Saint Joe on the School Bus

Ok, my input is a mixture of what I believe the song has meaning of and what it evokes in my own personal memory and my own interpretation.

Personally, I went to an all boys Catholic high school in the mid-late nineteen nineties. And the song has such a resonance with my experience of being bullied there. Ironically enough, as I'm sure many of you might find it just a mere coincidence, my high school was called Saint Joseph. I was teased for being gay. The school was full of and remains to be extremely homophobic.

The objectification of divergent forms of sexuality had always been looked at as taboo, strange, frowned upon.

During my junior year, one of the seniors had decided to revolt against the reeking of homophobic rhetoric at the school: and now I retrospectively look at what he did as a rather admirable thing. He showed up to Saint Joe's 2001 Senior Prom in full drag "made up like a woman" and with a male date: just to make a counter-statement. That the school, the following year had to make strict regulations in spite of the incident.

The school made it mandatory that the (then all male) senior prom attendees bring a date of the opposite sex and in "proper" attire.

So this song has an intensely meaningful depth for me, since I'm gay and wasn't harbored a safe space to come out in the late 1990's Chicago suburbia.

I don't mean to defame the school, since they have since redeemed themselves by turning the school co-ed and rumor has it that they now have a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance)....

who cares, ultimately high school in America is a big joke, and i only remember it as a blur. :)

For the record - I think the term, "Saint" Joe refers to how much the kid is put upon, rather than being a mamma's boy/goodytwoshoes. Historically, a lot of Saints have died marytr deaths. I figure this is a little kid on the school bus, getting picked on and just taking it - like a Saint. Also, being accused of dressing like a girl = classic kid bullying. Saying that somebody's mother is a whore and that when you got done with her she "begged for more" = classic kid bullying. Insinuation that someone's father is gay = classic kid bullying. As for the "family disease"- if the parents were decent, the kids wouldn't bully like that.

it could be about buffalo bill? dressing up like a women mom references but i'm wrong lol

I may be going out on a limb here but part of me thinks this has something to do with the bible and stuff...Saint Joe > Saint Joseph and Aunt Mary > Mary although it doesn't really make sense to me...idk...just my imput...

John Wozniak, from the liner notes: "This song is about being picked on"

this is a very sad depresing song :( byut never the less a good song on the part of marcy playground.. im starting to think they may have some serious internal issues =/

i believe that this song is about kids bullying other kids. the band refers to him as 'st' joe, a saint being perfect, so he may be real smart, never in trouble etc. they tease him about his dad being gay and his mom a whore, even though this insn't true. good guitar riff

I agree with jared...to me it sounds like he is teased and one of the names they call him is Saint Joe, like hes a mommas boy. Sad song, but really good.

haha. i remember this being the first song i ever heard with naughty language in it. actually probably second after alanis morrisette's "you oughtta know". when i was little i remember going on holidays and my parents playing albums like this one, nirvana unplugged and leonard cohens greatest hits in the car. sorry got a bit carried away there. the good old days.

anyway yeah this definitly sounds like a kid being teased - the title tells you that anyway. but im trying to figure out the religious references. joseph and mary are obviously biblical names and were pretty important people - haha but im not sure because mary wasnt josephs aunt.

I don't know. I don't necesarily agree that it is just making fun of someone on the school bus.

I honestly, have no idea what the song is about, but it is... awful disturbing. Particularly this part:

"They said your mom she's a whore They said it 'til you were raw They said your mom she's a bore They made her beg them for more"

and how the song keeps refering to some kind of unknown darkness in their eyes and minds, and the "family disease".