Generation Lost

musical pyro: I am on the exact same page as you

essentially, i think this is a cry for the government to pay attention to the underprivileged, and a justification for their state of living. It's a cry for action: the government knows its there but wants to "pretend you don't exist, maybe just for ten more minutes"

"Getting trampled under boots of progess Ignore the pleading of the nameless faces Now with our backs against the wall How long til we fall? Do away with all the underprivileged

their demographic doesn't fit your image Turn your blind eye when duty calls How long til we fall?" (line by line analysis) Small businesses are completely wiped out by huge companies around the world The government of course lets them suffer because the large businesses are a huge asset to the economy People are pushed to the edge with their income, and its only a matter of time before they have to file bankruptcy or go homeless Again, the government doesn't care about them because they aren't the ones benefiting the economy: their demographic is pushed to the bottom of the food chain The government is aware of the growing problem, and knows the dire circumstances, but pretends not to notice

Many of the lines makes sense when put into a similar context

"Caring less about the homeless millions All the petty problems that go with them Reap the profit that reaps thier lives and Tell me that it's fine Throw them out and call it relocation Lower-income-housing quick solution A Generation lost"

Refers to for closure, perhaps

As for the "speech in the end"

I am convinced it takes on two view points

First: from the governments point of view:

"Now in the whirlwind of my life Is where you presently reside Can I pretend you don't exist Maybe just for ten more minutes?"

This homless issue is a "whirlind" in their political life, its a negative aspect As mentioned, they want to ignore the underprivileged

Second: from the homless point of view:

"My hearts been broken into two and rusted from years of disuse So will you place upon it your hands Will you help it beat again? It seems the whole world's turned on me (Bound and gagged) in the land of the free Let's talk this over, this game is over In with the new, out with the old Hearts of the world have grown so cold Let's talk this over, this game is over"

Their heart is broken because of the impossible situation they are faced with
their heart could be a metaphor for several things: a, emotions b, love I am inclined to think the narrator person as resorted to prostitution "years of disuse" next to lines: a plea to the government to help them it seems like everyone is frowning upon homeless people, people attribute a lack of home with insanity now it becomes clear that the whole thing is in the context of America, and the poverty there corporate America and money is all a game: and they have lost I am not sure what they are referencing... everyone has turned away from homeless people or anyone who is under privileged

My hearts been broken into two and rusted from years of disuse So will you place upon it your hands Will you help it beat again? It seems the whole world's turned on me (Bound and gagged) in the land of the free Let's talk this over, this game is over In with the new, out with the old Hearts of the world have grown so cold Let's talk this over, this game is over

Overall, its a criticism of the government/ all the people of America: ACTION MUST BE TAKEN. POVERTY SHOULD BE ENDED

