Stuck in the 90's (Clem)

First of all, I might be Moxy's only conservative fan, so I write this from my perspective. This normally doesn't matter - and has never come up in my previous song meanings posts, but many of the songs on Bargainville represent the political view from the left side of the political spectrum.

I do not and will not apologize for my beliefs and you are more than welcome to yours as well. Unlike some on the left, I can put aside my political differences with them to simply enjoy the art - which in this case is wonderful. But words do matter, as does intent.

Most of this song's meaning is pretty obvious, but it is also written for its time (90's).

In the early 90's, Conservatism was on the rise (Pat Buchanan was mentioned, Rush Limbaugh has his own Moxy hate SONG), with George H.W. Bush serving as president in the U.S. In fact, a year after this song was released, the Republicans took over the Senate - something that hadn't happened in over 30 years.

Most of the aging leftist hippies of the 60's were approaching 50-60 years old. 'Clem' is a man out of time. He still tries to hold to his old beliefs, but times have changed and the world seems to be moving beyond him. 30 years before, Cuba was slated to become a socialist paradise, but since then it became clear that Castro was nothing more than a dictator and there is no point to Clem going there 'anytime soon'.

He feels powerless to speak against the current political tide, so he 'reads of the old days' and 'burns his mind in his VCR', and yet, he is not immune to his own complicity (riding a bike to his foreign car).

Then the writer moves away from Clem and suggests he has similar fears (soon he'll be 30). My favorite line - and it's spelled wrong here - is:

With each new computer screen, the world tells me I'm more green Buy a new game, boy! For the fun and the passion, just for the passion

That's a comma in between game and boy - not the actual 'Game Boy' - a portable game system produced by Nintendo in 1989 that had a small green display screen. As written on the actual CD Lyrics sheet, it was a play on words. Being 'green' means 'inexperienced', but in full context it's clear that the author also meant the popular little Nintendo game machine.

If you'd ever seen an actual Game Boy of the time, there's hardly any 'fashion' or 'passion' to it, as it's simply a white plastic brick with a small green and white screen. No doubt, the advertising of the day suggested otherwise.

Jian Gomeshi and Mike Ford come from the left side of the political spectrum where the envy of wealth and power, and the forced distribution of such (White lies, rich guys, hoarding a big prize) are part of the ideology. Both of these songwriters see their own futures in Clem's experience. Hence the line, 'We've got work to do.' What work? Take other people's stuff, of course!

This is certainly not the first song to tackle this concept. The Bellamy Brother's 'Old Hippie' is very similar with the lines:

He's an old hippie And he don't know what to do Should he hang on to the old Should he grab on to the new He's an old hippie This new life is just a bust He ain't trying to change nobody He's just trying real hard to adjust

Clem is most certainly a pitiable and bereft figure, but then all of us get old, all of us watch the world change in ways we either didn't expect or want. I believe this song represents the songwriter's realization that they may eventually become like Clem. Indecisive, confused, sadder, older.