I think the song is about watching somebody becoming jaded. This person is being exposed to negative things, and it changes them. In the end of the song, the narrator pleas with this person:
"Just show me a brand new mind
Keep in what you left behind
Something has got to give
These things I just don't want you to be"
This seems to be asking the subject of the song not to let the negative aspects of life change him for the worse. 'Keep in what you left behind,' makes me think of somebody who gave something to people, whether happiness or hope, or whatever, but is losing it in himself. 'These things I just don't want you to be,' is the narrator telling the subject that he doesn't want him to change into the things that he's seen, heard, learned, etc.
I think the song is about watching somebody becoming jaded. This person is being exposed to negative things, and it changes them. In the end of the song, the narrator pleas with this person:
"Just show me a brand new mind Keep in what you left behind
Something has got to give These things I just don't want you to be"
This seems to be asking the subject of the song not to let the negative aspects of life change him for the worse. 'Keep in what you left behind,' makes me think of somebody who gave something to people, whether happiness or hope, or whatever, but is losing it in himself. 'These things I just don't want you to be,' is the narrator telling the subject that he doesn't want him to change into the things that he's seen, heard, learned, etc.