Candy Cane Children Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Nomdeplume 

Cover art for Candy Cane Children lyrics by White Stripes, The

I always thought that what it was actually about was gun crime amongst young people, and how important socialisation is in leading to it or deterring it. Like, when it says "don't you know your name girl/boy", thats a very clichéd thing for adults to say to young children, the kind of thing you get at family parties (i.e christmas) when you're young and you hate it, thus, 'nobody knows how to talk to children'. If you take the "dont you know your name" line as representative of 'negative' socialisation/upbringing (which could be anything from not teaching your children right from wrong properly to not paying them enough attention), then this can be seen to lead to antisocial/criminal behaviour, and obviously included in that is gun crime. And you do hear alot about young, bored children finding their parents guns (obv in America, right to bear arms and all that) and accidentally using them, or using them without fully understanding the consequences. I am rambling quite alot here but hopefully you catch my drift!