What If

Album: Simple Plan (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "What If" is an essay, inspired by the TV show Heroes, about changing and improving the world. Frontman Pierre Bouvier explained to TheyWillRockYou: "We had been watching a lot of TV these last couple of years and we've been really into the show Heroes. It was kind of inspired by the character Peter Petrelli who feels tortured and is trying to do the right thing even though a lot of people are opposing him and what he feels is the right thing to do. That's the way that we saw it for that song. I think if anyone is trying to do something important or something that might be seen as a little controversial, when you go through it you have to go through obstacles and its kind of confusing because you don't know if you want to do it or not. Look at someone like maybe Al Gore, he's taken some big leaps and done some crazy things and I think that he's probably had a lot of people opposing him. It's kind of about that feeling that you get when you go through something like that."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")Songwriter Interviews

Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The Remasters

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The RemastersSong Writing

Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

Chris Rea

Chris ReaSongwriter Interviews

It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.