Alive
Joey Lauren Adams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But all alone
Just missin someone
I don't even know
But until I find him
I'll wait patiently
Just feeling nothing
And where are you baby?
Where can you be?
Why aren't you here
Lovin me?
Cause I want to kiss you
And make you feel right
I want to lay with you
All through the night
And I wanna feel passion, I wanna feel pain
I wanna weep at the sound of your name
Come make me laugh or come make me cry
Just make me feel alive
And so I wait
For that glorious day
When the one I dream of
Comes my way
And when our lips touch
So tenderly
I know I'll feel something
Inside of me
I wanna feel passion, I wanna feel pain
I wanna weep at the sound of your name
Come make me laugh or come make me cry
Just make me feel alive
Joey Lauren Adams's song "Alive" is a heartfelt expression of longing for an unknown person. The first two lines of the chorus, "I'm feeling nothing / But all alone," set the tone for the entire song. The singer is in a state of emotional emptiness and seems to be searching for something to fill the void. The line "Just missing someone / I don't even know" suggests a longing for a connection with another person, but not just any person. This could be interpreted as the search for a soulmate, someone who will complete the singer in some way.
The third and fourth lines of the chorus, "But until I find him / I'll wait patiently," suggest that the singer is willing to be patient in her search for this person. She acknowledges that finding her soulmate may take time, but she is willing to wait for him to come into her life. And while she waits, she continues to feel nothing inside of her.
The second verse continues this theme, with the singer asking the questions "Where are you baby? / Where can you be?" The implication here is that the singer's soulmate exists somewhere, but she hasn't met him yet. The lines "Why aren't you here / Lovin me?" suggest a frustration with the fact that she hasn't found this person yet. The chorus then repeats, with the singer expressing her desire to feel alive through passion, pain, laughter, and tears at the hands of this unknown person.
Overall, "Alive" is a tender and vulnerable expression of longing for a deep connection with another person. The singer's willingness to wait for her soulmate and her desire to feel alive through both the joys and pains of love make this a relatable and moving song.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm feeling nothing
Joey Lauren Adams is currently lacking emotions
But all alone
She is missing someone despite being by herself
Just missin someone
Adams is longing for someone's presence
I don't even know
However, she is uncertain about this person's identity
But until I find him
Regardless, she will wait patiently until she finds him
I'll wait patiently
She has a lot of patience for this person
Just feeling nothing
She is still feeling empty
Inside of me
There's still a void within her
And where are you baby?
She is determined to find this person
Where can you be?
But is unsure of his location
Why aren't you here
Adams is wondering why he hasn't come to her yet
Lovin me?
And why he hasn't started loving her
Cause I want to kiss you
She wants to engage physically with him
And make you feel right
Adams wants him to feel satisfied with her affection
I want to lay with you
To spend long nights together
All through the night
Until dawn breaks
And I wanna feel passion, I wanna feel pain
She desires to experience intense feelings, both good and bad
I wanna weep at the sound of your name
Adams wants to cry even hearing his name once
Come make me laugh or come make me cry
This person can evoke laughter or tears in her and she's okay with that
Just make me feel alive
Joey Lauren Adams wants to feel present and excited about life again
And so I wait
Despite waiting long, she has not given up
For that glorious day
Adams anticipates an incredible moment with her lover
When the one I dream of
Her long-awaiting dream will come true one day
Comes my way
And he will come towards her
And when our lips touch
It will be a moment of passion and love
So tenderly
It will be gentle and loving
I know I'll feel something
She is confident that she will feel whole and alive
Inside of me
And that her emptiness will be gone
I wanna feel passion, I wanna feel pain
Adams reiterates her desire for strong emotions
I wanna weep at the sound of your name
This person will elicit intense emotions from her
Come make me laugh or come make me cry
But either way, he will make her feel alive
Just make me feel alive
Above all else, she wants to feel truly alive and present
Contributed by Colton I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@tearsofchronus
Funny plot inconsistency I never noticed:
Later, when Alyssa starts dating Holden, her friends press her as she tells them about him over her repeated use of neutral pronouns for him (implied attempt at trying to mask the fact Holden is a man), e.g. "I met someone, they're from my hometown"
When she tells them his name, they pour a drink and lament "another one bites the dust" and she later mentions she's being ostracized by her friends for dating a man.
