Storytelling as an Artform in Noah Kahan's "We'll All Be Here Forever"

No Complaints

No Complaints is about the struggles that come to light when you attempt to address mental health. The very first verse -
I thought I had somethin’
And that’s the same as havin’ somethin’
I get mad at nothin’, blame my dad for somethin’
I pull no punches then feel bad for months
Mm, thought I was raised better, tried to fake better
Tried to blame weather and escape better
Hope the pain heals where the skin enters
- mentions thinking you have everything together, when you really do not. A previous lyric from Stick Season, So I thought that if piled something good on all my bad that I would cancel out the darkness I inherited from Dad. The thing that the narrator blames their father for is depression, since science has proven that those with a family history of depression and anxiety are more likely to live with it themselves. Trying to blame weather is the northern attitude alluded to all throughout the record, as well as likely being a reference to seasonal affective disorder. Depression often gets worse in the winter, so the narrator is blaming the seasons for their outbursts.

The pre-chorus -
Oh, but I finally got sewed up
I set a time, then I showed up
And the now the weight of the world ain’t so bad
- references getting “sewed up”. This is a nod to an earlier song, Young Blood, which has a lyric, I spend nights stitching up the loose ends of my soul. In a genius annotation for Young Blood, Kahan stated that, for him, sleep helped during down periods. Sewing is being used at a metaphor for seeking therapy.

The chorus -
I saw the end, it looks just like the middle
I got a paper and pen and a page with no space
I filled the hole in my head with prescription medication
And forgot how to cry
Who am I to complain?
- makes a reference to seeing the end. This is the narrator talking about their experience of being suicidal. It could refer to the idea that your life supposedly flashes before your eyes in the moments before death. The narrator saw both the middle and the end in that moment because they were younger when they first made the attempt. It may also mean that, in that period, the narrator tried to imagine what their life would be like later. When they realised that it would stay the same, they decided to seek help. As well as being a reflection on the narrator’s own experience with suicidal ideation, it may also refer to the fact that the narrator watched the subject leave twice. First, they saw the subject leave Strafford, then they saw the subject leave to go to Bags, Wyoming. Kahan stated at one point about a few weeks after Stick Season's release that Strawberry Wine was “about burying a loved one in Bags, Wyoming.” Baggs, Wyoming is thirty-one hours away from Strafford.

The second verse -
And now the pain’s different
It still exists, it just escapes different
And evades vision, makes the rain different
Makes the news boring, makes my rage distant
Yes, I'm young and living dreams
In love with being noticed
And afraid of being seen
But I can finally eat
And I can finally fall asleep
It's fine, fine, fine
- is about the narrator taking antidepressants. The verse describes how they have impacted the narrator thus far. Sleep has been improved, and they are eating more. Now that the narrator is in therapy, they have somewhere for that pain to go rather than just holding it down and letting it fuel their rage. The medication, which is most likely Zoloft due to the earlier reference, has affected the narrator’s vision, which is an uncommon side effect that about a fifth of its users experience. The fact that the narrator can finally eat deals with Kahan’s past experiences with eating disorders and how going through therapy has improved his relationship with food. As well as blurry vision, Zoloft can cause fatigue and sleepiness, as well as impacting appetite.