This song is a plea. It reminds me of the first ten of Shakespeare's sonnets. The words ask the "very young" person to examine himself and open his eyes to what his existance is actually producing. His likef is like the "morning mist"...mortal like the rest of us.
I see the person being sung to as a reckless person who is living for himself, maybe not even hurting himself persay, but falling into the "get ahead" mentality, striving to make a buck, but not make much else. The singer is exposing this flaw to the young man pleading for him to use his potential before time runs out, because empty goodbyes are the hardest.
@MusicOfSilence I agree with you. As you said, it’s a plea for younger people to not live for themselves, to not focus on getting ahead etc. and rather to use their potential to make the world better and leave something for the next generation. Interestingly, for a long time in the US the focus was on the next generations and sacrificing for their good. This was partly due to the US having had such large immigrant populations in those days, as immigrants often focus on sacrificing for future generations. Then along came the “me” generation (which was people in...
@MusicOfSilence I agree with you. As you said, it’s a plea for younger people to not live for themselves, to not focus on getting ahead etc. and rather to use their potential to make the world better and leave something for the next generation. Interestingly, for a long time in the US the focus was on the next generations and sacrificing for their good. This was partly due to the US having had such large immigrant populations in those days, as immigrants often focus on sacrificing for future generations. Then along came the “me” generation (which was people in Cat’s generation), and the focus became far more so on pleasure and self-aggrandizement. It’s amazing that in his 20s, Cat was boldly calling this out to his generation. Unfortunately it largely fell on deaf ears, and still today mostly falls on deaf ears within all generations.
This song is a plea. It reminds me of the first ten of Shakespeare's sonnets. The words ask the "very young" person to examine himself and open his eyes to what his existance is actually producing. His likef is like the "morning mist"...mortal like the rest of us. I see the person being sung to as a reckless person who is living for himself, maybe not even hurting himself persay, but falling into the "get ahead" mentality, striving to make a buck, but not make much else. The singer is exposing this flaw to the young man pleading for him to use his potential before time runs out, because empty goodbyes are the hardest.
@MusicOfSilence I agree with you. As you said, it’s a plea for younger people to not live for themselves, to not focus on getting ahead etc. and rather to use their potential to make the world better and leave something for the next generation. Interestingly, for a long time in the US the focus was on the next generations and sacrificing for their good. This was partly due to the US having had such large immigrant populations in those days, as immigrants often focus on sacrificing for future generations. Then along came the “me” generation (which was people in...
@MusicOfSilence I agree with you. As you said, it’s a plea for younger people to not live for themselves, to not focus on getting ahead etc. and rather to use their potential to make the world better and leave something for the next generation. Interestingly, for a long time in the US the focus was on the next generations and sacrificing for their good. This was partly due to the US having had such large immigrant populations in those days, as immigrants often focus on sacrificing for future generations. Then along came the “me” generation (which was people in Cat’s generation), and the focus became far more so on pleasure and self-aggrandizement. It’s amazing that in his 20s, Cat was boldly calling this out to his generation. Unfortunately it largely fell on deaf ears, and still today mostly falls on deaf ears within all generations.