The great thing about Beck is you can totally interpret it however you want it. The confusing thing about this is, well, we all varied opinions about this.
Personally, this song makes me think of the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. (This is a personally opinion, keep in mind.) For example, the whole first stanza has these frequent references to bombing and the like, e.g.:
z'Fake prizes rising out of the bomb holes."
I think of the shock-n-awe campaign at the beginning of the Iraq conflict, where we were all like, "FUCK YEAH, MURICA!" and bombing the shit out of Baghdad. It was supposed to get us a prize (YAY we beat Saddam) but as the occupation rolls on, "IT'S A TRAP."
And to expand on that:
"Bank notes burn like smoking equipment
Looking for shelter, readjust your position."
Towards the beginning of the war, there were more than a few cases of fighter jets/artillery landing strikes uncomfortably close to troops at the very tippy-top of the front lines. So...to me, the "looking for shelter, readjust your position" (and the whole: "Duck don't look now, company missiles" makes me think of the near friendly-fire by artillery and air forces. Like, "oh shit, dude, you're basically shooting US."
Beck also makes references towards "limited attention spans" and "perfunctory idols rewriting their bibles with magic markers running out of ink." I tend to think that this could reference the fact that after two years of war, the American public kinda got bored and got interested in something else shiny and explosive. Since we weren't feeling the impact of the war first hand (rations, draft, etc), we grew bored of the conflict and got busy bitching about something else. As to the Bibles w/ magic markers (which is awesome, one): as the war in Iraq progressed, people were like, "Why the fuck are we HERE?" to which war hawks had to quickly revamp their "PURPOSES IN IRAQ" strategy and find a reason that would stick with a disatisfied public and confused troop presence on the ground. But as the war dragged on, the magic markers rewriting excuses and bullshit logic were getting fainter and fainter - they were running out.
Anyway: goddamn, I love this song. This was my interpretation of it. I'd love to hear other opinions.
@LaFlamingo I used to think it was just a song about tearing it up on the dance floor in the vein of Where It's At, but the war imagery definitely makes for an odd juxtaposition. So you either have a dance scene so intense it's as chaotic as a warzone, or the converse: soldiers are fighting on the strong side of an asymmetric war, and the power rush they get is similar to a skilled dancer "cleanin' the floor". Certainly an interesting double entendre there, as cleaning the floor can also mean the killing of enemy combatants....
@LaFlamingo I used to think it was just a song about tearing it up on the dance floor in the vein of Where It's At, but the war imagery definitely makes for an odd juxtaposition. So you either have a dance scene so intense it's as chaotic as a warzone, or the converse: soldiers are fighting on the strong side of an asymmetric war, and the power rush they get is similar to a skilled dancer "cleanin' the floor". Certainly an interesting double entendre there, as cleaning the floor can also mean the killing of enemy combatants.
The great thing about Beck is you can totally interpret it however you want it. The confusing thing about this is, well, we all varied opinions about this.
Personally, this song makes me think of the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. (This is a personally opinion, keep in mind.) For example, the whole first stanza has these frequent references to bombing and the like, e.g.: z'Fake prizes rising out of the bomb holes."
I think of the shock-n-awe campaign at the beginning of the Iraq conflict, where we were all like, "FUCK YEAH, MURICA!" and bombing the shit out of Baghdad. It was supposed to get us a prize (YAY we beat Saddam) but as the occupation rolls on, "IT'S A TRAP."
And to expand on that:
"Bank notes burn like smoking equipment Looking for shelter, readjust your position."
Towards the beginning of the war, there were more than a few cases of fighter jets/artillery landing strikes uncomfortably close to troops at the very tippy-top of the front lines. So...to me, the "looking for shelter, readjust your position" (and the whole: "Duck don't look now, company missiles" makes me think of the near friendly-fire by artillery and air forces. Like, "oh shit, dude, you're basically shooting US."
Beck also makes references towards "limited attention spans" and "perfunctory idols rewriting their bibles with magic markers running out of ink." I tend to think that this could reference the fact that after two years of war, the American public kinda got bored and got interested in something else shiny and explosive. Since we weren't feeling the impact of the war first hand (rations, draft, etc), we grew bored of the conflict and got busy bitching about something else. As to the Bibles w/ magic markers (which is awesome, one): as the war in Iraq progressed, people were like, "Why the fuck are we HERE?" to which war hawks had to quickly revamp their "PURPOSES IN IRAQ" strategy and find a reason that would stick with a disatisfied public and confused troop presence on the ground. But as the war dragged on, the magic markers rewriting excuses and bullshit logic were getting fainter and fainter - they were running out.
Anyway: goddamn, I love this song. This was my interpretation of it. I'd love to hear other opinions.
@LaFlamingo I used to think it was just a song about tearing it up on the dance floor in the vein of Where It's At, but the war imagery definitely makes for an odd juxtaposition. So you either have a dance scene so intense it's as chaotic as a warzone, or the converse: soldiers are fighting on the strong side of an asymmetric war, and the power rush they get is similar to a skilled dancer "cleanin' the floor". Certainly an interesting double entendre there, as cleaning the floor can also mean the killing of enemy combatants....
@LaFlamingo I used to think it was just a song about tearing it up on the dance floor in the vein of Where It's At, but the war imagery definitely makes for an odd juxtaposition. So you either have a dance scene so intense it's as chaotic as a warzone, or the converse: soldiers are fighting on the strong side of an asymmetric war, and the power rush they get is similar to a skilled dancer "cleanin' the floor". Certainly an interesting double entendre there, as cleaning the floor can also mean the killing of enemy combatants.