I've always heard it "The skin's the texture of our page", not "The skins, the texture of our page", and I use that in my interpretation. But I think my interpretation would be roughly the same if the transcription on this page is correct.
I hear it as a protest against conservative political leaders, the lyrics as a direct address. Written in prose, I think it means the following:
"We may be seeing this differently because I am young and you are old. You say that our protest as young citizens is dangerous, and motivated out of irrational anger. So, sure, we can say we're sorry -- despite the fact that I know these agitations are not fits of anger, but the turbulence of impending change.
"You ask as to hold to this surface pretense you've constructed (this "skin"). This pretense characterizes our era (our "page in history") -- an era in which you have torn up the documents and laws that are supposed to protect citizens, and thrown them, and us, into a cage under your control. And for the most part people have made nests out of this shredded paper, much as a pet hamster or mouse might do, rather than railing against this mistreatment.
"But the fits and anger of youth are fits that portend change."
I've always heard it "The skin's the texture of our page", not "The skins, the texture of our page", and I use that in my interpretation. But I think my interpretation would be roughly the same if the transcription on this page is correct.
I hear it as a protest against conservative political leaders, the lyrics as a direct address. Written in prose, I think it means the following:
"We may be seeing this differently because I am young and you are old. You say that our protest as young citizens is dangerous, and motivated out of irrational anger. So, sure, we can say we're sorry -- despite the fact that I know these agitations are not fits of anger, but the turbulence of impending change.
"You ask as to hold to this surface pretense you've constructed (this "skin"). This pretense characterizes our era (our "page in history") -- an era in which you have torn up the documents and laws that are supposed to protect citizens, and thrown them, and us, into a cage under your control. And for the most part people have made nests out of this shredded paper, much as a pet hamster or mouse might do, rather than railing against this mistreatment.
"But the fits and anger of youth are fits that portend change."