Waiting Room

this song is pretty political. this country could be seen as the "waiting room" where everybody sits idly by as desicions are made by all the officials around them, and they don't even really know that's what's happening... which is why "they can't get up" and the last verse pretty much reveals what the chosen few are wanting to do about it.

I was watching a live performance of this, and before they started they said the song was about being in jail. which makes total sense. thing about it:

Everybody's moving, everything is moving Please don't leave me to remain

when your in jail, it seems everyone just leaves you behind, and forgets about you, and your just stuck there in "the waiting room" waiting to get out

Sitting outside of town Everybody's always down Because they can't get up

a correctional facility is normally outside of town. and a jail would be a depressing place because your stuck there and you don't want to be.

But I don't sit by idly I'm planning a big surprise I'm gonna fight for what I want to be I won't make the same mistakes Because I know how much time that wastes Function is the key

the character in the song is ready to turn his life around. and is tired of ending up in the same place (jail) because he "knows how much time that wastes.

even though they're straight edge i can't help but smoke a blunt and listen to fugazi.

being depressed and waiting for it to be over, antisocial as depressed people are known for

"Everybody's moving, everything is moving, Please don't leave me to remain"

hes just watching everything move watching everyones lives go on and hes just waiting to get back into life and back in life.

is my take to the song

I'm going to give this a shot, but I'm not sure it's even close.

"I am a patient boy" seems to have a double meaning (he's a patient in a hospital [in the waiting room of life], but also has patience to wait for a better day).

The "waiting room" seems to be most people's lives, in which they simply exist rather than live. It follows the "patient" metaphor. People are simply waiting around to die, doing nothing to change their situations.

"Sitting outside of town Everybody's always down"

Not wanting the news and "sitting outside of town" draw him up to be an outsider, someone who's looking in on and observing the world.

"But I don't sit by idly I'm planning a big surprise I'm gonna fight for what I want to be I won't make the same mistakes Because I know how much time that wastes Function is the key"

It's fine if everyone else wants to be a mindless drone, but he's got ambition and the courage to "get up", or pursue his dreams.

It's probably way off, but there didn't seem to be many previous stabs at the meaning, so I gave it a shot.

This song is about being in prison. Period. You may have a personal interpretation that means something to you, and that's great, and I'm sure Ian Mackaye would have no problem with anyone having their own emotional (meaning, pertaining to emotions, not fucking "emo") viewpoint on it, but plain and simple, it's about being in prison. Feeling like you are outside the of society ("everybody's moving, everybody's moving...please don't leave me to remain," "I don't want the news, cause I don't wanna know," "sitting outside of town, everybody's always down"), and waiting to get back to it, hopefully not winding up there again ("and I won't make the same mistakes cause I know, I know how much time that wastes"). It's totally obvious if you look at the lyrics again.

By the way, I have never heard a more useless term than "emo." All genres are bullshit, generally, but that one is especially meaningless. All "emo" means is shitty, whiny, trust fund rock, which this definitely isn't. Is there any band, anywhere, that actually refers to themselves as emo? Didn't think so.

Fugazi aint emo damnit.

they are straight-edge, like Minor Threat. you could call them indie or alternative also, but they ARE NOT emo, neither is this song.

i think if you told any member of fugazi that they were emo they would stare blankly at you for a minute. they're just rock, that's enough said. this song kicks ass.

this song is for all the people who are in jail.

clear to me.

The Atom and his Package live cover is GENIUS!

BTW, I agree w/ herbivore about the meaning.