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Packaged Rebellion Lyrics
In and out
Try to be
What you see
Anarchy
Everything, everyone, everyman
Rebellion
But you can't make a move
If you win then you lose
Look at me to approve
You're so hard, you're so real
You got nothing
Who laughs last?
A question, not a task
I ask,
What's your reason,
Do you believe in anything?
I don't wanna hear how you're so driven
I don't wanna know your influence
I don't need to prove myself
I just need to be myself
I doesn't show what I'm trying to be
It just shows who I am
Gone,
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
Gone,
Take your packaged rebellion
With the air you breathe
Look around
No one cares
Who you are
Why or where
You're so blind, you're so dumb, you're so deaf
Like a gun
That you can't even shoot
To the point that is moot
And you don't have a clue
You're so hard, you're so real
You got nothing
Who laughs last?
A question, not a task
I ask,
What's your reason
Do you believe in anything?
I don't wanna hear how you're so driven
I don't wanna know your influence
I don't need to prove myself
I just need to be myself
It doesn't show what I'm trying to be
It just shows who I am
Gone,
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
If you do it, live it
If you live it, say it
Action is the air you breathe
I saw your act, it came and went
As flacid as an ex-president
Your ideas are out of place
It's anarchy with a friendly face
Rebel, rebel, don't regret
Screw'em every chance you get
Gone,
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
Gone
Take your packaged rebellion
With thair you breathe
Try to be
What you see
Anarchy
Everything, everyone, everyman
Rebellion
But you can't make a move
If you win then you lose
Look at me to approve
You're so hard, you're so real
You got nothing
A question, not a task
I ask,
What's your reason,
Do you believe in anything?
I don't wanna know your influence
I don't need to prove myself
I just need to be myself
I doesn't show what I'm trying to be
It just shows who I am
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
Gone,
Take your packaged rebellion
With the air you breathe
No one cares
Who you are
Why or where
You're so blind, you're so dumb, you're so deaf
Like a gun
That you can't even shoot
To the point that is moot
And you don't have a clue
You're so hard, you're so real
You got nothing
A question, not a task
I ask,
What's your reason
Do you believe in anything?
I don't wanna know your influence
I don't need to prove myself
I just need to be myself
It doesn't show what I'm trying to be
It just shows who I am
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
If you do it, live it
If you live it, say it
Action is the air you breathe
As flacid as an ex-president
Your ideas are out of place
It's anarchy with a friendly face
Rebel, rebel, don't regret
Screw'em every chance you get
Take your packaged rebellion
Move on,
Revolution on your sleeve
If you say it, mean it
If you mean it, do it
You can't live your life through me
Gone
Take your packaged rebellion
With thair you breathe
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
"Packaged rebellion" refers to rebellion as spectacle - people who wear rebellious clothes, listen to rebellious music, wear circle-A's, hang out in countercultures, call themselves anarchists or rebels, and maybe do token symbolic protests, but don't actually fight the system because they're too commercialised and superficial, or too afraid. It's about what "The Coming Insurrection" refers to as the milieu.
I think it's addressed to the band's fans, who almost by definition are into rebellious music, but a lot of whom will never take it beyond consumerist gestures. It's saying, "don't just do these gestures, get up and do something".
There's three main claims about rebellion here:
a real rebel acts as an expression of who they are, of their desire and will, not to impress others or create an image
a real rebel acts in decisive ways, not "flaccid" and "friendly" ways, and not through images
a real rebel will rebel at any opportunity.
The idea of the "act" emerging solely from will reminds me a lot of Stirner, Bakunin, insurrectionism and post-left anarchy, as well as the existentialist tradition and (more recently) Zizek. Also Bookchin's "Lifestyle Anarchism" though it strangely echoes what Bookchin is criticising. Cross-read it with "One Man Stands", "Keep It In the Family" and "Protest and Survive".
Here's a clue: If you are not spending time with the person you love and you are not living the kind of life you dream about than you are not being yourself. The song interpretations seem to have omitted TRUTH.
I think this song is obviously about posers who try to seem like rebels but are really cowards that are afraid to take any action. In this case, the title means something like "Your rebellion is just a facade that you sell to people". It's fake and has no real worth. It's just a product. Like the Tea Party movement, considering how much money it's gotten from the Koch Brothers.