"Semi-Charmed Life" | ||||
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Single by Third Eye Blind | ||||
from the album Third Eye Blind | ||||
B-side | "Tattoo of the Sun" | |||
Released | June 17, 1997 | |||
Format | CD single | |||
Recorded | 1996 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, power pop | |||
Length | 4:29 (Album Version) 4:00 (Video Edit) 3:40 (Radio Edit) |
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Label | Elektra | |||
Writer(s) | Stephan Jenkins | |||
Producer(s) | Eric Valentine | |||
Third Eye Blind singles chronology | ||||
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"Semi-Charmed Life" is a song by American alternative rock band Third Eye Blind. It was released in June 1997 as the lead single from their self-titled debut album. It was a major hit of the 1990s, reaching number 4 in the U.S., number 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks, number 2 in Canada, and making the Top 40 in the UK. VH1 has named the song as the 34th best of the 1990s.
According to lead singer Stephan Jenkins, the song was meant as a response to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" but from a San Francisco perspective. The style of the song reflects changes that were occurring in the San Francisco music scene, particularly a growing interest in hip-hop.
"Semi-Charmed Life", which sounds like easygoing pop, contains lyrics about a drug user's descent into crystal meth addiction. According to Jenkins, "It's a dirty, filthy song about snorting speed and getting blow jobs." He later explained that, "It's about a time in my life when it seemed like all of my friends just sort of tapped out on speed." He added that the song is "bright and shiny on the surface, and then it just pulls you down in this lockjawed mess ... The music that I wrote for it is not intended to be bright and shiny for bright and shiny's sake. It's intended to be what the seductiveness of speed is like, represented in music." The title, Jenkins said, "refers to a life that's all propped up. You know, the beautiful people who lead bright and shiny lives that on the inside are all fucked up."
The video features many scenes with motor scooters and a 1960 Chevrolet Impala filmed around San Francisco.
Several changes were made for the studio recording. In the demo version, Jenkins spoke during the verses as opposed to singing it. The chorus lyrics were originally "I want nothing else to get me through this…" as opposed to "I want something else to get me through this…" In the second verse, instead of "Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break," the demo version went, "Crystal methylene will lift you up until you break." Finally, the reprise of the beginning of the second verse at the end of the song is omitted in the demo version.