Struggle

Song Meaning

William Shatner doesn't sing so much as he *conveys*. And in "DOING ALRIGHT," that conveyance is one of existential reckoning by way of brute-force repetition. The lyrics, stark and elemental, paint a picture of a life defined by relentless striving: "Up and Att'em / Go get 'em / Suck it up." It's a mantra of ambition, a relentless pursuit of achievement that morphs, late in life, into something more complicated. The song meaning pivots when Shatner acknowledges the toll: "I'm tired, now / The body is sore, the mind is bent." The core of "DOING ALRIGHT" resides in its cyclical relationship to the word 'struggle.' Early on, struggle is the engine, the cost of success. But as the song progresses, struggle becomes the point itself. The questions, "Where do I go? / What else do I see? / Do I give up now?" are not pleas for direction, but rather rhetorical devices that emphasize the *need* for continued struggle. The lyrics tap into a primal fear of obsolescence, of losing purpose as the "end is near." Ultimately, the song's power lies in its unflinching honesty about aging and the human condition. The repeated questioning of the past and future ("Was it really there? / Will it be there?") suggests a crisis of meaning, a questioning of the value of past achievements and future prospects. But rather than succumbing to despair, Shatner embraces the struggle itself as a means of reaffirming his existence. The final, desperate cries of "I NEED to struggle!" are not a celebration of hardship, but a raw, vulnerable admission of its necessity. It's a portrait of a man finding meaning not in achievement, but in the act of striving itself.