I'd always thought of the song as pretty much a joke song by GGD. You spend the first 99% of the song feeling for the main character who is down in the dumps and just wants to live the life of his idol. I mean, back in the day, James Dean pretty much defined "coolness." So they get you feeling sad and sorry and then bam, the joke comes in at the very end. Back in their early days, the would play it now and then. After "Name" broke them, they suddenly had to get careful about being a little more politically correct. I remember being at a concert when they played it and at the very end John just said "then you go and you tell me that you found out... no I can't say it" and he started laughing. Then he finished the last line and then that was it. Never saw them play the song live again.
I'd always thought of the song as pretty much a joke song by GGD. You spend the first 99% of the song feeling for the main character who is down in the dumps and just wants to live the life of his idol. I mean, back in the day, James Dean pretty much defined "coolness." So they get you feeling sad and sorry and then bam, the joke comes in at the very end. Back in their early days, the would play it now and then. After "Name" broke them, they suddenly had to get careful about being a little more politically correct. I remember being at a concert when they played it and at the very end John just said "then you go and you tell me that you found out... no I can't say it" and he started laughing. Then he finished the last line and then that was it. Never saw them play the song live again.