["Can I look at faces that I meet?","Can I get my punk ass off the street?","Can I graduate?","","Can I get my punk ass off the street?","","Can I graduate?","Will this song live on long after we do?","Can I graduate?","","","(Can I graduate?)","Go on fade out before I get stuck","Won't die on the vine, I wanna knock it all down","Someone poked you down below","Can I graduate?","","Talking to somebody like you","I've been livin' on for so long","(My mind)","Can I get my punk ass off the street?","Cross my fingers, I don't know","Can I graduate?","Echo fading, we can't let go","","Do you live the days you go through?","Can I look at faces that I meet?","Your whipping boy calamity","She goes walking by in slow mo'","(Can I graduate?)"," (Can I graduate?)","","","Can I graduate?","Will this song live on long after we do?","Can I graduate?","Did you flash out long ago?","I'm not waiting here for you to fly","Echo fading, candle blow","Can I look at faces that I meet?","Sell your heart out for a buck","To the bastard talking down to me","Cross your fingers, I'm going to knock it all down","Can I graduate?"]
Performed by: Third Eye Blind Written by: Kevin Cadogan; Stephan Jenkins; Arion Salazar
Credits: Cadogan, Kevin (Songwriter); Jenkins, Stephan (Songwriter); Salazar, Arion (Songwriter); 3EB PUBLISHING (Publisher); CAPPAGH HILL MUSIC (Publisher)
The band played this at the American Music Awards in 1998 changing some of the lyrics to "can I masturbate" in place of "can I graduate."
The song sounds as if it is about a typical high school graduation, however, Jenkins wrote it when, in the mid-90's, he wanted to "graduate" from being so unable to express himself, something that he also couldn't do with some of the labels wanting to buy his band.
Song meaning
"People don't know—they think it's about getting out of high school or something. No, 'My punk ass off the street/ Someone poked you down below.' It's basically because being a male prostitute is a metaphor for how we've all felt like when we're doing something that's way below our station in life. I think we've all been like, 'I'm just taking it up the ass here!' And that's what the song is about. 'Come on!/ Can I fucking graduate?' We've all had that feeling of 'You know, this is really beneath me.' Not to knock male prostitutes or anything, it's just a metaphor." - Stephan Jenkins
