Pumped Up Kicks

I think you hit it right on, except for maybe when he says he found " I don't know what". Either he's already psychotic, or he found some shrooms or similar and believes he's a cowboy. A kid I knew took shrooms and only managed to shoot himself with apparently dad's gun, in an orange grove. Also would explain talking to inanimate objects. ANyways liked your explanation, love the beats and sound, but unfortunately the meaning of the song will probably never hit the ears of the people it would benfit the most. GET A GUN SAFE IF YOU OWN A GUN PARENTS.

No, every revolver is NOT a six shooter!!! "Six shooter" specifically refers to revolvers having cylinders with six chambers for holding individual rounds of ammunition. Five cylinders is another common configuration, but there are some that actually hold 10 rounds or more!

GoPSYCHyourself -<br /> <br /> It's so funny that you described the song as a "groovy tune". The first time I heard the song I thought the same thing. I thought the chorus part had a "60's" feel to it -- something like the "Mama's and the Papa's" (or some other 60's band) would have sang back in that era. I first heard the song while I was driving my car and by the end of the tune I was tapping my foot and bobbing my head. When I read the lyrics, I was shocked (and saddened) a little bit. For me, it brought back memories of the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. In 1999, I worked for the yearbook company that printed Columbine's yearbook. The shootings happened just a few weeks before the yearbook was supposed to be shipped. When we heard about the shootings, there were alot of emotions at the place I worked. We were shocked, very angry, and deeply saddened. So many tears were shed. When you work on these yearbooks every year, and you see all the faces of these young kids who are supposed to have their whole life ahead of them -- sometimes you can't help but feel like you've lost a member of your own family.<br />

I think you've got the interpretation of the cowboy correct in that he is enacting justice, "cowboy justice" like in the wild west and that is what life is feeling like to him,"wild" and out of control. It also reminds me of some of the scenes from Stephen King's Gun Slinger series when he walks through town smoking a rolled cigarette shooting people at will. Is he psychotic or some kid trying to feel just a little bit powerful and see some justice done in the world.<br /> <br /> Dinner is "packed on ice" means he's going to put his father on ice, or kill him. Maybe Dad is coming home late because he's cheating on the kids mom.<br /> <br /> While both stanza's could be about the same person, I think the change from third to first person indicates two different people, or at least two different personalities. Perhaps the narrator is inspired by Robert to seek "cowboy justice" with regard to the wrongs his father has committed but has doubts about his plan in the personification of his lit cigarette. Does he "pack him on ice" or has he lost his wits (perhaps meaning lost his sanity, but more likely, his sense of composure and resourcefulness)? We are left to decide for ourselves and ask, "What would we do?"

love the careful analysis! "The final issue I see at work is the psychological state created by combination of the neglect and/or abuse suffered at home at the hands of his father, and the likely ostracism experienced at school enacted by the pumped up kicks-wearing cool kids and/or jocks. This perfect storm of lacking a functional primary support system, immediate and regular behaviors at school could create a dissociative split o state of pre-psychotic decompensation where in he begins t view himself......" Are you an owl with spectacles and a pointer? Just askin' :)

GoPSYCH:<br /> <br /> Thank you for the insight and I agree. I was in the car the other day and no one knew the words to this song, however, everyone was singing. I made a comment you could be worshiping anything that you do not believe in, and, it was laughed off! Now that I have come home and really taken a look at this song, it is very clear that there was a boy in an extreme sexual abuse situation. This has been laughed off and discredited by pop-culture. The, "people", think that he is some mass criminal? With the intent to hurt others in a violent, ixceptable manor. Logically, he is only speaking his feelings concerning a grave travesty he/they has/have overcome. I do not think that he would become a worldwide pop-star with the intent to harm rather than inform. Pay attention to what someone might actually be saying versus what your un-solicited opinion is... If you as a young man have that much integrity to disclose this level of personal information by these means, I would I think it was not to harm but to be observed... Get out of yourselves and think and care about others.<br />

Branching off on Beachgal, the famous Smith & Wesson 500 magnum, which has only five chambers due to the large rounds it uses, is a prime example.

Yeah, revolver doesn't automatically equal six-shooter. The S&W 686 Plus holds 7 rounds. Ruger's LCR and the S&W Bodyguard(and similar compact revolvers from other companies) hold 5 rounds, as do several large caliber weapons such as the .480 Ruger Super Redhawk and the S&W 500. The LeMat revolver, carried by Jeb Stuart in the Civil War held 9 rounds, and could also fire a single shotgun shell. The Taurus 608 holds 8 rounds of .357 Magnum. So yeah, a revolver isn't automatically a "six-shooter".