Why'd We Come

I always thought that this song was about Westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. It's through the lense of a european colonizer descendant. It describes how europe came to the west with the idea that they were "smarter" and "civilized." The song is spoken in a sinister tone as these are described, with a question "isn't that nice?" as the colonizers believed that they were giving a gift to the indigenous people. "We should've just quit while we were way ahead," as manifest destiny was the belief that it was peoples god given right to expand west- despite not needing to. The song talks how "we can't live together", a reference to colonizers taking indigenous land and displacing them entirely rather than even trying for compromise.

And finally "Why'd we come all this way?" it's a good question. The european colonizers went to great lengths to expand westward- they went to another continent. The song begs the question "was it worth it?" Westward colonization caused so much damage to indigenous populations and the enviorment, but was it really for a 'greater good?' Despite those colonizers believing they were more 'civilized' than the indigenous americans, the human race is still constantly at odds.

I think this song could also be applied to other colonized areas, of course. Soon after, the north west began to do the same thing to central america, spouting same ideals. The same thing happened in africa, south asia, and a plethora of other locations. I just think in regards to "coming a long way," and the language of being "civilized"- which is commonly used in this situation- it fits most with the specific era of manifest destiny.

This is just how I see it, good song, good message. It's important to talk and think about the effects of something like this, considering how greatly it has impacted human geography. 10/10 love u oingo boingo

My favorite song ever!!! id really like to know what it means though lol :D

I'm pretty sure it's about how us humans think we have evolved; we're "advanced" and "civilized". Yet the biggest thing we've accomplished as a race, is the ability to destroy our own planet. Danny thinks that we should've just stayed as primitive men while we had the chance, instead of going on this long, destructive journey to "evolving".

This song really needs to be seen in context of its times. Reagan was building up nuclear weapons to stop the Soviets, but this was kept secret at the time. Many people in the time thought that we're going to wake up one morning and find that a nuclear war had occurred. He's asking why did we evolve so much just to destroy ourselves in a nuclear war.