Comments: 3

• Christopher from Lansing, MiThese lyrics support thoughts that I have taken on from a multitude of places, including the comedian Joe Rogan in his stand up Space Monkey. Where he suggests that this never ending competition that man insists in continuously being a part of is "old monkey s--t." Relating human kinds drive for financial and physical competition to a monkey's drive to reach the top branch of the tree. Joe states that he believes this competitive drive is a trait that came from our ancestors (monkeys.) When Dave mentions "climbing out of my monkey tree" I believe he is referring to his refusal to no longer be in competition with others.
• Christopher from Lansing, MiThese lyrics support thoughts that I have taken on from a multitude of places, including the comedian Joe Rogan in his stand up Space Monkey. Where he suggests that this never ending competition that man insists in continuously being a part of is "old monkey s--t." Relating human kinds drive for financial and physical competition to a monkey's drive to reach the top branch of the tree. Joe states that he believes this competitive drive is a trait that came from our ancestors (monkey's.) When Dave mentions "climbing out of my monkey tree" I believe he is referring to his refusal to no longer be in competition with others.
• Joel from San Antonio, TxHere's my take on Why I Am. This song is complex lyrically, as are all of Matthew's songs, and it touches on several different, yet related, themes. First is the cynicism of man as an evolutionary beast, slave to evolution ("grew from monkey into man") versus the human condition as a product of man's own doing ("drunk on water turned into wine"); together these two themes address the question of free will versus natural instinct. In either case, the result of man's ascent can either be catastrophic ("I crushed 15 million with a wave of my hand", an apparent reference to the holocaust taking place at the behest of saluting nazi's) or it can lead to complex and rewarding human understanding ("Always the only one to make you smile").
  
  It is near the middle of the song that there is the first insight into the motivation for the lyrics. Matthews pays homage to his recently fallen band mate, LeRoi (the "GruGrux King"), in verses which go on to suggest that the mistakes of mankind often result in death treated as a trivial afterthought. In other words, there is so much emphasis on winners and losers, and us versus them (paraphrased), when, indeed there is "only one way out of the world", one which we all will take at some point. It is only when man begins to understand this fact (i.e., "climb out of the tree") that death/mortality are truly understood and respected. In this way, LeRoi's life is celebrated in song as a metaphor for living right. This seems to be the central theme, and this theme was, in all likelihood, chosen as the result of the sudden and unexpected death of a friend.
  
  This is an unbelievable song both lyrically and musically, and is a fitting tribute to the band's fallen friend. Possibly the best song the band has ever done.

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