The guy who slagged the football team -
Those yobs were not for him -
Turns into a real estate agent
Who believes in discipline;
The guy who's the first to use cocaine,
The wild boy breaking free,
Ends up in a court of law
As a prosecuting Q.C.;
Remember the school captain?
Success was a matter of time:
I can hear her now as she screams,
"Greg! You missed the stop sign!"

Forget Snoop Doggy Dog,
Forget ol' Ice T-
The true word out on the streets
Is produced by the T.A.C.
What good's the use of striving?
As Life's roan in front unravels
We get to do the driving,
But don't choose the direction we travel.
Do your homework or wag for weeks
And graffiti the Dandedong line:
It don't matter much when you hear that scream -
"Greg! You missed the stop sign!"

Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!

Some time in the next hundred thousand years
A comet's gonna wipe out all trace of Man -
I'm banking on it coming before
My end of year exam.
The rich kid, he becomes a junkie,
The poor kid, an advertiser:
What a tragic waste of potential -
Being a junkie's not so good, either.
Your folks struggled hard for what you've got,
You are the fruit of their vine;
But who cares what you sow when what you reap is
"Greg! You missed the stop sign!"?

Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!
Greg! The stop sign!

Bought a car just the other day
Man! could that baby run!
But you know what they always say:
There's always a better one
Got a tumour in my brain
It's creeping to my lungs
But I've searched around in vain
Can't find me a better one.

Hardwired into everyone's head
Is the person they're gonna be -
Growing up is not a matter of choice,
It's a matter of wait and see.
And so kids, yeah! you can do it!
Remember to be your best!
Girls can do anything!
You can pass the test!
I'm O.K! You're O.K! We're O.K! We're fine!
I thought I saw a semi-trailer!
Greg! You missed the stop sign!


Lyrics submitted by yllas

Greg! The Stop Sign!! song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    The song criticizes the TAC public addresses concerning inebriated driving, in that they were violent and overall depressing. These addresses showed happy young adults living fun lives, until they got into a car, inebriated, and usually with friends, and were often met with incredibly violent traffic accidents.

    The first verse talks about three stereotypes of kids in school: the one who throws away bad influences (yobs in the football team) and becomes a model in the community; the kid who experiments with drugs who eventually ends up in a court of law – but as a prosecuting queen's counsel; and finally, the model student whose life is cut short by a drunk driver missing a stop sign.

    The second verse concerns specifically with how discouraging the advertisements are: how the students' lives could be ended in a single violent drive. The start compares Snoop Dogg and Ice T, controversial rappers, with the commercials; this, essentially, says "Rap isn't what you should be worried about, it's these damn PAs." By saying that whether you work intensely on homework or you graffiti the Dandedong line (a Victoria transit line), your life is eventually going to end horribly, so why do anything at all?

    Third among the verses, after the chorus, talks a bit about the mindset the addresses gives. The speaker doesn't care about his end of year exams because he knows that, eventually, it won't even matter. I'll save the bit about the advertiser and the junkie for the next verse, but the line "Who cares what you sow when what you reap" is an exact statement: why work hard for yourself or others if someone's just going to miss a stop sign and kill you?

    After the chorus, the next verse is about how there will always be a better car, but you -can- get the best cancer tumor. This ties into the previous lines about junkies and advertisers: it's always assumed that you could do better than just being an advertiser (hence, "tragic waste of potential") but nobody says much about doing the worst you possibly can, which is arguably easier than being an advertiser ("being a junkie's not so good, either").

    The first four lines of the final verse is a summarization of their previous points: you feel as though your life is hardwired and eventually only summarized by your death, and so you don't actually give much choice in your future. The end of the verse, however, touches on a new point entirely. In the TAC commercials, there are few if any problems shown about the subject's lives -until- they begin drinking and getting the driver's seat of the car. The hurried "I'm OK! You're OK!" section is a way of dismissing all other problems that you might have in your life, while the final repetition of "Greg! You missed the stop sign!" saying that all of the attention that might be spent on our other problems is instead put on depressing and violent public addresses.

    But, at the end of the day, who really gives a fuck?

    AllieAnarchyon April 28, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is just mad. Not their best, but possibly their biggest. TISM RULE!!!!

    Bornyon May 25, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Well, I thought it was, basically... the winners in highschool become loser and visa versa.

    I love the chorus. Possibly my favourite TISM songs.

    dot dot line lineon October 14, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Cracker song, top notch - vocal melodies for Africa. It's cool to be a geek because youll have your day, and all those jocks will suffer

    bkat004on October 28, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    An attack on postmodernism: the proposition that all things are equally good and equally likely.

    Odeon August 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    There used to be this ad on Australian TV, and it was made by the TAC (Transport Accident Commision) and there's a part of the ad where this bloke, (presumably Greg) is speeding down the road. He forgets to stop at an intersection, and the woman shouts out "GREG! You missed the stop-sign!" and then they get hit by a Mack truck. I think the ad was on in the 90's.

    sire_of_black_eyesson February 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    There used to be this ad on Australian TV, and it was made by the TAC (Transport Accident Commision) and there's a part of the ad where this bloke, (presumably Greg) is speeding down the road. He forgets to stop at an intersection, and the woman shouts out "GREG! You missed the stop-sign!" and then they get hit by a Mack truck. I think the ad was on in the 90's.

    sire_of_black_eyesson February 05, 2009   Link

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