Bastards Of Young Lyrics
I have always thought the line was "Got no war to name us"
It seems like generations are often defined, or at least strongly associated, by the wars they have fought, which is a pretty interesting concept if you ask me.
And yes, I do agree with the previous posts. This song seems to be about generational displacement and/or generational existentialism (what am I doing here? sort of thing). Being a college student myself, the lyrics are more than just a little ominous, especially the first stanza.
At first I thought this was about orphaned children, but on further consideration, it seems more a post-punk anthem about orphans of a generation. "It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten" really parallels to the Replacements attitude of almost boasting about being semi-dropouts and fuck-ups. The sing-a-long beer-in-hand chorus really reenforces that impression that it's okay to be a generation without a future or purpose. Written before the term "Generation X" caught on, I always thought the line was "ya got no wars to name us", as there were no wars from Vietnam to Desert Storm.
"Young...take it, it's yours..." is a sort of punk reiterance, updated for 1985, "it" being the future, whereas, in 1977, the cry was "no future". Or maybe Westerberg was saying "we're not using it, you can have it".
Under pressure from their label, they reluctantly made a video for Bastards of Young - an unedited shot of a speaker playing the song. Perfect negation for the new video age they so despised.
This song is also one of the many examples of Westerberg's songwriting techniques of making sure the intro and outros of his songs were jarring or at least interesting from the rest of the song, in order for the listener to take notice. I'm constantly amazed how this is done time and again without sounding tacked on in the slightest.
I always thought it was "got no war to maim us" for the longest time (what can I say, I am a veteran). a song meant for shouting along with until hoarseness sets in.
trivia: he slips in a "sons of norway" for a "sons of no one" one time sons-of-norway is kinda-sorta big in mpls. it's a group along the lines of shriners and elks and what-not that were so popular to the generation of the 50's. in the 80's they degenerated to the point that they mainly sold insurance (and like the shriners and the elks gained no new members while watching all of their current members die off). The had a huge building in the twin cities and they allowed local bands to rent their space on friday and saturday nights for concerts. i'm sure the mats played at least once at the sons of norway during '81.
The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest And visit their graves on holidays at best The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them
^^^^^^^^^
That line used to annoy the SHIT outve some girl I used to be friends with. Love this song.
"Income tax deduction, what a hell of a function"
...having custody of a child allows the guardian to claim a deduction on their income taxes. Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but that line never made any sense to me until a friend explained it.
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
i almost can't fucking believe two lines can sum up the past few years of my life. i need a "bastards of young" support group.
Amazing song, I was just a kid when this came out but when ever I hear people talk about or play the greatest songs of the 80's it's amazing to me that this song never comes up.If it's not the greatest,it definitely is one of the greatest songs to come out of the 80's.The beginning of this song just kills every time,the guitar and then Paul screaming,just fucking awesome.
Possibly one of the greatest bands to ever be. This song rocks along with the rest of the album (Tim).
I was real big into this band in high school, they are truely great. Yet, when I went off to school their cds just sort-of got mixed up in my collection and forgotten about. I heard this song out at the bar the other night - God, how good it is.