Family Snapshot Lyrics
This is probably my favorite song. To me the obvious answer is that this song is about the reasons that this guy became a murderer, At first he gives us some idea of his motives - "all you people in TVland I will wake up your empty shell" - he wants to do something terrible that will make him feel alive, and wake the people up from their numbness. There are hints of some social isolation that lead to these actions. At the end of the song after the shot, he recalls himself as a boy He talks about the separation of his parents, and about his need for their love and attention-that is being denied from him because of their marriage problems. I don't care who the guy that he murders is, But sometimes I can really relate to the anger in this song, the killer's desire to be acknowledged by society after years of estrangement. I wouldn't kill anyone but it is interesting how peter gets you to relate to this guy
I remember hearing this song live during the "So" tour. Peter said "This is a song about assasination". Just as the song started, various people around me were saying "listen to the words". It is based on "An Assassins Diary", the notes and scribbles of Arthur Bremmer, who shot and crippled Governor George Wallace of Alabama in 1972. He also (earlier) tried to get Nixon.
hate to rain on your parade, but this was released seven months befor Lennon's assassination.
Hilarious, just read the comments saying this song is about the murder of John Lennon. Lennon died the 8th of December 1980, Peter's third album, with this song on it, was released on the 30th of May 1980.
To me the description chrismykrantz wrote best captures the meaning of the song. It's a sad kind of warning of what happens to a society with a lot of disfunctional characters screaming for attention in a violent way, like we've seen happening all over the world the last decades. So in a way this applies more to the Lennon murder than to the Kennedy assassination.
The references are absolutely to assassination, but not specifically JFK's. Specific details in the lyrics don't fit ... "The governor's car is not far behind. He's not the one I've got in mind, cause there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine."
John Connolly and JFK were riding in the same vehicle, Connolly in the front seat and Kennedy in the back. And Kennedy was seated in the car when it went through Dealy Plaza, not standing.
The song just illustrates the desperate lengths some adults will go to to gain the attention they may not have been given when they were children, especially in families that may seem perfect on the surface (the Family Snapshot) but may still be highly dysfunctional and breed antisocial behavior. The assassination fantasy is just a foreshadowing of what that dysfunction could breed.
hmmm..i always thought it was aboutthe kennedy assasination... and why is it called family snapshot?
'And the governor's car is not far behind He's not the one I've got in mind'
Almost definitely about the Kennedy assasination in my eyes. The above line states its not the 'governer' he's after.
"all turned quiet, I've been here before, a lonely boy hiding behind the front door...the fans have all gone home...I need some attention...I shoot into the light."
John Hinkley waiting inside the Dakota entry for Lennon, the other fans have all left, he's been there before..."he shoots into the light."
Lennon = "the light", an inspiring icon.
"all turned quiet, I've been here before, a lonely boy hiding behind the front door...the fans have all gone home...I need some attention...I shoot into the light."
John Hinkley waiting inside the Dakota entry for Lennon, the other fans have all left, he's been there before..."he shoots into the light."
Lennon = "the light", an inspiring icon.
I meant Chapman, not Hinkley.