Beautiful World

You know, I think even without the "It's not for me" line it's got a very sarcastic/ironic vibe to it.

It's funny, because it takes the incredibly superficial concept of a "beautiful world", the kind where everything's made of plastic, and has the General Electric logo, which was an actual mentality at one time, but makes it sound so incredibly upbeat that it sounds as superficial as it really is.

What it does is take a cultural mentality, and sets it to such repetitive, up-tempo, upbeat music that if you were to take it seriously you would think "ugh, what a terrible pop song", which in turn makes the statement that consumer culture is as superficial as pop music.

And the video is great. I'm not even sure the song's complete without the video.

There was a Target commercial several years ago with this song playing in the background featuring a creepy "futuristic" family marveling at a house filled with piles of brand items. The song added such an unsettling subtext to the whole thing that whoever sought licensing for that song either had no idea what they were doing, or in fact knew exactly what they were doing.

one of the most bitterly ironic commentaries on the excess and self indulgence of the 1980's i've ever heard

This song is utterly sarcastic (as devised by the music video), and most people don't realise that. The "for you" line really illustrates that it's not a beautiful world for the singer, but to another's point of view.

The song itself is kinda cute when you first hear it for the first time. Then you hear the "but not for me", and you start to think. It still has that hilarious biting irony DEVO will always have, but has a very serious side. Then when you watch the video progress into progressively more violent and shocking images (KKK groups, police beatings, riots, famine, etc), you get an utter chill at "but not for me", and you do much more than think. I know I did.

This is a pretty bad rendition of the lyrics. The video for this is one of the best short videos I've ever seen.

One interesting thing is how frequently covers of this song neglect the "not for me" lyric twist. It's like when people miss the "freedom FROM choice" part of "Freedom of Choice;" you wonder what song they were listening to.

One of the best pieces Devo has ever done. Forget "Whip It", and "Girl You Want", and "Working In A Coal Mine", this song is far more thought provoking.

Is it in fact a "Beautiful World"? Or is it that it COULD be, but isn't yet?

one of my fav, and first, songs of devo i listen/ed to. quite clearly is sarcastic and i love how the lyrics can invoke such meaning.

A lot of people have really hit the nail on the head with the meaning of this song, but I'll throw in my opinion anyway.

This is comes across as Devo's tongue in cheek commentary on commercialism and the general 80s "money is good" mentality. Creating a false sense of happiness, surrounding yourself with items and people you don't care about. However, you continue kidding yourself you're happy... almost putting on a show for other people.

The way the lyrics come across is almost like Devo are patting these people on the head and saying, "You're beautiful and have money, that's nice, good for you." But, they're above that and it's not for them.

The music video also reminds me of old American news/info shorts from the 40s and 50s; they have a stiff upper lip attitude combined with sweeping things under the carpet. The world is OK, everything is OK... go back to sleep.

I love this song, the video too. I believe its by far the best video, when it gets to the "for you" part and it starts with all the explosions, nazi's all that. But yeah this song is clearly sarcastic, thats why i love it so much