The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
As so many practiced diplomats, so too your vaunted laureates, whose access to the higher rungs of the cultural priesthood is hinged upon their flair for sophistry. Well, I vote you the best-equipped to shrink from speech that might suggest any thoughts your key target-market might not have already signed-off on and ratified. And I vote you most likely to clutter your language with so much deadwood that no amount of pruning will reveal your intensive, protracted campaign of saying nothing at all. Your daydreams of black tie affairs at Rideau Hall. Your acceptance speech. Your dramatic pause. Don't forget to thank those bitter ex-musician cum embedded rock-journalists frantically applauding the latest artist-formerly-known-as-iconoclast, giddy from the fumes of a fresh defection, moping to the maudlin beat of a hat rack rhythm section, a tacit understanding of mutual non-aggression enjoyed by every nauseating do-nothing functionary. Really, it's not so much the incessant ruse of assigning profound meaning to the meaningless curios you decorate you sets with in your extraordinarily mundane fictions. It's the (colossal) arrogance of the subtext: the province of human affairs is a field best left to dilettantes with the extraordinary gift for feigning of paralysis. For saying nothing at all. For daydreams of black tie affairs at Rideau Hall. An acceptance speech. Sustained applause.
Lyrics submitted by postlapsaria
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I think this song is about the higher classes and top of society, the capitalists trying to act like heroes or amazing proggressive revolutionaries or something that are trying to change the world. When really it's just an image probably to sell more records and gain more populary and to not loose credibility or something when real revolutionaries or progressive people from the underground (like propagandhi themselves probably e.t.c). just all the time keep taking shit up and fighting for it. And then mainstream media, capitalists millionaire artists take their whole effort away from them and basically spit at it all almost and make it seem like it's theirs and that rather then change coming from below and the bottom from grassroot organisations e.t.c they give illusion of that it comes or will come from the top.
And really they're not that interested in actually changing the issues or they're playing it safe instead of actually trying to bring some real change and discussion, and rather then bringing that they bring opposite and make people believe everything's fine and will be and is being taken care of by the ones in the top, and those care more about and maintaining their own interests, power and statous or even increasing it perhaps really. And then since they're the ones in power they basically sit and celebrate eachothers "efforts". Making them look even better and greater, when really they've done nothing and their "effort to bring change" and "make the world a better place" might really and actually be counteractive.