What It's Like
"What It's Like" is a song by American musician Everlast. It was released in July 1998 as the lead single from his second studio album, "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues" (1998). The song is typical of the style Everlast embraced after leaving hip hop trio House of Pain, being a combination of rock, hip-hop and blues incorporating characterization and empathy towards impoverished protagonists. The song went to number one on the US "Billboard" Mainstream Rock chart for one week and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for nine weeks. It also peaked  at number 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming the singer's only solo top 40 hit on the US chart to date. Outside the United States, the song reached number four in Iceland, number six in Canada, and the top 30 in Australia, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Song structure. Structurally, the song consists of three verses, a chorus, and a bridge. The last line of the chorus varies in accordance with the particular situation faced by the character in the preceding verse. Each character is presented in a sympathetic light as a victim of circumstance and as being an  object of derision. Each verse ends with the line "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his/her shoes" (in the third verse, ""...you ever had to wake up to hear the news"") and "Cause then you really might know what it's like to", with the action varying depending on what the character has to do ("sing the blues," "have to choose," and "have to lose," respectively). The characters are: The speaker attempts to build sympathy for each character's struggle through the phrase "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his/her  shoes, 'cause then you really might know what it's like". The third verse changes the angle slightly to focus on the family left behind: "Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of his pain ... God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news, 'cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose". Music video. The music video was directed by Frank Sacramento in Los Angeles. Everlast is shown singing underwater while the three characters depicted in his song drown. Later they are crowded around a  window (possibly dead) behind which an idyllic family is enjoying dinner, oblivious to the less fortunate who are outside. Track listings. US promo CD UK 7-inch single UK CD and cassette single European and Australian CD single