Flaming Lips - Do You Realize - Lyrics Meaning

"Do You Realize" is a song from the Flaming Lips' 2002 release "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." The single reached #32 on the UK Singles Chart. Although it did not chart in the United States, the song has been featured in commercials for Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, VH1, and in the 2004 Adam Sandler movie "50 First Dates." In 2009, the song was also named the official rock song of Oklahoma - the band's home state.

The lyrics are a reminder to pause and realize that everyone must live life for today since there is no guarantee of a tomorrow. We shouldn't put off telling the people around us that we love them or recognizing the beauty and good in the mundane of everyday life. Life is fragile and we have no idea when our journey will end or the journey of the people closest to us. It's important to stop and realize that "Everyone you know, someday will die" and "Instead of saving all of your goodbyes - let them know."

There was some speculation that the song was inspired by the sudden death of a close friend of the band from Japan, however, Wayne Coyne told Mojo magazine that he wrote the song at a time when both the heroin addiction of band mate Steven Drozd and the death of Coyne's father were weighing on his mind. The stanza "We're floating in space" comes from Coyne's astonishment that we live in a galaxy that spins around, essentially meaning we're flying uncontrollably through space, and reminding him of how precarious our existence really is.

The lyrics, albeit simple, have profound meaning to many people, and have become a concert staple for the Flaming Lips, as well as a song used at funerals, birth videos, and wedding videos.