Great song with a great meaning. It is about life, and about yourself - who you are. You may think you are worthless and have no purpose in this world - we all feel that then & now. Then you realize you do have a part here, and that is just being you, just read the last few lines to the song. All songs on No Code have such powerful message, you've got Present Tense, and now you've got Who You Are. This is really a good cd to play when you are feeling down and need some soul searching.

This is an easy song to explain, you've a girl who was into a mental institution by her mother because her mother assumed the girl had a mental illness, though nothing is wrong with her. Her mother couldn't deal with this girl so she just dumped her into the house and she's been there for 2 years. So in the institution you have the girl writing her story on the walls of her room for whoever will be the next person to stay in her room, that way the next peson won't be feel alone and have something to relate to. I see her in there and being totally used for experimenting with new drugs for patients. She seems to get stronger, but they want her to stay weak and under their control. She could just cave in to their demands and be a clone, sorta like a lab rat to do tests on. So her spirit eventually does break, there is no longer a point to leaving this place and going back home. She feels without anyone, her own mother rejected her and locked her out from the world. You had this girl who was perfectly normal, just misunderstood by her mom, and being put into the mental institution is what did make her lose her mind in the end.

I see this as a long song written... doing simple things but meaning more than anyone can imagine... wanting to be involved in someone's live in every possible way, such as a key chain (simple) or a pedal brake (important)... "i wish i was the souviener you kept your house key on. i wish i was the pedal brake that you depended upon"... and this line is so powerful and very fundamental in any relationship: "i wish i was the verb to trust that never let you down"... and of course being happy in a relationship: "i wish i was as fortunate as fortunate as me"