The Crowd

Operation Ivy

Wrenched into the world, deanaesthetized
Blurry images fit their way through halfway opened eyes
Awakened by alarm fifteen minutes of hygiene
Twenty minutes of eating thirty seconds to the door

I looked outside I looked into the eyes
Of the impersonal mob I've seen a thousand times before
Feeling under covers like books on a shelf
If we're scared of one another
Must be scared of our self

More than just another crowd
We need a gathering instead

Drink drink in the bad land liquid bread for the poor
Another member of the crowd goes down
To drown at the liquor store
Choose your escape in the heartland
Of product and demand when you feel like a wasp in the swarm
You gotta get away anyway that you can


Lyrics submitted by emoJustin

The Crowd Lyrics as written by Paul Weller

Lyrics © HAL LEONARD CORPORATION

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The Crowd song meanings
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11 Comments

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  • +3
    General Commentthis is song is great. its about more than high school, it's about finally realizing how much the real world sucks, how its all corrupt and meaningless. Its how living a normal life wears you down until you becoma a subhuman conformist machine, and how so many people try to use alchohol as a way to escape, but it actually pulls them in.
    hobarton June 13, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General CommentUGHHHHHH.....
    I LOVE THIS SONG. IT WAS THE FIRST OP IVY SONG I'VE EVER HEARD, I'M ADDICTED TO IT, I'M FUCKING ADDICTED TO ALL OF THESE SONGS.
    PEDOPHILE_PUNKERon July 02, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Commenti feel this song is about someone who has social anxiety or something, the first verse is about waking up obviously and if you do have social anxiety the safest place to you is your house and you would count every second in it before you have to go outside

    then the next part is about how you go outside and see the thing you are terrified of, people. "Feeling under covers like books on a shelf" this is saying you hide under your covers like a closed book on a shelf. then it goes on to say how if your scared of people you are then scared of yourself.

    the it goes on to say no people are not a crowd and something to fear, and maybe people should gather instead

    now the final bit talks about how you drink to relieve your anxiety, then the line "Of product and demand when you feel like a wasp in the swarm
    You gotta get away anyway that you can"
    is saying when you feel like surround you try to run and hide anyway you can
    mlg1006347on November 02, 2015   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI love how these comments were posted 14 years ago.... When I was a year old. Now I'm 15 and can relate to every word in this song, learning it on guitar, and struggling through the bulshit of high school. I live in such a nice town and it's amazing how many people we lose to alcohol. Everyone is trying to fit in with the trends made popular by social media, just to be cool. To me, it's really sad.
    GarrettSJ13on August 11, 2016   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis is Operation Ivy's best song in my opinion.
    Pins 4Skinson May 04, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis is obviously a song about high school. the whole part of hygeine, eating, and getting out the door is about before. then when you get into the mass you see everyone. i feel it's about a kids struggle to fit in. he is pressured into drinking and sees everyone doing it. very good song.
    Chipper1048on June 03, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Commentop ivy is a very good ska punk band best ay that
    badreligionpigeonon August 11, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Commentok the first 4 lines of the song are definitly about gettings up early in the day and getting ready and leaving your house, and the last 4 lines are about escaping from reality by drinking... but what makes you say it's about high school i dunno, he doesnt really say anything about going anywhere, he just says going outside he sees the crowd so maybe the crowds outside his house say hes in the city then it would be people going to work? i dunno just an idea
    dancingbearson September 03, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentOperation Ivy are fucking amazing. This is my fav Op Ivy song. Hobart has a really good interpretation of the crowd. Op Ivy is suggesting tha tpeople need to come together and solve all these bullshit problems of the world.
    River Wolfon March 01, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentOperation Ivy was always about Unity, and that's what this song is about; how we lack unity. OpIvy was my favourite band for such a long time and this song was the greatest for me during that era. Still love Jesse's voice and Common Rider rocks as well.
    salvoon March 16, 2007   Link

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