This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Admit it!
Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance
And vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs
You know nothing about art or sex
That you couldn't read in any trendy New York underground fashion magazine
Prototypical non-conformist
You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo
You adhere to a set of standards and tastes
That appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges (bullshit)
Giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art
Go analog baby, you're so post-modern
You're diving face forward into a antiquated path
It's disgusting, its offensive, don't stick your nose up at me
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
You spend your time sitting in circles with your friends
Pontificating to each other
Forever competing for that one moment of self-aggrandizing glory
In which you hog the intellectual spotlight
Holding dominion over the entire shallow pointless conversation
Oh, we're not worthy
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people
You chuckle to yourself patting yourself on the back as you scoff
It's the same superiority complex
Shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell
And makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma
You spend every moment of your waking life bitching about
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
And I say yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
'Cause I'm proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar, yeah
Well let me tell you this, I am shamelessly self-involved
I spend hours in front of the mirror, making my hair elegantly disheveled
I worry about how this album will sell
Because I believe it will determine the amount of sex I will have in the future
I self medicate with drugs and alcohol to treat my extreme social anxiety
You are a faker (admit it)
You are a fraud (admit it)
Yeah, you're living a lie (hey) living a lie (hey) you're life is living a lie
You don't impress me (admit it)
You don't intimidate me (admit it)
Why don't you bow down, get on the ground, walk this fucking plank (yeah!)
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
And I say yeah (what do you..)
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my..
Guitar, guitar go!
I drift drift drift drift drift yeah
I drift drift drift drift drift yeah oh
And I am done with this
I want to taste the breeze of every great city
My car and my guitar
My car and my guitar
So you'll come to be, made of these, urgent unfulfilled
Oh no no no no no
When I'm dead I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest way still
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance
And vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs
You know nothing about art or sex
That you couldn't read in any trendy New York underground fashion magazine
Prototypical non-conformist
You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo
You adhere to a set of standards and tastes
That appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges (bullshit)
Giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art
Go analog baby, you're so post-modern
You're diving face forward into a antiquated path
It's disgusting, its offensive, don't stick your nose up at me
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
You spend your time sitting in circles with your friends
Pontificating to each other
Forever competing for that one moment of self-aggrandizing glory
In which you hog the intellectual spotlight
Holding dominion over the entire shallow pointless conversation
Oh, we're not worthy
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people
You chuckle to yourself patting yourself on the back as you scoff
It's the same superiority complex
Shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell
And makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma
You spend every moment of your waking life bitching about
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
And I say yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
'Cause I'm proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar, yeah
Well let me tell you this, I am shamelessly self-involved
I spend hours in front of the mirror, making my hair elegantly disheveled
I worry about how this album will sell
Because I believe it will determine the amount of sex I will have in the future
I self medicate with drugs and alcohol to treat my extreme social anxiety
You are a faker (admit it)
You are a fraud (admit it)
Yeah, you're living a lie (hey) living a lie (hey) you're life is living a lie
You don't impress me (admit it)
You don't intimidate me (admit it)
Why don't you bow down, get on the ground, walk this fucking plank (yeah!)
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
And I say yeah (what do you..)
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I've become
You're free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my..
Guitar, guitar go!
I drift drift drift drift drift yeah
I drift drift drift drift drift yeah oh
And I am done with this
I want to taste the breeze of every great city
My car and my guitar
My car and my guitar
So you'll come to be, made of these, urgent unfulfilled
Oh no no no no no
When I'm dead I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest way still
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
When I'm dead I'll rest, I'll rest
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Hayalperest
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Direct quote from Max Bemis from a recent interview on absolutepunk.net :
I grew up in L.a, which at the time (turn of the century) had this scene revolving around certain bands made of people who were so afraid to be sincere that they were almost mean, and boy did they prosper. I moved away from them to go to school at Sarah Lawrence College in New York because I thought there would be more integrity on the opposite coast and it was there that I learned shame and pretension wasn’t constricted to any group of people; we are all guilty of it. The song isn’t about “fall out boy fans” or “hipsters”. It’s about anyone who judges other people because they’re “normal.” It’s about you and I because everyone does it sometimes. The only thing you can do is fight that ego and be proud of the things in your life that are true.
I hate saying it that way, but Max did go crazy. He's bipolar and did get admitted to a mental hospital, by himself of by someone else, I don't really remember. I'll have to dig up that article. And if Max admits to going to a mental hospital, then I'd say it's a good indication that he's telling the truth. AP does lie, or stretch the truth sometimes, but they can't fabricate quotes and that story was pretty much Max talking.
As for the song, I think it's pretty neat. There's a quote by Green Day (kind of ironic considering how people see them as such posers now) that said something along the lines of "This kid came up to me once and asked 'What's punk?' So I kicked over a trash can and said 'That's punk.' So he kicked over another trash can and asked 'That's punk?' And I said 'No, that's conformist.'"
There is no such thing as a truly individual style. We are all fabricated clones of other fabricated clones of other fabricated clones and the sooner you realize that your way is not the only way, the better we'll all be. When you can admit to being just as self-absorbed, arrogant and fake as everyone else around you, then you're a punk. When you realize that there is no such thing as being a punk, that's when you're a punk.
This song is not about the emo kids. It's about us. It's about each of us that came on here and told everyone how everyone else is so fake and wrong. It's about me, who still in the back of my head realizes that I'm no better than anyone he's singing about in that song. It's about him, it's about you, and it's about everyone.
You're no better than anyone else out there.
personally.. i find it more to be a satire on the los angeles / new york scenes.. not emo but moreso the pretentiousness / materialism.
to me, i think this song is about the hypocrisy of the people around him and him admitting in a way that he is a slave to the same hypocrisy.in the part where it says i drift drift drift i think he is basically saying how he seems to be drifting through his life. at the end of the song he find in himself the need to get away from the world around him to "taste the breeze of every great city" and to change his life into something meaningful.
[as for the whole mental hospital thing, who the fuck cares?his music is great. end of story.]
this is my favorite song by say anything by far
i've gone from wanting to be this (a couple years back) to completely savoring what he has to say. it's as fake as the "preps", but at least i'd rather be pretending to be happy than pretending to be sad. and this is definitely about emo/scenesters, and anyone who disagrees is an ashamed emo/scenester themselves.
The guy from say anything went crazy recording the album so u never know whats going on in most of their songs... but hey its a good'en.
everyone's pretentious but me
The simple brilliance of this song is that every scene is being torn apart mercilessly and then the writer admits to his own faults just as vengefully.
i think max uses the vocab to mock the scene's failed attempts to sound intelligent, using rediculous words jsut too seem like hes trying so hard, jsut as they do.
@sheslikeohsoemo...
I just stood up at work and gave you a standing applause. I'm nearly 26 now and have been preaching your same stance since I was 12 and some kid asked me why I was wearing a "the exploited" t-shirt. Everyone is a clone and guess what kiddies...it's ALL been done before.