Big Deal

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of someone grappling with persistent, unidentifiable distress. There's a sense of waking up in tears, a feeling that something is fundamentally wrong without a clear grasp of what it is or how long it's been going on. This internal unease is met with a dismissive, almost sarcastic refrain: "Big deal." It’s a phrase that seems to downplay the narrator's own suffering while simultaneously acknowledging a shared, perhaps universal, experience of emotional turmoil. The central tension arises from the narrator's attempts to diagnose and fix this internal state, specifically through the metaphor of finding their "inner child." This pursuit is fraught with anxiety, questioning the potential consequences of confronting this hidden self. The lyrics suggest a fear that the resolution might be more complicated or unwelcome than the problem itself, highlighting a reluctance to fully engage with the source of their pain. The repeated desire to "turn off your head" further emphasizes this avoidance. The most striking craft element is the repeated, almost taunting, use of "Big deal." It functions as both a dismissal of the narrator's own feelings and a commentary on how such profound emotional states can be perceived or treated by others, or even by oneself. The repetition of "that's the way we all feel" and "that's the way I feel" creates a loop of shared, yet isolating, experience. The shift in the final chorus, asking "what d'you think she feels?" introduces an external perspective, hinting that the narrator's internal struggle might be impacting or be mirrored by another person's emotions. Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they capture the frustrating disconnect between intense internal feeling and the inability to articulate or resolve it. The "Big deal" refrain, while seemingly flippant, underscores the difficulty of addressing deep-seated emotional pain, especially when the path to healing feels uncertain and potentially disruptive. The song seems to suggest that the desire for a simple fix is at odds with the complex reality of emotional well-being, leaving the listener with the unsettling question of what one truly wants to feel.