Y Control

I dunno. After seeing the video (which I see as absolutely amazing. Mostly. It gets a little silly here and there with "will you cut off my hand?", but the message is phenomenal), I see how the song could have the same meaning as well. How when one grows older, their innocence is robbed from them.

"I'm a poor little baby, and I believed them all". That would be the naive child. "So while you're growing old under the gun..." Growing up and having your eyes opened to the evil of the world.

Now the song, as opposed to the video, implies that this factor of "growing up" was induced by a specific person. With a Y chromosome.

He stole her innocence and dumped her away afterwards, cold and bitter. "I wish I could buy back the woman you stole".

Granted, this is just my interpretation. Amazing song, though. The music... it really does something to me. It really takes me another place. The guitar, the drums, her words... God, I love this band.

I figured "Y Control" was referring to the male Y chromosome and how even though this man has walked out of her life, she still feels controlled by him in the way that she can't be with anyone else, "cause well I will leave them all".

i personally disagree about the lesbian interpretation, although i could be wrong. i take "i wish i could buy back the woman you stole" as her saying that this guy has scarred her permanently and she'll never be able to recapture who she was before the relationship. so, in my interpreation "the woman" is actually herself. does this make sense to anyone else?

fantastic song. i love the "Y" chromosome theory too, i always just thought she was saying "why control?" ... like asking this guy why he always has to try and control her.

this is probably my favorite yeah yeah yeahs song. i think it talks about how a man left her and she says that he is the only one good enough for her and all the others were just there to pass time

love this song...the video is hella disturbing though!

does NO ONE ELSE realize that the lyrics are actually

"I'm just one poor baby 'cause, well, I believed them all..."?

that makes a lot more sense and makes the "woman you stole" line a lot more poignant. this song is one of the best catharsis-without-sacrificing-rock out there, in my opinion.

and the spike jonze video is amazing.

i SAID I LIKE THE DEAD DOG IN THE VIDEO!

i agree mostly with smurk. i think this song is about how an encounter with a male in her past changed her, made her feel like she had to be in the one in control in every relationship. she's constantly leaving them, and i think ''you walk my winners'' is her speaking specifically to her need to control (Y control personified), saying that's the reason why her ''winners'' walk (the ''keepers,'' referring to the guys she dates that she should have stayed with). the music video is definitely referring to that loss of innocence that the speaker of the song experienced that made her that way in the first place. awesome song.

I think that this song is about how much bad stuff kids see and how that can led to bad things when they grow up. I think that "Y Control" stands for why control the kid? "Well, I'm just a poor little baby Because, well, I believed them all" I think that things song may also be about a single mom that is trying to rase her kid even with out he dad that walk out on her and worries that her kid is out of control and TV is saying that she does not need to control her kid at all.

Honestly, I've always thought that Y in Y control standed for "youth" as in "youth control" then I saw the video (i thought it was absolutely BRILLIANT btw. On my top 10 list of favorite music videos ever) and it all made sense.