Bargain

Meher Baba once said this; Pete Townshend, a follower of Baba, made this the first line in the song "Bargain". This song is crucial to the Lifehouse story, bringing the main theme of oneness in everything to the forefront. The story revolves around finding that "one note" to bring everyone together and in harmony. This, to me, since Pete's using a quote from a guru, is similar to the "om" in Hinduism.

I'd gladly give up all I had
To find you I'd suffer anything and be glad

I'd pay any price just to get you
I'd work all my life and I will
To win you I'd stand naked, stoned and stabbed

This extends on the idea of oneness, that the person singing, in this case, anyone who's wanting that oneness, would do anything to find this enlightenment, to find this "one note". This song, out of the context of Lifehouse (and I think within it, too), could also be about God. Like The Who's album before,Tommy, Who's Next (the abridged Who-version of Lifehouse) is the story of someone searching for salvation.

I'd call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

Anything will be done, and whatever it is, it's all worth it. It's sort of an idiomatic and sarcastic statment. Yet not bitterly sarcastic. Because, it is sincerely saying that anything would be done just to reach this point.

I'd gladly lose me to find you
I'd gladly give up all I got
To catch you I'm gonna run and never stop

I'd pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I'm gonna drown an unsung man

I'd call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

I sit looking 'round
I look at my face in the mirror
I know I'm worth nothing without you

We, everyone, humankind, are nothing without each other. We feed off of each other, you can't be someone without everyone else, because...

And like one and one don't make two
One and one make one

Everyone is one. This is the pinnacle of the song when everyone is joined together

And I'm looking for that free ride to me
I'm looking for you

We are nothing without each other.

CST Approved

Bar"gain (?), n. [OE. bargayn, bargany, OF. bargaigne, bargagne, prob. from a supposed LL. barcaneum, fr. barca a boat which carries merchandise to the shore; hence, to traffic to and fro, to carry on commerce in general. See Bark a vessel. ]

1.

An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds himself to transfer the right to some property for a consideration, and the other party binds himself to receive the property and pay the consideration.

A contract is a bargain that is legally binding.
Wharton.

2.

An agreement or stipulation; mutual pledge.

And whon your honors mean to solemnize
The bargain of your faith.
Shak.

3.

A purchase; also ( when not qualified), a gainful transaction; an advantageous purchase; as, to buy a thing at a bargain.

4.

The thing stipulated or purchased; also, anything bought cheap.

She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
Shak.

Bargain and sale Law, a species of conveyance, by which the bargainor contracts to convey the lands to the bargainee, and becomes by such contract a trustee for and seized to the use of the bargainee. The statute then completes the purchase; i.e., the bargain vests the use, and the statute vests the possession. Blackstone. -- Into the bargain, over and above what is stipulated; besides. -- To sell bargains, to make saucy (usually indelicate) repartees. [Obs.] Swift. -- To strike a bargain, to reach or ratify an agreement. "A bargain was struck." Macaulay.

Syn. -- Contract; stipulation; purchase; engagement.

© Webster 1913.

Bar"gain, v. i. [OE. barganien, OF. bargaigner, F. barguigner, to hesitate, fr. LL. barcaniare. See Bargain, n.]

To make a bargain; to make a contract for the exchange of property or services; -- followed by with and for; as, to bargain with a farmer for a cow.

So worthless peasants bargain for their wives.
Shak.

© Webster 1913.

Bar"gain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bargained (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bargaining.]

To transfer for a consideration; to barter; to trade; as, to bargain one horse for another.

To bargain away, to dispose of in a bargain; -- usually with a sense of loss or disadvantage; as, to bargain away one's birthright. "The heir . . . had somehow bargained away the estate."

G. Eliot.

© Webster 1913.