I'll Be Waiting is part of a double A-Side single by The Offspring, and is their first commercial release. It was released along with Blackball and it can be found as the tenth track on their self-titled album released two years later - The Offspring.
| "I'll Be Waiting" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| A-side | "Blackball" |
Release
The band itself released "I'll Be Waiting" on Black Label Records (which the band named after a brand of beer). Only 1,000 copies of this record were made, 500 with a sleeve, 500 without, and it took the band two and a half years to sell them all.[citation needed] Ironically, this record is now the most expensive piece of The Offspring's work as it is the rarest.[citation needed]
Song Meaning
"I'll Be Waiting"'s theme differs somewhat from the general political tone of the album. The narrator discusses three important parts of his life and how he has lost all of them.
In the first verse he discusses a friend who he thought he could count on, but evidently could not. Elaborating further on this, the narrator wonders 'who wears the masks and who wears the faces' - who is fake and who is not. In the second part of the first verse he discusses a typical club atmosphere - people who he claims to be his friends are just addicted to alcohol and smoking and do not care about him.
The chorus of the song is deliberately cynical. The commonly used colloquialism 'friends for life' is referred to as 'shallow words for broken minds'. The narrator implies that there is no such thing as a 'friend for life', and waits for the day when he will 'feel alive', that is to gain a true friend.
The second verse discusses a love the narrator once had. He states that they might have known eachother 'just too well'. He implies lust instead of love, saying that they could not get enough of eachother, but also could not get what they wanted - a loving relationship. He wonders if she ever existed truely to him. Also in the second verse the narrator ponders a dream he once had, but it 'quickly turns to reality' - this dream will never be achieved. A similar theme from this part is discussed in The Kids Aren't Alright.
In the second chorus the narrator alters the words slightly - now it is 'love for life' that is said to be 'noble words for noble minds'. This implies that the saying is well-meaning this time, but he still has not been shown a love for life and is still waiting to 'feel alive'.
In the conclusion the narrator goes through each of his losses once more before saying he wants to close his eyes, because he does not want to see 'anything anymore'.