Songfacts®:

• Everclear frontman Art Alexakis lived in a rough neighborhood when he was young: a Los Angeles housing project. In this song, he tells the shocking story of being beaten and raped at the projects when he was eight years old.
  
  Alexakis never told anyone in his family about it, and carried the guilt and shame with him for most of his life. This incident was a dramatic turning point in his life, making him angry and aggressive, but also determined. "That incident opened up a large part of me that is my addictive behavior," he told us. "But at the same time, that's what I think has driven me hard in life to do a lot of the good things I've done, as well. But it's also left its damage on me: I'm f--ked up and angry. Even though I'm doing really well. But most of the time I'm doing great, but that person is still inside of me."
• The "you" in this song is Alexakis' inner child. He believes that the child inside is part of every adult, and with that come the memories of any difficult experiences that child encountered. According to Alexakis, it's very important to deal with those memories in order to move on emotionally.