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Unwell
Album: More Than You Think You Are
Year: 2003
Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, defends his emotionally weakened state in the pained "Unwell."
A melancholy guitar opens the single. Thomas describes a typical day for himself in the first verse. During the day, he sits in his room counting the flaws in the paint on the ceiling and watching the shadows move on the wall. At night, voices in his head are begging him for him sleep. They assure him that tomorrow will be the day they will stop speaking. "All day staring at the ceiling/Making friends with shadows on my wall/All night hearing voices telling me/
That I should get some sleep/Because tomorrow might be good for something."
In the pre-chorus, he mentions that he's depressed all the time and ready to collapse. However, he doesn't know what caused it. "Hold on/Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown/And I don't know why."
In the chorus, he says he's not going insane. He's in need of some help right now. He tells his friend that he's fine now. However, he gets his moments where he snaps and can't take the critical voices inside his head. His friend gives a him an apathetic look. Thomas assures him he's serious. If his friend saw him in his current condition, he will never think of Thomas in the same way again. "But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell/I know right now you can't tell/But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see/A different side of me/I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired/
I know right now you don't care/But soon enough you're gonna think of me/And how I used to be...me."
As he heads for the subway train, he has a conversation with himself. He notes in the second verse that he can feel people looking at each other and thinking "what a weirdo." However, it makes him feel worse. All the voices in his head were right: he's gone mad and he's too far gone. "I'm talking to myself in public/Dodging glances on the train/And I know, I know they've all been talking about me/I can hear them whisper/And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me/Out of all the hours thinking/Somehow I've lost my mind."
The conversations himself continue until he arrives home, which he discusses in the bridge. He's afraid workers from a mental institution will commit him and he'll be sent away for a long time. "I've been talking in my sleep/Pretty soon they'll come to get me/Yeah, they're taking me away."
The chorus is sung once, with Thomas adlibbing about his former contented self. "Yeah, how I used to be/How I used to be/Well, I'm just a little unwell/How I used to be/How I used to be/I'm just a little unwell."
Thomas presents a empathetic view of mental health in the understanding "Unwell." There are at least two taboos mentioned: being seen as crazy for dealing with overwhelming feelings of despair and the uncomfortable feeling of knowing people are talking about you. It's a tough topic to have for a three minute song. However, Thomas provides a decent overview of mental illness and its effects on the person.
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Album: More Than You Think You Are
Year: 2003
Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, defends his emotionally weakened state in the pained "Unwell."
A melancholy guitar opens the single. Thomas describes a typical day for himself in the first verse. During the day, he sits in his room counting the flaws in the paint on the ceiling and watching the shadows move on the wall. At night, voices in his head are begging him for him sleep. They assure him that tomorrow will be the day they will stop speaking. "All day staring at the ceiling/Making friends with shadows on my wall/All night hearing voices telling me/
That I should get some sleep/Because tomorrow might be good for something."
In the pre-chorus, he mentions that he's depressed all the time and ready to collapse. However, he doesn't know what caused it. "Hold on/Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown/And I don't know why."
In the chorus, he says he's not going insane. He's in need of some help right now. He tells his friend that he's fine now. However, he gets his moments where he snaps and can't take the critical voices inside his head. His friend gives a him an apathetic look. Thomas assures him he's serious. If his friend saw him in his current condition, he will never think of Thomas in the same way again. "But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell/I know right now you can't tell/But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see/A different side of me/I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired/
I know right now you don't care/But soon enough you're gonna think of me/And how I used to be...me."
As he heads for the subway train, he has a conversation with himself. He notes in the second verse that he can feel people looking at each other and thinking "what a weirdo." However, it makes him feel worse. All the voices in his head were right: he's gone mad and he's too far gone. "I'm talking to myself in public/Dodging glances on the train/And I know, I know they've all been talking about me/I can hear them whisper/And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me/Out of all the hours thinking/Somehow I've lost my mind."
The conversations himself continue until he arrives home, which he discusses in the bridge. He's afraid workers from a mental institution will commit him and he'll be sent away for a long time. "I've been talking in my sleep/Pretty soon they'll come to get me/Yeah, they're taking me away."
The chorus is sung once, with Thomas adlibbing about his former contented self. "Yeah, how I used to be/How I used to be/Well, I'm just a little unwell/How I used to be/How I used to be/I'm just a little unwell."
Thomas presents a empathetic view of mental health in the understanding "Unwell." There are at least two taboos mentioned: being seen as crazy for dealing with overwhelming feelings of despair and the uncomfortable feeling of knowing people are talking about you. It's a tough topic to have for a three minute song. However, Thomas provides a decent overview of mental illness and its effects on the person.
Video Link