Awesome song - this is probably my second favourite Yo La Tengo album (behind Electr-O-Pura, with Blue Line Swinger my favourite track).
Anyway, I came here because I was wondering what was being sang, and upon reading, came to the conclusion that this track is about rebellion.
There are two people and the first is trying to fathom what's driving the other to act so recklessly; wonders why he/she's so angry/tense and is worried that soon, something bad may happen. This idea is eating away at the first person but the other just doesn't see it and it's putting a rift between them.
The first verse (see lyrics above) implies that the first person is being kept awake by worry for the rebel and tries to psycho-analyse but can't comprehend (keep up).
Second verse: pointing out a memory of how stupid stuff nearly cost them - or someone else - dearly. But it's okay, the rebel counters, because they survived.
The chorus indicates that the rebel is aware of the problem but doesn't see it as one, as if believing nothing bad could ever happen to him/her (the immortality of youth!), and just as the rebel begins to see the first person's point of view, he/she switches off again, refusing to listen.
"Moving on but not gaining any ground..." self explanatory: fighting against a system which only really exists as a notion - no victory can ever truly account as being such.
Third verse: kept awake again for sheer dread. The rebel wonders why the first person can't stop stressing over things, not understanding that he/she's the root cause.
Obviously, I didn't write the lyrics so may be wrong as to the interpretation, but hopefully, fans will now have another idea to bat around.
Awesome song - this is probably my second favourite Yo La Tengo album (behind Electr-O-Pura, with Blue Line Swinger my favourite track).
Anyway, I came here because I was wondering what was being sang, and upon reading, came to the conclusion that this track is about rebellion.
There are two people and the first is trying to fathom what's driving the other to act so recklessly; wonders why he/she's so angry/tense and is worried that soon, something bad may happen. This idea is eating away at the first person but the other just doesn't see it and it's putting a rift between them.
The first verse (see lyrics above) implies that the first person is being kept awake by worry for the rebel and tries to psycho-analyse but can't comprehend (keep up).
Second verse: pointing out a memory of how stupid stuff nearly cost them - or someone else - dearly. But it's okay, the rebel counters, because they survived.
The chorus indicates that the rebel is aware of the problem but doesn't see it as one, as if believing nothing bad could ever happen to him/her (the immortality of youth!), and just as the rebel begins to see the first person's point of view, he/she switches off again, refusing to listen.
"Moving on but not gaining any ground..." self explanatory: fighting against a system which only really exists as a notion - no victory can ever truly account as being such.
Third verse: kept awake again for sheer dread. The rebel wonders why the first person can't stop stressing over things, not understanding that he/she's the root cause.
Obviously, I didn't write the lyrics so may be wrong as to the interpretation, but hopefully, fans will now have another idea to bat around.
Thanks for reading.