Sum 41 - Fat Lip - Lyrics Meaning

The song "Fat Lip" was featured on Sum 41's second album, All Killer No Filler. Though they may have intended the song to be a more hard core rock number, it ended up as a major pop hit for the band and remains their best recognized piece. It celebrates both their own lifestyles and the desires of their fans to remain young and free forever.

On one level, the song is about individuals who just don't quite fit in. Lacking friends, they crash their own parties, listen to weird music, and generally make nuisances of themselves around the neighborhood. They revel in their very punkness, without a single thought to the consequences, or at least that is how the verses make things sound.

On the other chorus, however, the song confides that the number is actually about the desire to not conform to a single mold applied indiscriminately to young people. This was the highest point of resonance with fans, and it was this meaning of the piece - a desire to not be caged up or controlled - that really made the song work. Listeners hoped just as hard as the band members that they would not become mindless victims of an uncaring society and hang on to their individuality.