Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the drill. All we want is The Offspring. (In joke. Sorry.)

Wyverna

All I want (The Offspring).

Day after day your home life's a wreck The powers that be just Breathe down your neck

Zack screamed in frustration. It just wasn't on! First of all his guitar's gone missing, now this! He couldn't find his song, the one he wrote. It was his English Lit. Homework, and he'd meant to show it to the band. Everything was going wrong lately, and he hated it! He felt like he didn't even own his life anymore. "Zack!" yelled his dad. His dad was breathing down his neck again. It was always, have you done this; done that, why not do these, why not act like that. He was sick of it, he really was.

You get no relief

You get no respect

"Get down here now, Zack! I don't care how busy you are, my work is more important! I don't care what you're doing, all I care about is me, me, ME!" Ok, so maybe his dad didn't say those exact words, but that was what he meant. They both knew. It was always when Zack was working on something for the band that had to be in tomorrow, or when Zack was doing something that was really important...to him, anyway. Not to his dad. And now he wasn't allowed out at all, he didn't even manage to get away from it.

You gotta speak up

And yell out your rules

Back off your jive

Sometimes he cracked. He let it get to him. He told his dad that he didn't care, that his work was more important than his dad's, that it was HIS life, and NOT his dad's! So why didn't he just STEP OFF! Of course, it never worked. Never. Sometimes...well, he'd never admit it, but sometimes he almost felt like ending it all.

'Cause I'm sick of not living To stay alive

He couldn't put a foot out of line at home, or his dad came down on him. And school? Well, when he finally made it to school, it was almost as bad. "Zack! Zack, have you done that two-page essay? I mean, I realize we didn't have to, but of course, I'm sure those teachers were just saying that. Right?" Summer. Always planning out every second of every day. He wouldn't mind that much, only it was his day, not hers.

Leave me alone

I'm not asking a lot

I just don't want to be controlled

He didn't mind anything about her, she was almost perfect. She just tried to control him. Why couldn't she just leave him alone? He'd told her enough times, that was all he wanted.

That's all I want

All I want

All I want

All I want

But of course, she didn't hear him. Of course, she ignored him. And of course, she just went on doing it anyway. None of them listened, none of them! They just took him for granted, just assumed that he'd go along with whatever they were doing.

How many times is it gonna take

Till someone around hears what you say

You've tried being cool

You feel like a lie

Oh, yeah, sure he'd tried going along with them. He'd told them over and over to please, please listen. But they ignored him, they always ignored him. Sometimes he felt like he wasn't there. He understood now how Lawrence had felt before Dewey came. Like no-one cared whether you were there or not, like no-one even noticed you. So he tried joining in, tried going along with what they did. But he didn't enjoy any of it. He was trying to be someone he wasn't.

You've played by their rules

Now it's their turn to try

So back off your rules

Back off your jive

So he'd 'gone psycho', as Freddy said. 'Gone clean loco'.Yelled at them. Told them that they were doing things his way, for once. He hadn't gone along with the unspoken rules that they had, hadn't 'danced to their tune'. He'd done his own thing, followed his own rules. They'd asked him why.

'Cause I'm sick of not living

To stay alive

Leave me alone

I'm not asking a lot

I just don't want to be controlled

Why? Why? WHY? Did he need a reason to have fun? To do what he wanted? To do things his way for once? He didn't want to just go through the motions of life, of fun, he wanted to throw himself into it, with all his heart! He wanted to have a say in things, to the things he wanted to do, without giving people a reason. He just didn't want to be controlled.

That's all I want

All I want

All I want

All I want

I said it before

I'll say it again

He told them how he'd said all this, how he's going to keep on saying it.

If you could just listen

They'd just stared at him like he was crazy.

Then it might make sense.

They'd just carried on.