this song is about how the music business has changed
"for your time it's written out. work means nothing by itself" - music artists today don't have to have the talent or creativity to come up with their own lyrics and music for their songs. they just do what they're told. they spend more time memorizing dance steps and such, then focusing on their music
"selection kills the old, selection breathes on it's own" - new songs are requested and the old ones are forgotten even though the old ones may be more talented then the new stuff. it's just the way things work. unless there is a big enough group to request the "old" stuff, it just kinds of slips from the air waves almost completely.
"these days are numbered i can tell. so until the crash i'll write you down" - he's saying that these pop, r&b, rap, etc. bands aren't going to last much longer because sooner or later people are going to realize they don't have any talent. so he's saying for now he'll (we'll) write them down (remember them) until their joyride is over and then we'll forget about them
"sing while you can now" - he's letting those other "pop" bands (not just pop, but i mean the actual term, popular) know that they better enjoy it while they can because eventually their going to fade away and only the bands with real talent will stick around and be able to produce such awesome music (such as jimmy eat world :-) haha)
and that line could also be directed to the listeners in a way by saying that these bands aren't going to last, so sing along with them now, but eventually you'll forget about them because they don't have talent
this song is about how the music business has changed
"for your time it's written out. work means nothing by itself" - music artists today don't have to have the talent or creativity to come up with their own lyrics and music for their songs. they just do what they're told. they spend more time memorizing dance steps and such, then focusing on their music
"selection kills the old, selection breathes on it's own" - new songs are requested and the old ones are forgotten even though the old ones may be more talented then the new stuff. it's just the way things work. unless there is a big enough group to request the "old" stuff, it just kinds of slips from the air waves almost completely.
"these days are numbered i can tell. so until the crash i'll write you down" - he's saying that these pop, r&b, rap, etc. bands aren't going to last much longer because sooner or later people are going to realize they don't have any talent. so he's saying for now he'll (we'll) write them down (remember them) until their joyride is over and then we'll forget about them
"sing while you can now" - he's letting those other "pop" bands (not just pop, but i mean the actual term, popular) know that they better enjoy it while they can because eventually their going to fade away and only the bands with real talent will stick around and be able to produce such awesome music (such as jimmy eat world :-) haha)
and that line could also be directed to the listeners in a way by saying that these bands aren't going to last, so sing along with them now, but eventually you'll forget about them because they don't have talent