Santa Monica I Will Buy You A New Life Everything To Everyone Everclear

Santa Monica Album: Sparkle And Fade (1996)
I Will Buy You A New Life
Everything To Everyone Album: So Much For The Afterglow (1997)
by Everclear

Santa Monica is a seaside town in California where Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis grew up. He describes it as "Like LA, but on the coast." The warm weather, beaches and palm trees serve as iconic references in the song, as Alexakis explains: "I've lived in cold places and been in bad relationships, and I think everybody has a place in their mind that is like a safe haven. It's also about getting away from bad times... the ending of something is also the beginning of something new, whether it's with someone or getting out of a bad job, a bad way of life or an abusive relationship."

Alexakis: "In the Eastern way of looking at things, 'Chaos' doesn't necessarily mean no boundaries, it means new beginnings. It's kind of one and the same, something that never ends. It's about getting to a point where you can leave bad things behind and just be self sufficient. There's a sense of romance about it. I feel like that very much now, but I was just getting to where I understood that when I wrote that song."

On their 2003 tour, the band would pick an audience member to play guitar on Santa Monica. If that person didn't play well, he would get kicked off stage and replaced with someone else from the crowd.

Everything To Everyone is a personal song written by lead singer Art Alexakis. When his daughter Anna was a baby, he and his ex-wife would go to a wealthy neighborhood in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon. They would look at the fancy houses, drive around and fantasize about living there. One day, after the success of Everclear, Art bought one of those houses and moved into the neighborhood.

Alexakis: "It wasn't about the money, it was about a different kind of life, giving all of yourself to another person. It's the ultimate romantic song to me."

Lead singer Art Alexakis says of "Everything To Everyone", "It's kind of an angry song. That person is within everybody, I think everybody has this ability to try and be everything to everyone, to try to please. I think there are 2 aspects of it - there's the pleaser, who doesn't always show his true self, always plays nice and as time goes on shows more and more of himself, but there's also the people who are everything to everyone who are manipulators and users." Art has encountered many of these people in the entertainment industry.

I am still living with your ghost
Lonely and dreaming of the west coast
I don't wanna be your downtime
I don't wanna be your stupid game

With my big black boots and an old suitcase
I do believe I'll find myself a new place
I don't wanna be the bad guy
I don't wanna do your sleepwalk dance anymore
I just wanna see some palm trees
I will try and shake away this disease

We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die
We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die

I am still dreaming of your face
Hungry and hollow for all the things you took away
I don't wanna be your good time
I don't wanna be your fall-back crutch anymore

Walk right up into a brand new day
Insane and rising in my own weird way
I don't wanna be the bad guy
I don't wanna do your sleepwalk dance anymore

I just wanna feel some sunshine
I just wanna find some place to be alone

We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die
We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die
We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die
We can live beside the ocean
Leave the fire behind
Swim out past the breakers
Watch the world die

Yeah, watch the world die
Yeah, watch the world die
Yeah, watch the world die
Yeah, watch the world die
~
Here is the money that I owe you
Yes you can pay the bills
I will give you more
When I get paid again

I hate those people who love to tell you
Money is the root of all that kills
They have never been poor
They have never had the joy of a welfare christmas

I know we will never look back

You say you wake up crying
Yes and you don't know why
You get up and you go lay down
Inside my baby's room

Yeah, I guess I'm doing OK
I moved in with the strangest guy
Can you believe he actually thinks
That I am really alive

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
Yes I will

Yes, I know all about that other guy
The handsome man with athletic thighs
I know about all the time before
With that obsessive little rich boy

They might make you think you're happy
Yeah maybe for a minute or two
They can't make you laugh
No they can't make you feel the way that I do

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life

I know we can never look back

Will you please let me stay the night
Will you please let me stay the night
No one will ever know

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life

I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life

I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life

I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life
~
You put yourself in stupid places
Yes I think you know it's true
Situations where it's easy to look down on you
I think you like to be the victim
I think you like to be in pain
I think you make yourself a victim
Almost every single day

[Chorus]
You do what you do
You say what you say
You try to be everything to everyone
You know all the right people
You play all the right games
You always try to be
Everything to everyone

Yeah you do it again
You always do it again

You say they taught you how to read and write
They taught you how to count
I say they taught you how to buy and sell
Your own body by the pound
I think you like to be their simple toy
I think you love to play the clown
I think you are blind to the fact
That the hand you hold
Is the hand that holds you down

[Chorus]

Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall
Yeah why won't you ever learn
Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall
I wonder if you will ever learn

Why won't you ever learn

Come on now
Do that stupid dance for me

You do what they tell you to do
You say what they say
You try to be everything to everyone

You jump through the big hoop
You play all the right games
You try to be
Everything to everyone

Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall
Yeah you do it again
Spin around and fall down
Do it again
You stumble and you fall