Reverb that they intentionally put a chipper melody to the dark lyrical content. Said Jenkins: "When I wrote 'Semi-Charmed Life,' the guitar riff was intended to have this sort of bright duh-nuhnuh-nunt, this shiny thing, because that was a feeling of speed. You know, it's sort of a bright, shiny drug. And we all were sort of into hip-hop, and so it has a hip-hop flow over it." The line: "Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break" was a little racy for some radio stations, who played an edited version with the words "Crystal Meth" distorted. Talking about the deeper meaning of the song on Reverb, Jenkins said: "It's a song about always wanting something. It's about never being satisfied, and reaching backwards to things that you've lost and towards things that you can never get. I think everybody has some identification with that. The story line between the people, the demise of this relationship, is just an extreme example of that condition. I think that's what makes people really relate to 'Semi-Charmed Life.'" The band has admitted that they borrowed the "doot doot doot" part of the song from Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side." This was Third Eye Blind's first single. The group's name could be a reference to a penis, but The Third Eye is also a metaphysical term in new age spirituality referring a state of enlightenment and is associated with clairvoyance. >> The original line was "I want nothing else..." but when the song was eventually released, it was changed to "I want something else." No explanation has ever been given for this, however recordings of the original can be found. >> This was played in the Norm MacDonald movie Dirty Work as Norm's character, Mitch, returns home after being fired to find his girlfriend is also kicking him out. >> In 2015, when Songfacts asked Stephan Jenkins how he felt about this song, he replied: "I don't feel like it's really mine. It's participating in the experiences that other people are having with it."
Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo I'm packed and I'm holding I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden She lives for me, says she lives for me Ovation, her own motivation She comes round and she goes down on me And I make you smile, like a drug for you Do ever what you wanna do, coming over you Keep on smiling, what we go through One stop to the rhythm that divides you And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse Chop another line like a coda with a curse Come on like a freak show takes the stage We give them the games we play, she said I want something else to get me through this Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo The sky was gold, it was rose I was taking sips of it through my nose And I wish I could get back there, someplace back there Smiling in the pictures you would take Doing crystal meth, will lift you up until you break It won't stop, I won't come down I keep stock with a tick-tock rhythm, a bump for the drop And then I bumped up, I took the hit that I was given Then I bumped again, then I bumped again I said How do I get back there to the place where I fell asleep inside you How do I get myself back to the place where you said I want something else to get me through this Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye I believe in the sand beneath my toes The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling I believe in the faith that grows And that four right chords can make me cry When I'm with you I feel like I could die And that would be alright, alright And when the plane came in, she said she was crashing The velvet it rips in the city, we tripped on the urge to feel alive Now I'm struggling to survive Those days you were wearing that velvet dress You're the priestess, I must confess Those little red panties they pass the test Slides up around the belly, face down on the mattress One And you hold me, and we are broken Still it's all that I wanna do, just a little now Feel myself, heading off 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 And I want something else to get me through this life Baby, I want something else Not listening when you say Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo The sky was gold, it was rose I was taking sips of it through my nose And I wish I could get back there Someplace back there, in the place we used to start Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo-doo doo I want something else
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 5, 1997 | 17 | 109 |
| 2 | Jul 12, 1997 | 13 | 113 |
| 3 | Jul 19, 1997 | 12 | 114 |
| 4 | Jul 26, 1997 | 6 | 120 |
| 5 | Aug 2, 1997 | 5 | 121 |
| 6 | Aug 9, 1997 | 4 | 122 |
| 7 | Aug 16, 1997 | 4 | 122 |
| 8 | Aug 23, 1997 | 4 | 122 |
| 9 | Aug 30, 1997 | 4 | 122 |
| 10 | Sep 6, 1997 | 6 | 120 |
| 11 | Sep 13, 1997 | 8 | 118 |
| 12 | Sep 20, 1997 | 8 | 118 |
| 13 | Sep 27, 1997 | 9 | 117 |
| 14 | Oct 4, 1997 | 7 | 119 |
| 15 | Oct 11, 1997 | 7 | 119 |
| 16 | Oct 18, 1997 | 8 | 118 |
| 17 | Oct 25, 1997 | 10 | 116 |
| 18 | Nov 1, 1997 | 11 | 115 |
| 19 | Nov 8, 1997 | 11 | 115 |
| 20 | Nov 15, 1997 | 13 | 113 |