Honestly, I don't see where you guys are coming up with a war. I interpret this as a call to be aware of the homeless people and to do something to help. How it says, "Getting trampled under the boots of progress" is reffering to the government's attempts to solve the poverty issue by plowing right over it and calling it progress, ironically. "Ignore the pleading of the nameless faces" is obviously an example of streetside beggars being ignored by people who can help and just don't want to. The next line is "With our backs against a wall, how long till we fall?", meaning how they are being oppressed and rejected by society, how much time will it take for them to collapse. "Do away with all the underprivleged" ties into the next line, "Their demographic doesn't fit your image". Combined, these lines mean that we as Americans are trying to diminish the homeless population through wrong methods because homelessness should'nt be an image of America. Now, "Turn your blind eye when duty calls" is saying how we like to say we make a difference, but when it's time to actually do something we ignore our obligation to do it. The verse is, in my opinion, the best part of the song, because that's where the song really explains why we should change. I think the door they talk about in "Cuz now they're tearing down our doors" is actually the closet door of America, where we like to keep our less desirable aspects of our country; and how they're "breaking it down" and therefore becoming more prominent. The woman screaming out the window in the next lines is America, and she's afraid of how bad things will become. The next section is talking about how we couldn't care less about how companies are trying to profit from these peoples homelessness. After that is the line, "Throw them out and call it relocation; Lower-income-housing quick solutions", which I interpret to mean how the government is trying to use so-called 'solutions' to 'help' these people, but it doesn't help anything so they try to disguise it. For example, both Obama and Bush had plans for decreasing homelessness, but have any of your own city's beggars gone away or disappeared? But still, they both claimed it was doing something, but to only an extent it was. The title line "Generation Lost" is the most important part of the song, because it can be understood different ways. One interpretation is that it's reffering to this generation's regular citizens, who can only look on while other people suffer, therefore being morally lost. Or, it could mean the homeless people whose generation is lost in the sense that it can't contribute to society. What if there were homeless geniuses out there who had the potential to solve America's real problems? The next section, "Now...Minutes" is saying how we always put off doing something to help, and not even caring about their lives. The section "Now...Free" puts the song in the perspective of a homeless person, and how he's begging for just a little care and human decency while the rest of the world ignores him. The final lines, "Let's...over" puts another person with the homeless man from the previous few lines. This person is seeing it righteously, trying to talk with the man and believing that previous ideas of homeless people should be discarded and replaced with understanding that homeless people are still humans. If you read through this top to bottom, thank you. Anyway, that's my take.

No Comments? Such a great song.

I agree with thrice71, THIS SONG IS AWESOME! Its a shame its not well known. In my opinion they should have put this on one of their albums. The song is full of energy.. its just completely .. awesome!!!

heres my take on it i think its bout the 1940's generation of young men who had to go out and fight during WWII and never were able to live a real life bcaue of that "Do away with all the underprivileged'-get rid of the poor and sick and send them out

"Turn your blind eye when duty calls How long til we fall?"- when duty calls for them to go to war they just wanna die from it being horrible

"This is something that you can't ignore A simple thing worth fighting for cuz now they're tearing down our doors"- the war isnt somthing to ignore becuase its importnat, so u hvae to fight for it.

"So she screams out the window, "I've had it up to here" So sick and tired of wondering where I'll be next year..."- the wives of the soilders are wondering how there gonna be when they find out that there husbands are gone

"Now in the whirlwind of my life Is where you presently reside Can I pretend you don't exist Maybe just for ten more minutes? My hearts been broken into two and rusted from years of disuse So will you place upon it your hands Will you help it beat again?"- this has to be like a letter from the soliders to his gf/ wife because of the way its sung and they words taht are used.

I agree w/ TH3 J except I think its more based on our generation with the War On Iraq. Rise Against tends to focus more on current issues.

I agree with both of you. It's just history repeating itself. And it's true. These lyrics could apply to many wars, and many other things a person can fight for.

Tim puts so much emotion in to his music and this is a great example of that. This is a fast song that is very catchy. Personally, I love the last stanza, it's a great change of pace at the beginning and then speeds up, very well done.

Dude, this is so good. although I can't really figure out what they're doing here. If its a song dealing with politics, like Propagandhi, then what's with all the girl references? I mean, plenty of bands have girl songs and political songs, but this one is kind of a clusterfuck.

Yea the song does deal with more than one issue but it's fucking Rise Against. Thats how they roll. Although i see how it can be applied to the past I definitely believe its about our generation.

Caring less about the homeless millions All the petty problems that go with them Reap the profit that reaps thier lives and Tell me that it's fine Throw them out and call it relocation Lower-income-housing quick solution A Generation lost

These are the issues of today. Homeless millions don't have to be in The US. The Sufferer And The Witness deals mostly with the mistreatment of the indigenous people all over the world. Just his tone seems like its Tim screaming at all of us to get up and do something hence: "Turn your blind eye when duty calls" doesn't really have to be about serving in the military just being proactive.

And as for the speech in the end I'm not sure why thats there but it really does make the song.