Next To Normal lyric question

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Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 6:53pm

I don't understand Diane's last line in Next To Normal.

She sings:

Day after day,
Wishing all our cares away.
Trying to fight the things we feel,
But some hurts never heal.
Some ghost are never gone,
But we go on,
We still go on.
And you find some way to survive
And you find out you don't have to be happy at all,
To be happy you're alive.

I don't understand the last part. What does she mean when she says "To be happy, you're alive". Is she still not happy? is she not alive? I guess i just dont understand.

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 7:00pm

She is alive, and she's saying that you can be sad and/or depressed, but still be happy to be alive. In other words, just because you're not happy, it doesn't mean you want to die.

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 7:02pm

I've always assumed it had something to do with her coming to terms with her illness and the loss of her son. Diana's still not happy by the textbook definition, but she knows she can at least learn to live with her illness and try to have a "normal" life, thereby appearing to be happy.

"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 7:09pm

But doesn't "You don't have to be happy at all" and "to be happy you're alive" contradict each other? She has come to the realization that she will never be happy but she doesnt have to be happy to keep going in life. She is resigning herself to a zombie and giving up cause she knows you dont have to be happy to get through life.

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 7:18pm

"But doesn't "You don't have to be happy at all" and "to be happy you're alive" contradict each other? She has come to the realization that she will never be happy but she doesnt have to be happy to keep going in life. She is resigning herself to a zombie and giving up cause she knows you dont have to be happy to get through life."

Happy is not a binary/categorical variable with two stages: happy and not happy. The whole idea is that being "happy" and being "happy to be alive" are two different things. It isn't implied she'll never be happy. It's simply implied that she is no longer suicidal even if she isn't completely happy right now.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 8:32pm

I had a much more optimistic take on these lyrics. In my opinion, it means that life is a gift, and in order to appreciate life, we all have to see that life has its ups and downs, and thus we have to face the unhappy things and acknowledge them instead of pretending they do not exist. SPOILERS (obviously)... I think when Diana lost her memories of her son, Dan thought that she would be happier if she did not have to face the tragedy (as he himself kept on trying to forget it), but that backfired because the key to appreciating life is facing everything that comes your way. So when she sings those lyrics at the end, I think she actually is finding some happiness in her life, while she is not really happy since she is still dealing with depression, she is starting to see that life is a gift with little things to be happy about (like appreciating her daughter perhaps). That's just my take on this.

Next To Normal lyric question

Posted: 5/1/15 at 8:34pm

She's saying you don't have to be happy (or glad or joyful) to be appreciative of the fact that you aren't dead.

"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."

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