In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
They're the in crowd, we're the other ones
It's a different kind of cloth that we're cut from
We let our colors show, where the numbers ain't
We're the paint where there ain't supposed to be paint
That's who we are
That's how we roll
The outsiders, The outsiders
Our women get hot, and our leather gets stained
When we saddle up and ride 'em in the pouring rain
We're the junkyard dogs, we're the alley cats
Keep the wind at our front and the hell at our back
That's who we are
We do our talking, walk that walk
Wide open rocking
That's how we roll
Back to the wall
A band of brothers
Together, alone, the outsiders
We're the riders, we're the ones burning rubber off our tires
Yeah, we're the fighters, the all-nighters
The fire 'em up and get a little higher
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
We're the bad news
We're the young guns
We're the ones that they told you to run from
Yeah, the player's gonna play and a haters gonna hate
And all regulators born to regulate
When it hits the fan and it all goes down
And the gloves come off
You're gonna find out just
Who we are
We do our talking, walk that walk
Wide open rocking
That's how we roll
Back to the wall
A band of brothers
Together, alone, the outsiders
We're the riders, we're the ones burning rubber off our tires
Yeah, we're the fighters, the all-nighters
The fire 'em up and get a little higher
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
You're gonna know who we are
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
That's who we are
It's a different kind of cloth that we're cut from
We let our colors show, where the numbers ain't
We're the paint where there ain't supposed to be paint
That's who we are
That's how we roll
The outsiders, The outsiders
Our women get hot, and our leather gets stained
When we saddle up and ride 'em in the pouring rain
We're the junkyard dogs, we're the alley cats
Keep the wind at our front and the hell at our back
That's who we are
We do our talking, walk that walk
Wide open rocking
That's how we roll
Back to the wall
A band of brothers
Together, alone, the outsiders
We're the riders, we're the ones burning rubber off our tires
Yeah, we're the fighters, the all-nighters
The fire 'em up and get a little higher
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
We're the bad news
We're the young guns
We're the ones that they told you to run from
Yeah, the player's gonna play and a haters gonna hate
And all regulators born to regulate
When it hits the fan and it all goes down
And the gloves come off
You're gonna find out just
Who we are
We do our talking, walk that walk
Wide open rocking
That's how we roll
Back to the wall
A band of brothers
Together, alone, the outsiders
We're the riders, we're the ones burning rubber off our tires
Yeah, we're the fighters, the all-nighters
The fire 'em up and get a little higher
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
You're gonna know who we are
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
The outsiders
Woah-oh-oh
Woah-oh-oh
That's who we are
Lyrics submitted by harderman61
The Outsiders Lyrics as written by Eric Church Casey Beathard
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Great version of a great song,
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
It's about either all the people in the world who are called "the outsiders" or the gang in S.E. Hinton's story of the same title.
When I first heard “The Outsiders” by Eric Church, I thought he was referring to country people/rednecks, but then I read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and I thought it might be referring to the greasers. The more I think about it, though, I believe that it refers to all the little groups out there. It includes country people, greasers, and any other group that isn’t considered the popular group, or the “in crowd”.