In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Ron and Nancy got the house but Sid and Nancy rule
I died eight years ago; I'm still a legend at my high school
I stole a Chevy and I wrapped it round a tree
But that's OK 'cause no one's gonna make the next century
I'm up in heaven now they say I'm here to stay
Where the clouds are really puffy and the angels sing every day
Alleluia
The cafeteria's got everything, it's gonna drive me mad
Cause it looks just like a big Hawaiian party that my mother had
It's like the worst Elvis film I've ever seen
Technicolor luau all on technicolor green
There's camping trips and donkey rides and singing round the fire
And they signed me up for surfing
But they can't get me in the choir
Alleluia
But there she was this morning getting fitted for her wings
Leather boots, magenta hair, and saying nasty things
I'd say she was an angel but it's stupid and it's obvious
I said you'll hate it here 'cause we're the only ones like us
It's crypto-fascist mania, it's silicon deliria
Yeah, she said, you're right, but I like the cafeteria
Alleluia
Hey God, we're the bad kids, we're so nasty, mean and vile
God looks like a guidance counselor, God's got that smile
God says, how could this be, that's really odd
I guess I'll have to check my records, silly me, you know, I'm only God
Alleluia
The waves are perfect and the sun will always shine
But there's got to be more to death than surfing all the time
I know the signs of self-destruction so I try to stop each new kid
Don't be like me, forever young, forever stupid
Yeah, I found love here, but I'll bet you'll find it there
Where they don't always make the same joke,
"Gee, you make a heavenly pair."
Alleluia
I died eight years ago; I'm still a legend at my high school
I stole a Chevy and I wrapped it round a tree
But that's OK 'cause no one's gonna make the next century
I'm up in heaven now they say I'm here to stay
Where the clouds are really puffy and the angels sing every day
Alleluia
The cafeteria's got everything, it's gonna drive me mad
Cause it looks just like a big Hawaiian party that my mother had
It's like the worst Elvis film I've ever seen
Technicolor luau all on technicolor green
There's camping trips and donkey rides and singing round the fire
And they signed me up for surfing
But they can't get me in the choir
Alleluia
But there she was this morning getting fitted for her wings
Leather boots, magenta hair, and saying nasty things
I'd say she was an angel but it's stupid and it's obvious
I said you'll hate it here 'cause we're the only ones like us
It's crypto-fascist mania, it's silicon deliria
Yeah, she said, you're right, but I like the cafeteria
Alleluia
Hey God, we're the bad kids, we're so nasty, mean and vile
God looks like a guidance counselor, God's got that smile
God says, how could this be, that's really odd
I guess I'll have to check my records, silly me, you know, I'm only God
Alleluia
The waves are perfect and the sun will always shine
But there's got to be more to death than surfing all the time
I know the signs of self-destruction so I try to stop each new kid
Don't be like me, forever young, forever stupid
Yeah, I found love here, but I'll bet you'll find it there
Where they don't always make the same joke,
"Gee, you make a heavenly pair."
Alleluia
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Dar Williams: Well, it's autobiographical, but it didn't happen to me. I think it was inspired by a kid who died in a car accident in my high school, who was a real angel... He was high, it was a stolen car, he did wrap it around a tree. He was high a lot, I think, toward the end, and he was the type of guy in health class who you'd call a bad kid, and he clearly was not. And I always wondered if he thought or felt that he was a bad kid who would never go to Heaven... And, uh, I never smoked pot in high school, so I'm very free about the whole thing. I once said, "Mo' better kid to smoke a joint than go to the mall", and got in trouble with lots of teachers and stuff...(laughs) But he was kind of a loose kid, and he was really beloved as this kid who really loved other kids, and at his funeral service, this one friend of his said how he, this dead kid, said, "Do you ever get choked up when your dad says he loves you?" (Laughs) He turned out to be, like, a superangel! And that absolutely changed my life in how I trusted various forms of authority, after the kid who died... So that's to me that song...he's also a very funny kid.
Splendid: Oh, were some of the jokes his?
Dar Williams: No, although his brother came up to me and said, "You know you got his...there's something in that song where you knew him better than you realized. And, you know, he had a Biology Class beauty contest, and I got second place. That kind of thing.
This is a cute song about the "bad kids" making it to heaven and finding love there.
I used to think this song was about a new girl coming to live in small town America, but then I realized they were angels. Maybe she's making a comparison between the two places and the same people who find quiet life in a small town boring would find heaven boring as well. In the end though, they find love and happiness despite themselves.
The song was written in the 90s, but is about a "punk" kid who died in the '80s. Ron and nancy are the Reagans, who got "the (white) house" and Sid and Nancy refers to Sid Vicious and his nancy, who are the real heroes to that kid. The kid gets in an accident, and die. Instead of going to hell (where he expected to go), he winds up in heaven. I like how Dar saw the kid thinking that God was like a guidance counselor.