Ready to Start

I agree - sounds like it could go either way but from the context of the line after "but they bow down to him anyway" suggest that it is 'no' and not 'new.

actually this is definately the case - you can hear him better live youtube.com/watch#!

Agreed. "No Clothes" rather than new clothes makes more sense especially with the lines that follow. Personally, I think this might be a political statement about how sometimes people want to believe in something that's wrong, simply because they don't want to be alone. People want to be part of something bigger and often ignore the truth for the sake of belonging.

Despite having read the post below about the actual lyrics via song booklet, I felt as though "the emperor wears new clothes" seemed plausible... In real life, the phrase is accurately "the emperor wears no clothes" but in the song, when he's singing that all the kids know the emperor wears NEW clothes, it touches upon the surge of materialism/ obsession with "trendiness" present in today's youth culture. He's illustrating the thrashing contrast between modern society and previous generation's values/beliefs in adolescence.<br />

The thing is, in the story the Emperor thinks he is wearing new clothes, as does everyone else except for the children, who can see that he is naked and one informs the rest of the adults. So I think it is very likely 'No'

The lyric booklet from the album says:<br /> ""All the kids have always known<br /> that the emperor wears NO clothes<br /> but they bow down to HIM anyway<br /> 'cause it's better than being alone"<br /> <br /> "no" completes the rhyme and makes sense. <br /> also, "him" refers to the emperor, whereas "them" would mean that the kids are bowing down to his clothes.

I can see many possibilities for the reference to the emperor wears no clothes. <br /> <br /> First, the idea that someone that is in that type of position such as an emperor, president, mayor, movie star, or any other role is "naked" in a sense. They have no secrets, no further truths, no more than you or I, but we accept into believing that they know the way. It seems that its better to get in line and sit and bow down to another to feel connected with "humanity" and accept that we are just being told what to do by big brother, religion, or whoever else influences you. <br /> <br /> Secondly, the possibility of the continued religious references in previous albums, possibly referring to priests and holy figures and their involvement with children in a sexual way. We are aware that it occurs, but many still go to their place of worship despite what has occurred. Considering Neon Bible is a previous album, seems to me that we are moving past religion as that album illustrated and are now immersed in a technologically advanced world where stories of the past, like the Bible, Koran, and Harry Potter are all just stories of creativity and have be read millions of times with nothing except entertainment and man-made values illustrated. Like weaker religions, Aztecs, tribal belief systems, Roman belief system that there were gods for all different types of unexplained worldly events, so as in the past through our Neon Bibles will keep our blind faith just as books and our minds have for centuries. Acceptance that they are just stories,and we are ready to start new a new wave of thinking where we are all "naked" in a sense. Nothing more than a man or woman.<br /> <br /> We accept our faith blindly. All of these ideas leading to the author's acceptance that it is his time and he is ready to start his way. To me it seems like the author is saying his mind is open wide and he's not going to live in their delusion. Literally, make his own reality which I admire. Something we all should do, the only question is are you "Ready to Start"?