3 Doors Down

Kryptonite

3 Doors Down lead singer/songwriter Brad Arnold recalls being 15 years old and sitting in math class tapping on his desk. The tapping turns into drumming, and pretty soon he's unknowingly written the first monster hit for his future band.
He laughs at the memory: "Thank God for the little dude that sat in front of me, that dude deserves credit on the album! I was so bad in math. So bad. But my teacher knew I was not good, not paying attention, but he just kind of let me go. I believe I wrote the lyrics to some other songs in that same class. I wrote probably about half of that Better Life album sitting in that math class."
This song is also, according to Arnold, only the 3rd or 4th song he'd ever written, period. "The skippy little drumbeat in the song was just me beating on my desk. It's almost exactly the beat we played to, just kind of drumming, just skipping along with it."

Brad says this song is a question. As it turns out, it was a rather prophetic one. "Its question is kind of a strange one. It's not just asking, 'If I fall down, will you be there for me?' Because it's easy to be there for someone when they're down. But it's not always easy to be there for somebody when they're doing good. And that's the question it's asking. It's like, 'If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman?' It's asking, 'If I'm down, will you still be there for me?' But at the same time, 'If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?' That's kind of asking, 'If I'm doing good, will you be there for me? Will you not be jealous of me?' And maybe throughout the years of singing that song, I might have come up with more meanings for it than it actually might have originally had," he laughs.

    The fact that he wrote this song when he was only 15 doesn't seem remarkable to Brad, because, he says, "every 15-year-old has those questions in their head. They might not know quite how to say it, or they might not feel like it's acceptable to say something. And the biggest thing that I've had as an honor to be able to do is to be able to say something, and after I say it, it's okay. After an artist says it, if a rock star says it, okay, it's fine. That really boils down to why rock and roll inspires pop culture so much, or just music in general, not just rock and roll. Because artists push the envelope, and they go out on a limb to say something else. But it also comes with responsibility; you gotta watch what you say, because kids listen. And I try to watch what I say, too."


I watched the world float to the dark side of the moonAfter all I knew, it had to be something to do with youI really don't mind what happens now and thenAs long as you'll be my friend at the end
If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?If I'm alive and well, will you be there and holding my hand?I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman mightKryptonite
You called me strong, you called me weakBut still your secrets, I will keepYou took for granted all the times, I never let you downYou stumbled in and bumped your headIf not for me then you'd be deadI picked you up and put you back on solid ground



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