Originally when I heard this song, I assumed it was about xenophobic song about immigrants i.e. immigrants living off of the welfare system, immigrants overpopulating to overwhelm the native population in numbers, and the native population being naively unaware of the 'ambitious outsiders' plans.
However, in reading the lyrics and the other posters interpretations, I tend to agree that this song is more likely about child murderers. In two stanzas, children are referenced as the intended targets/victims, 'smiling kids' and 'school bus', reproduction is cited as the 'cause' of the problem, and the narrator talks about keeping the population down.
But to be honest, I don't get the 'point' of the song at all. If the intent is to bring more attention to a serious issue, it certainly offers no hope or solutions at all. It does no good to bolt lock your doors or call the police- you have no way of knowing who the bad guys are. The only possible solution in the song is to stop reproducing, which is absurd.
I also don't get the song title given the content. Ambition usually has a positive connotation- someone who is pushing themselves to achieve some higher aim. I would not associate a positive adjective with a child killer. A child killer would certainly be 'outside' of the mainstream of society, but an outsider could have a positive influence on society as well- causing the majority to think in a different way in order for society to progress e.g. immigrants, outsider artists etc. I would find a much harsher noun to describe child killers.
Songs like Suffer Little Children and Reel Around the Fountain did a much,much better job of handling sensitive topics like child abuse and child murders in a much more tasteful and respectul way. As with many of the songs on Maladjusted Morrissey misses the mark or doesn't do a good enough job or even seem to care to let us know what mark he was aiming for.
I don't think the song is about homosexuality. Considering Morrissey himself is bisexual, I don't know why he would write about homosexuality in a sinister way and playing into the ignorant stereotype that homosexuals target children.
Originally when I heard this song, I assumed it was about xenophobic song about immigrants i.e. immigrants living off of the welfare system, immigrants overpopulating to overwhelm the native population in numbers, and the native population being naively unaware of the 'ambitious outsiders' plans.
However, in reading the lyrics and the other posters interpretations, I tend to agree that this song is more likely about child murderers. In two stanzas, children are referenced as the intended targets/victims, 'smiling kids' and 'school bus', reproduction is cited as the 'cause' of the problem, and the narrator talks about keeping the population down.
But to be honest, I don't get the 'point' of the song at all. If the intent is to bring more attention to a serious issue, it certainly offers no hope or solutions at all. It does no good to bolt lock your doors or call the police- you have no way of knowing who the bad guys are. The only possible solution in the song is to stop reproducing, which is absurd.
I also don't get the song title given the content. Ambition usually has a positive connotation- someone who is pushing themselves to achieve some higher aim. I would not associate a positive adjective with a child killer. A child killer would certainly be 'outside' of the mainstream of society, but an outsider could have a positive influence on society as well- causing the majority to think in a different way in order for society to progress e.g. immigrants, outsider artists etc. I would find a much harsher noun to describe child killers.
Songs like Suffer Little Children and Reel Around the Fountain did a much,much better job of handling sensitive topics like child abuse and child murders in a much more tasteful and respectul way. As with many of the songs on Maladjusted Morrissey misses the mark or doesn't do a good enough job or even seem to care to let us know what mark he was aiming for.
I don't think the song is about homosexuality. Considering Morrissey himself is bisexual, I don't know why he would write about homosexuality in a sinister way and playing into the ignorant stereotype that homosexuals target children.