19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) Lyrics

Lyric discussion by nuiman 

Cover art for 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) lyrics by Gorillaz

it's talking about carving your own path in life. "It's the music that we choose" is there way of saying what you do makes a difference in your life. Ya he tethers himself to his past, so that he can remember who he is and where he comes from. Nike is a popular brand that everyone buys so his mom is telling him that he shouldn't follow everyone around him, but rather that he needs to move on with his life and make something out of himself that no one else has seen before. He needs to make his own definition of what's cool.

the next important set of verses is the monkey in the jungle part. the monkey is the mass ignorance in our society. The dumb idiots that we all are, to clarify. So one dumb idiot(monkey) is caught up between wants(tail) and importance(brain) while watching his life incinerate into the atmosphere(the vapor part. since we don't live forever (time's elimination) go for all that you dream of (you got nothing to lose). so, what can we do about this in order for us to carve our own path (please repeat the message). Chace after your dream, do what you think is cool, make what you like cool for yourself because it's your choice(it's the music that we choose)

Think about that for not being a deep song. Undoubtedly it makes sense.