Nice To Know You by Incubus

Album: Morning View (2001)

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Is this song about a failed relationship? A disgruntled band member? Nope, it's about a severe case of pins and needles.

Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd explained: "I had a moment in my life about a year ago where I was way too close to everything that was going on and I was blind, I felt like I was asleep. And the clouds parted for kind of a strange reason and I gained perspective. What happened was my hand had fallen asleep on the airplane on the way to Europe and it remained asleep for about 10 days, which was kind of scary. I must have pinched a nerve or something. But as my hand started waking up, the clouds started breaking away from that emotional state as well. The two happened simultaneously, so I created a simple metaphor for it. So it's basically a song about gaining perspective on a situation."

Note the lyrics:
This feels like a waking limb
Pins and needles, nice to know you >>
Suggestion credit:
Tim - Pittsburgh, PA
The opening line, "Better than watching Geller bending silver spoons" is a reference to Uri Geller, an illusionist famous for using his psychic powers to bend spoons.
Incubus put a lot of unconventional elements into their songs, many created on turntables. This was the influence of years touring low on the bill at festivals headlined by the likes of the Chemical Brothers and other electronica pioneers. They would use their passes to get up close to see how these acts made their magic.

"We were filtering all these influences, and we thought, What if we played with some of those references, some of those rhythms, and then combined them somehow with all this other music that we know and love," Boyd told Revolver. "'Pardon Me' was the result of that: the sped-up jazz drumbeat and the slower half-time thing with the heavy guitars. Same with 'Nice To Know You,' the drums are odd, the snares are pitched up really high. It was fun playing with those references."
"Nice To Know You" was the second single from the Morning View album, following "Wish You Were Here." The band's breakthrough was their previous album, Make Yourself, released in 1999. The big hit from that one was "Drive," which was on the charts in the summer of 2001. On September 11, "Wish You Were Here" had been released as a single and the band were in New York City preparing for their tour and doing press. Remarkably, they stayed on schedule, even playing their planned shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on September 15 and 16 when just about every other show in the city was shut down. They played "Nice To Know You" at the first show.

Comments: 15

Jolene from Maryland, UsI always thought this song was about depression. Coming out of it. Your whole body feeling like a waking limb, finally coming out of the dark. Love the song and the line "to obtain a bird's eye is to turn a blizzard to a breeze." Letting go, perspective. Love it.
Wicksy from New ZealandPretty cool lyrics. My favourite is "To obtain a birds eye is to turn a blizzard to a breeze".

It's funny because this could be about anything... About gaining perspective over a situation; accepting the negative and then moving on. It could be about having something on your back for a long time, finally coming to terms with it and then kissing it goodbye - "Nice to know you".

Really though, I think it's about how Brandon felt when his hand finally woke up after 10 days of being absent. It would be the weirdest feeling ("hard to even specify") and not something someone will ever feel in their life or if they do, very rarely. ("I haven't felt the way I feel today in so long").

The song was probably written based off the experience of his hand going dead, but also written to be about anything.
Skylord from FloridaSomebody asked me to partially translate this song..Not my style, it's not a good song, didn't like the music or the voice..dull to me..
Chris from TexasI think is about getting out of a terrible relationship and realizing how much better you are without them. I know its cliche, sorry.
Lulu from No AnswerLove this song
Taylor Lopardo from West Islip, NyThis song makes me think about a guy that I talked to for a while and then he out of nowhere stopped talking to me. I'm letting him go for good.
Nick from Edmonton, CanadaThe line, " Deeper than the deepest Cousteau would ever go" is a reference to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the famous scientist and explorer who was facinated by underwater life.
Nick from New York, Nythis song is defienetly about his hand falling asleep, i've heard brandon say it many times before, it happened when he was on a flight and it fell asleep for 10 days and it was painful
Jamee from Oklahoma City, OkI really like this one. It helped me when I realized a friendship was no more. It set everything in perspective and I sent him a message titled "Goodbye Richard, nice to know you". It was liberating and made me feel better.
Ross from Nowhere, Nhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egolessness

Arguably a religious experience, it can be induced by way of "magic" mushrooms. Incubus... "magic" mushrooms... Incubus... yeah.

"She who sees from 'up-high' smiles and surely sings. Perspective pries your once weighty eyes and it gives you wings." [Perception of the attainment of a higher consciousness/awareness or seeing things in a new light/different perspective is a symptom of ego loss and "magic" mushrooms.]

"Deeper than the deepest Cousteau would ever go. And higher than the heights of what we often think we know. Blessed she who clearly sees the wood for the trees. To obtain a 'birds eye' is to turn a blizzard into a breeze." [Again, seeing things in a different light is a symptom, as well as is perceiving as infinitely small man's scope of intelligence.]

"So could it be that it has been there all along?" [Feeling as if you've had this higher awareness all along but had forgotten it is also a symptom.]

These types of epiphanic experiences can be induced by many other methods, sure, but considering the band, past work, and past interviews, it seems very plausible if not probable this song refers to an ego loss-inducing "magic" mushroom experience.
David from Stockton, CaBrandon is singing about Aliens and religion, he's singing about the grand scheme of the universe and what little we often think we know, yes it is about gaining perspective on a situation.
Ashley from Moncton, Canada"Better than watching Gellar bending silver spoons, better than witnessing new born nebulas in bloom" are my favourite Incubus lyrics
Jonathan from Princeton, Mnbrandon wrote the chorus to this song after falling asleep on a plane to europe and waking up with his hand asleep, his hand was asleep for about 10 days!
Travis from Watertown, Sdi've always thought this was about a heroin user.. (better than watching gellar bending silver spoons)..(pins and needles, nice to know you, good bye) but i suppose it does have "waking limb" in the song so i'll just take brandon's word for it. haha
Eduardo from Passo Fundo, Brazilthe feeling i have is that the song is about someone who is blinding us from some reality. as we take notice of it, we say: oh, i'm tired of this, good bye, nice to know you.

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