I always understood this song to be an anti-war, anti-military protest song. The issue about the man not being able to run his own life, MILITARY. The line of "how much does it cost, I'll buy it" referring to buying a person's freedom from the military. "Telling me I better get in line" pure reference to the formation - daily event. Not wanting to dance - marching. I may be wrong - but those are the symbols I see in this song to this day.
@nrwilkinson I always saw the four lines at "how much does it cost" to be a commentary on the government/military's cavalier treatment of taxpayer money and soldier effort. Instead of rationally analyzing whether a course of action is worth pursuing, they just blindly pursue it to see what happens, After all, it isn't THEIR money or THEIR effort they're wasting -- it's yours, they just get to play with it. It reinforces how irresponsibly the government who wants to run your life runs its own.
@nrwilkinson I always saw the four lines at "how much does it cost" to be a commentary on the government/military's cavalier treatment of taxpayer money and soldier effort. Instead of rationally analyzing whether a course of action is worth pursuing, they just blindly pursue it to see what happens, After all, it isn't THEIR money or THEIR effort they're wasting -- it's yours, they just get to play with it. It reinforces how irresponsibly the government who wants to run your life runs its own.
I always understood this song to be an anti-war, anti-military protest song. The issue about the man not being able to run his own life, MILITARY. The line of "how much does it cost, I'll buy it" referring to buying a person's freedom from the military. "Telling me I better get in line" pure reference to the formation - daily event. Not wanting to dance - marching. I may be wrong - but those are the symbols I see in this song to this day.
@nrwilkinson I always saw the four lines at "how much does it cost" to be a commentary on the government/military's cavalier treatment of taxpayer money and soldier effort. Instead of rationally analyzing whether a course of action is worth pursuing, they just blindly pursue it to see what happens, After all, it isn't THEIR money or THEIR effort they're wasting -- it's yours, they just get to play with it. It reinforces how irresponsibly the government who wants to run your life runs its own.
@nrwilkinson I always saw the four lines at "how much does it cost" to be a commentary on the government/military's cavalier treatment of taxpayer money and soldier effort. Instead of rationally analyzing whether a course of action is worth pursuing, they just blindly pursue it to see what happens, After all, it isn't THEIR money or THEIR effort they're wasting -- it's yours, they just get to play with it. It reinforces how irresponsibly the government who wants to run your life runs its own.