Meant to Live
Encyclopedia
"Meant to Live" is a single by alternative rock
band Switchfoot
. It peaked at #5 on the US Modern Rock chart
, #6 on U.S. Top 40 radio, and #18 on the U.S. Hot 100. It is the first track on the group's 2003 major-label debut album The Beautiful Letdown
, and was also featured in a UK
version of a Spider-Man 2
"inspired by" album. In April 2005, the song was certified gold in the United States. The single is generally regarded as the song that helped the band achieve mainstream success.
poem "The Hollow Men
." About the song, singer/writer Jon Foreman
has said, "Maybe the kid in the song is me, hoping that I'm meant for more than arguments and failed attempts to fly. Something deep inside of me yearns for the beautiful, the true. I want more than what I've been sold; I want to live life." According to Foreman, this song was also inspired by U2
's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
."
This track refers to C.S. Lewis's novel "Out of the Silent Planet
" with the lyric "Maybe we're bent and broken."
It also refers to John Steinbeck
's novel Of Mice and Men
, in the lyric "Dreaming about Providence and whether mice or men have second tries."
The first two videos featured audio mixed a key higher than the album version.
is the song "Monday Comes Around," which was cut from The Beautiful Letdown and is otherwise an unreleased song.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Switchfoot
Switchfoot
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman , Tim Foreman , Chad Butler , Jerome Fontamillas , and Drew Shirley .After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream...
. It peaked at #5 on the US Modern Rock chart
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
, #6 on U.S. Top 40 radio, and #18 on the U.S. Hot 100. It is the first track on the group's 2003 major-label debut album The Beautiful Letdown
The Beautiful Letdown
The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot. Released in early 2003, it launched the band into the mainstream on the strength of two top 20 singles: "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move." The album was hugely popular and remained a staple on the Billboard...
, and was also featured in a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
version of a Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi, written by Alvin Sargent and developed by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon. It is the second film in the Spider-Man film franchise based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...
"inspired by" album. In April 2005, the song was certified gold in the United States. The single is generally regarded as the song that helped the band achieve mainstream success.
Background
Lyrically this song was inspired by T. S. Eliot'sT. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
poem "The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men is a major poem by T. S. Eliot. Its themes are, like many of Eliot's poems, overlapping and fragmentary, but it is recognised to be concerned most with post-World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles , the difficulty of hope and religious conversion, and, as some critics...
." About the song, singer/writer Jon Foreman
Jon Foreman
Jonathan Mark Foreman is the lead singer, lead guitarist, main songwriter and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. He started Switchfoot in 1996 with drummer Chad Butler and bassist Tim Foreman ....
has said, "Maybe the kid in the song is me, hoping that I'm meant for more than arguments and failed attempts to fly. Something deep inside of me yearns for the beautiful, the true. I want more than what I've been sold; I want to live life." According to Foreman, this song was also inspired by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987...
."
This track refers to C.S. Lewis's novel "Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of a science fiction trilogy written by C. S. Lewis, sometimes referred to as the Space Trilogy, Ransom Trilogy or Cosmic Trilogy. The other volumes are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, and a fragment of a sequel was published posthumously as The...
" with the lyric "Maybe we're bent and broken."
It also refers to John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's novel Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
, in the lyric "Dreaming about Providence and whether mice or men have second tries."
Music videos
There were three music videos made for this song. The first video features live performance footage, the second is a concept video depicting the band playing inside a house while the walls and insides are slowly being torn down, and a third video is mixed into clips from Spider-Man 2, and was released exclusively in the UK.The first two videos featured audio mixed a key higher than the album version.
Track listings
UK CD single- "Meant to Live" [Album version]
- "On Fire" [Live]
- "Beautiful Letdown" [Live]
- "Meant to Live" [Multimedia Track] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meant-Live-Switchfoot/dp/B0002GSO9G
Vinyl
This song was also released on a 7" vinyl record. On the B-sideA-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
is the song "Monday Comes Around," which was cut from The Beautiful Letdown and is otherwise an unreleased song.
Chart positions
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 52 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
18 |
| US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
5 |
| US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 6 |
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
36 |
| US Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
5 |
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 92 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
29 |
Awards
In 2005, the song was nominated for a Dove Awards for Song of the Year at the 36th GMA Dove Awards.In popular culture
- This song is featured on the game Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.
- This song is a DLC for the music video gameMusic video gameA music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
, Rock Band 2Rock Band 2Rock Band 2 is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments...
. - This song was used in advertising for the NHL 2011 All-Star Weekend.
External links
- Switchfoot.com
- [ Allmusic review of the song]