Forget the lyrics for a moment. The drums and bass!! Holy crap. I'm a drummer. The very first time I heard this song I was in a club in Baltimore, and they had the volume cranked. Within about 30 seconds, all I could hear was bass, bass drum, snare, and hi-hat. I got that little tingly feeling in my eyes / nose, when you hear or see something that is just so good. This song...it's as if the bassist and drummer, together, are saying to the rest of the band "THIS is where ONE's goin, and we're keeping him there. You can follow, or be left behind, but it is NOT budging." In music, there's nothing more beautiful than simplicity executed perfectly.
As to the meaning of the lyrics... yeah, I hear conformity as being the theme. The first 4 lines establish a sort of "the world vs. Res's individuality" theme. The "screwed up face" line implies that she's in some way different from everybody else, unique.(The point of the song may be, actually, that EVERYBODY is unique and different.) So she feels the tugs of "real" world, and she can feel herself being pulled towards it, but she's trying to dig her heals in and leave a trace of the independent Res.
The chorus is brilliant, and I don't think any other poster has yet quite touched on it as a whole. I could write a small book on those words.
I need to go to bed now, and hope that someone else will come and offer their thoughts on it so that you all don't have to listen to my 10,000 word ramblings.
Forget the lyrics for a moment. The drums and bass!! Holy crap. I'm a drummer. The very first time I heard this song I was in a club in Baltimore, and they had the volume cranked. Within about 30 seconds, all I could hear was bass, bass drum, snare, and hi-hat. I got that little tingly feeling in my eyes / nose, when you hear or see something that is just so good. This song...it's as if the bassist and drummer, together, are saying to the rest of the band "THIS is where ONE's goin, and we're keeping him there. You can follow, or be left behind, but it is NOT budging." In music, there's nothing more beautiful than simplicity executed perfectly.
As to the meaning of the lyrics... yeah, I hear conformity as being the theme. The first 4 lines establish a sort of "the world vs. Res's individuality" theme. The "screwed up face" line implies that she's in some way different from everybody else, unique.(The point of the song may be, actually, that EVERYBODY is unique and different.) So she feels the tugs of "real" world, and she can feel herself being pulled towards it, but she's trying to dig her heals in and leave a trace of the independent Res.
The chorus is brilliant, and I don't think any other poster has yet quite touched on it as a whole. I could write a small book on those words.
I need to go to bed now, and hope that someone else will come and offer their thoughts on it so that you all don't have to listen to my 10,000 word ramblings.