1996

at their concert in sydney murph simply said beforehand "this is a song about school" so yeah i reckon it's him reminiscing back to that time (but that was a bit obvious) :P maybe just about how much easier life is when you're a kid. so carefree and so oblivious to everything wrong in the world...that's what it means to me, he misses the simplicity...

THESE ARE THE LYRICS: I have made a number of corrections.

I had no cares in the 1990's, I knew of no downfalls, Though war was breaking out all around me, My concerns were with prank calls.

She kissed me on the cheek, She kissed me on the cheek, Right in front of the older kids, But my self belief, my self belief, Wasn't scarred by the modern itch.

Cause now it feels like, We kiss with one eye on our T.V. set, And the more I give, the less I get, Needing fairground rides just to spark her smile, There's little here to miss, Bring back 1996 Bring back 1996, So hard to beat those teenage kicks, Bring back 1996.

We were cloning sheep in the 1990s, We were building telescopes, And sugar filled the whole of my body, As I urged it on to grow.

I kissed her on the cheek, I kissed her on the cheek, Just to impress the older kids, But my self belief, my self belief, Wasn't lost in the modern glitch.

Cause now it feels like, We kiss with one eye on our T.V. set, And the more I give, the less I get, Needing fairground rides just to spark her smile, There's little here to miss, Bring back 1996, Bring back 1996.

Stop talking, stop talking, I need a lover, not a friend tonight, I'm leaving, I'm leaving, I'm not cut out for the modern life.

I'll never beat those teenage kicks.

Only thing I'm not too sure about is the A/HER smile part. I'll check in the album booklet when I get home. :)

To me this song is basically about being unhappy about the present and reminiscing about better times (living in the past, if you wanna be dramatic). It's an upbeat song, very danceable, but the lyrics aren't quite like that. It's hard to explain, but if you can relate to this song, I hope you'll understand what I'm trying to say here. It's a very confessional song

Great song, one of the best of the new album

It sounds like "There's little here to miss", not "too little hit to miss"

"When our self belief, our self belief" instead of "But my self belief, my self belief,"

Oh, and "And with fairground rides", not "using". I think! :)

I was 7 in 1996 (born in 1988)! Matthew Murphy (lead singer) was born in 1984 so that would have made him around 12 in '96.

The song has quite a sad note to it. This is my own personal interpretation of it, feel free to disagree: '96 sounds like the year the singer first met the girl he's currently with today (possibly). But something is not right in their relationship. He's doing all the giving, and she's not giving anything back. They are friends, not lovers. And he wishes to go back to 1996 when they were young, had no worries about the world and "weren't scarred by the modern itch". It sounds as if the both of them feel disconnected with the modern world and unhappy with their lives -"I'm not cut out for the modern life"- and this is affecting their relationship. And when he says "There's little here to miss" it sounds as though his life in 1996 was a whole lot better than it is now (2011 say), and the singer will forever be nostalgic about his early teenage years.

this song is about how great the 90s were for him, and how he wishes to go back because so. He doesn't like the modern age, because of how much it's changed. He doesn't like the way everything has turned out- how everything is based on money, technology, and material. Back in the 90s, it wasn't all about what you've got and how to buy people. Back in the 90s, impressing people was priceless. I love the lyrics of this song, because I agree with its message. Even if I was born in 1996, and I have no idea what it was like, I could still imagine what it was like, and it would've been nice to grow up in a world like that. This song is perfect. The lyrics definitely go with the sound.

"We kiss with one eye on our TV set". I think he's talking about how everyone looks at their phones throughout the day rather than looking at each other. I mean you see it when your walking along the street, everyone is looking at their phones. Back in the 90s mobile phones didnt really exist.

"Stop talking, stop talking. I need a lover not a friend tonight". Could possibly mean that he is talking to his gf on facebook rather than actually being with her physically.

my favourite song of 2011 :)