The Band: Nada Surf
Nada Surf is an alternative rock band based out of New York. One of their songs that I’ve been listening to quite a bit over the past few weeks is “Always Love” which was featured on their 2005 album “The Weight is a Gift.”
The more I listen to the song the more it grows on me and the more I realize that it has a pretty strong message. This article discusses my interpretations of the songs meaning. I will post the song and video at the end of the article in case you have not heard it.
I hope you enjoy :)
The Lyrics and Interpretation
To make a mountain of your life
is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me
Always love. Hate will get you every time
Always love? Don't wait til the finish line
I interpret this passage as the singer discussing an internal conflict between their heart and their ego. The passage could also be interpreted as an individuals drive for greatness and success in life but I personally like to think of it as an ego driven self-importance type thing. "Making mountains of our lives," for me represents indulging in the ego self and believing that we are very important or better than others. These ideas of self importance ultimately allow us to enact hate toward others and often guide our behavior with fear.
The song suggests that within all of us there is a conflict between our ego (which is driven by our mind) and love (which is driven by our heart) and that how we act in life is ultimately a choice that we make. We can choose to love others as we love our self or we can choose to believe that we are more important than others and enact fear and hate towards them.
But ultimately, these things are a choice and we alone choose our actions in the world.
The singer seems to understand this idea on some level and he struggles with the conflict that it creates within him. There is a small voice inside telling him to always love, to make all of his actions, actions of love. However, he struggles with this because he never learned to listen to the small voice but instead always listened to his ego. So he hears the words that his heart says to him but he does not act on them. He generally knows what he is supposed to do but he has mostly failed to do it.
I also interpret the lyrics as a dialogue between the singer and the voice. “Always love, Hate will get you every time” is being told to him by his heart. But then the singer questions it – “Always love?” Yes and “Don’t wait til the finish line.”
Often, when things conflict with the goals of our ego, we put them off for another time. In these moments we justify our actions by telling ourselves that what we are doing is more important. But nothing is more important than love. Love for others isn’t something that should be put off until later.
Slow demands come round
Squeeze the air and keep the rest out
It helps to write it down
Even when you then cross it out
But Always Love. Hate will get you every time
Always Love? Even when you wanna fight
In life we have an idealized version of our self and an actual version. Our idealized version is the best version of us. It is our expectations for the self and who we strive to be as a person. On the other hand, our actual self is who we really are. It is based on the actions we take in life and our actual behavior. Often, our actual self is in conflict with our idealized self because we fail to live up to our own expectations for us.
This is kind of what the second passage of the song is all about. Our life’s demands cause us to act in a certain way and our actions often go against our plan to be a good person. The singer wants to follow the voice of love so they write down its message like a mantra to repeat and strive for - “Always love. Always love. No matter what.” But then they get in a fight with another person or their job forces them to do something that conflicts with the message so they are forced to cross it out.
However, it is still better to strive to be good a good person even if we sometimes fail.
Self-directed lives
I want to know what it’d be like to
Aim so high above
Any card that you've been dealt, you...
Always Love. Hate will get you every time
Always Love? Hate will get you?
The singer wants to know what it would be like to live life fully aligned with their idealized self, always acting out of love. They want to know what it would be like to be in complete control of their ego to the point where they could act out of love regardless of the situation, regardless of what cards they were dealt.
I've been held back by something
Yeah. You said to me quietly on the stairs,
I've been held back by something
Yeah. You said to me quietly on the stairs.
You said?
Hey, you good ones.
Hey, you good ones.
The singer is coming to terms with the fact that they have been held back by something all of their life. The inner voice of love is telling him that his ego holds him back. The small voice inside speaks quietly compared to the ego, but it is still there within him, and it is within us all.
“Hey, you good ones” signifies that we all have this voice. We all have goodness within us and we are all innately good.
Though the internet says that the line is “you good ones,” when I listen to the song I hear “Hey, you could once.” I like to think that this second version speaks to the idea mentioned above that we are all born with goodness and love within us but over time the voice of our heart becomes quieter as our ego takes over. Often in life, we make intellectualized decisions that are based on selfishness and ego. Often we do not make decisions with our hearts.
The small voice inside states “you used to act out of love a long time ago when you were young, and you can still act out of love today. All is not lost – it’s just a choice – remember?”
To make a mountain of your life
Is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me...
Always love. Hate will get you every time
Always love? Hate will get you?
Remember it’s all just a choice. We choose how we will act in life.
I've been held back by something
Yeah, You said to me quietly on the stairs,
I've been held back by something
Yeah, You said to me quietly on the stairs
You said..
Hey, you good ones
Hey, you good ones
Hey, you good ones
I?
Whether its “Hey, you good ones,” or “Hey, you could once,” the message is the same – we all have goodness within us. How we live our lives is a decision that we make. Do we choose to act out of love? Or do we choose to act out of fear and hate?
It’s up to you. It’s your choice.
The Song "Always love" by Nada Surf
For other articles that I have written on song interpretations please see the links below:
Make it Painless: My Interpretation of a Song About Teen Suicide and Depression
Meaning and Interpretation of the Song “We Used to Wait” by Arcade Fire
The Chipper Upbeat 90’sSong that is Actually About Crystal Meth
Thanks For Reading