In this song, written by Joey for the movie, she uses no gendered pronouns to describe this person she's longing for ("Just missing someone I dont even know/Until I find them, I'll wait patiently").
Alyssa mentions before singing the song "you guys know the one I want to sing", leading us to reason that she and her friends/bandmates used to play this song frequently.
These are her close friends whom she shares community with in her identity as a lesbian. Alyssa's queer identity is central to her as a person.
Synthesizing all of this, it's /really/ weird to the point of being a plot hole that all these lesbian friends of hers are really so shocked and hurt by her dating Holden when she spent the greater part of her youth frequently sleeping with men and wrote a love song where she completely avoided referring to the gender of the person she desires. A core theme of the movie is her exploring, confronting, and coming to grips with the exact boundaries of her sexuality, which aren't even concrete for the supposedly hetero characters in the movie (my hot take is that there's not a single straight main character in the movie but, that's another discussion), let alone Alyssa who explicitly states her sexuality was not a road map from A to B.
From context we can assume that when Alyssa made the friendships she did in the queer community, she kept many aspects of her sexual and romantic history with men private for fear of the exact reaction we see later on. This reinforces the movie's commentary on bi erasure particularly within sapphic circles, and it's astounding how it still applies today.
Anyway, Joey Lauren Adams is a phenomenal actor and I love this song even more after examining the lyrics in the context of Alyssa's sexuality. Cant help but wonder if she wrote it that way on purpose. She probably did.
@qoam0
I'm feeling nothing
But all alone
Just missing someone
I don't even know
But until I find them
I'll wait patiently
Just feeling nothing
Inside of me
And where are you baby
Where can you be
Why aren't you here
Loving me
'Cause I won't to kiss you
And make you feel right
I want to lay with you
all through the night
And I want to feel passion
I want to feel pain
I want to weep at the sound of your name
Come make me laugh
Come make me cry
Just make me feel
Alive
And so I wait
For that glorious day
When the one I dream of
Comes my way
But until I find them
I'll wait patiently
Just feeling nothing
Inside of me
And where are you baby
Where can you be
Why aren't you here
Loving me
'Cause I want to kiss you
and make you feel right
I want to lay with you
All through the night
And I want to feel passion...
@billyaltavator5425
Chasing Amy is my favorite Kevin Smith movie. Its a mixture of funny thought provoking and tear jerking. Joey Lauren Adams is a very talented women and Chasing Amy proves that. I love her unique voice. Tho it does get annoying wen she screams but it sounds very soothing. Plus she is a decent singer and a cutie
@stefantomasi4036
Billy Altavator it is a great romantic dramedy. This makes Reality Bites feel like 40 Days and 40 Nights with Josh Hartnett
@mallorie1916
This is such a great no movie! So underrated. Have to watch it again soon! 💯😭♥️
@drowningin
I really like it too, though I like dogma more. I don't know why everyone hates this movie? Or maybe its about Kevin smith romantic movie, but I think its this one I always hear it in his worst movie list
@xxxCrackerJack501xxx
Joey Lauren Adams is criminally underrated.
@louisberry4403
This is such well done movie in the mix of funny humor and emotion drama. Wish Joey did more movies because she's such a talent as an actress and singer, Plus she's gorgeous. This is a great 90s classic that holds up today.
@TheLolstar6
This is such an underrated movie and an underrated song. I found this movie by completely accident over 20 years ago when I recorded an episode of sex and City and left the tape running which recorded this movie. Still one of my favourite accidents.
@kennatanel1209
This song was written for the movie By Joey Lauren Adams , what, 20 years ago? And still a banger and sung so well - wish she made an album, that voice...
@larryloveland1911
Almost 25 years my friend! Also this was stuck in my head for the longest
@leahflower9924
That's crazy it's a good song I always wanted to know who sang it then realized it was made up