"World Container" as written by Robert Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gordon Sinclair....
There's a world container with your name on it
And a billion ways to go berserk
When the country quits on you it must be dinner
And the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert
(He's the one who couldn't imagine all the people living life in peace)
Good News! You get to vanish
Go to Cleveland, be an indie smash
The good news is now you're smaller
The bad news is you can be smaller than that
Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used
Laugh at a funeral or two
And laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back'
Then fake incredulous, say 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Say 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
Then drop into your haunted bunk
Go to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Go past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What you'll find there are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
I've faked incredulous and said 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Said, 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
I've dropped into my haunted bunk
Been to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Been past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What we have here are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
And a billion ways to go berserk
When the country quits on you it must be dinner
And the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert
(He's the one who couldn't imagine all the people living life in peace)
Good News! You get to vanish
Go to Cleveland, be an indie smash
The good news is now you're smaller
The bad news is you can be smaller than that
Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used
Laugh at a funeral or two
And laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back'
Then fake incredulous, say 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Say 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
Then drop into your haunted bunk
Go to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Go past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What you'll find there are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
I've faked incredulous and said 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Said, 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
I've dropped into my haunted bunk
Been to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Been past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What we have here are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Lyrics submitted by OpinionHead
"World Container" as written by Gordon Sinclair Gordon Downie
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
Could be to a young person, or the young generation in general. saying go experience the world for yourself. "world container" could be the old saying "world in your hands" like it's right there.
Couls also be some sort of political "coded" message... The Himmler part could also be a couple different things
Here's a few reasons why.
'The good news is you are smaller, the bad news is you can be smaller than that' - To me, this means that we have things like the internet and the telephone, all this technology that makes are lives easier and more comfortable, but we aren't completely closed off from experience yet. I feel like he's suggesting here that we like what we have, we don't want to go out of our comfort zone.
'Been to the touchless times, our where the water's dryin' - This feels like a tourism pitch, if you will. He's saying 'Hey, this what I've done because I'm not locked in some sort of container. Why don't you come check it out?
'Been past the no attractions past this point sign' - Again, I feel like Gord is saying 'Here's this world you live in. It's small. It doesn't have to be.' and there's a line in the sand. On one sand is what we know and feel comfortable with, on the other is this amazing place called Earth, and this amazing thing called Life, and he wants us to come and see it, and use it.
'What you'll find there are all flaws in progress' I'm still kind of unsure on this one. It's like he's saying 'We like to think we're perfect. Come see what the real deal is. We're not perfect. But we're pretty friggen cool.'
'Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used
Laugh at a funeral or two
And laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back' This to me is saying..We've got this proper and well established way of doing things. Great. Now do something different.
Hip songs are really hard to get the meaning out of, but I think if you get some sort of meaning out of it, even if it's not what they were thinking when they wrote it, I still think they'd be happy. This song, to me, is encouraging. It's like it says 'Don't settle for what is expected of you. Go do your thing, see the world, connect. Don't be so stuck in a World Container', if you will. Great song!
I think the Himmler mention is the key here - i.e. Nazi Germany. The song is about the "final solution".
"Go to Cleveland" is a reference to John Demjanjuk, the alleged Nazi death camp work who resided (?resides - he may get extradicted) in Cleveland.
"Laugh at a funeral or two" - makes sense for a death camp worker.
"And laugh til all the chameleons turn black" - the chameleon takes on the shade of its environment; basically a reference to the black hearts of the guards
"Been past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign" - I think this is a sign at one of the camps if you go to visit. The closest I've ever been is in video/photos and that was close enough for me.
"What we have here are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song" - I think this is saying that we are all flawed and not to target one group or another because ultimately we are all the same.
"Don't forget" - a common reference to the Holocaust.
So what's the world container? I dunno for sure - a gas chamber maybe? A casket?
When the Country quits on you, it must be dinner, and the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert; When your people turn your back on you, you're done (like dinner) and the worst part (Himmler, who enabled Hitler and engineered the Holocaust on his behalf) is there's no dessert (no next chance.) - so be careful when you're going berserk
He's the one who couldn't imagine, all the people living life in peace; again, he's the one with no imagination, no love for peace or humanity, and again - he's the worst.
Good news, you get to vanish, go to Cleveland, be an indie smash; if you've pissed everyone off, you can hide and make a new life (as a small-time rock star ;)
The good news is now you're smaller (less visible) the bad news is you can be smaller than that (don't screw it up again)
Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used, laugh at a funeral or two; experience life, and even make an ass of yourself
Laugh and laugh 'till all the chameleons turn black (when even the people who "go with the flow" and put up with everything turn against you) laugh and laugh 'till they say "please don't come back" (no interpretation needed, IMHO)
Then fake incredulous, say "I just can't believe, how'd it get this late so early?"; finally get embarrassed and overcompensate.
Say "Ain't life a grand, and I'm in awe of y'all"; continue to bluster with embarrassment, talk like an ass to distract from the situation
Drop into your haunted bunk; go home where it's safe... but all the memories of past mistakes live
Go to the touchless times, out where the water's drying; I don't know. I don't get this one at all.
Go past the "no attractions past this point" sign; every fun park, show, or organization has a point past which only those who work there are meant to go, behind the scenes. Go past the facade and illusions in life, past what people are showing you, and
What you'll find here are all flaws in progress (all of us, every one) where all songs are one song and that song is "don't forget."; we all want to feel like we're making an impact on the world around us like we're important to the world and existence, and we all cry out for recognition and acceptance. We're all flaws in progress, and we all want to be remembered.