In a sense, the song itself can be taken as a possible answer the year preceding the release of "The Impression That I Get" - when third wave ska's popularity exploded - marked a crucial turning point in the Bosstones' career, since popular taste had finally caught up with them. There's a confessional tone too, as the singer reveals his own fears about the future, and wonders how he'll respond when the time comes for him to be tested himself. Lyrically, the song finds the Bosstones reaching deeper than on their admittedly infectious, good-humored party anthems of the past at bottom, it's about the ambivalence and vague guilt that comes from having sympathy for the suffering and admiration for their endurance, without really knowing firsthand what they're going through. It's also one of the band's catchiest numbers ever - not only are the melodies memorable (if relatively simple), but the different sections flow logically into one another without seeming arbitrarily thrown together. The song alternates an up-tempo, hyperactive ska beat during the verses with an anthemic hard rock chorus that's given a distinctive flavor by the horn section.
However, it seemed as though wider success would elude one of the most important formative influences on the style - that is, until the Bosstones returned from a three-year silence in the spring of 1997 with Let's Face It, whose lead single, "The Impression That I Get," was an immediate and inescapable smash on modern rock radio for the next few months. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had long been one of America's most likable and influential ska-punk bands, earning a devoted cult following since their debut in 1990 and setting the stage for ska's more rock-oriented third wave to finally gain massive popular acceptance.
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