Violent Youth

I think this song is called 'Violent Youth' exactly because it pictures how wrong our society is in the way youngsters develop. They're violent as they're self-destructive; doing their best to fit in without ever being understood.

Show up in your lace

• Dress up in a provocative way in order to attract males' attention.

Drink up little girl

• Get drunk, again. Because that's what all teens do when they're out.

And they will always let you down

• What else would you expect under these circumstances besides being let down? You've modeled yourself after them, you've done your best in order to try and fit. However, it hasn't quite worked out for you. At the end of the day, you're still just one lost teen living in a fake world.

Hold your mother’s pearl

• Not sure about this line in particular, but I'd assume that what the songwriter meant was a girl doing her best to look good, even if that would mean sneaking into her mother's room for a piece of jewel. Eventually, that will turn out to be her only item to hold on to; her connection to the better past.

Show up in your lace

• Do show up in your lace...

Up to your cheekbones ...but pull it all the way up to your cheekbones. With them being part of your face, this would symbolize protecting your very own self from the people who would want to misuse you. It is also a way to symbolize purity; by pulling your lace that high, you won't be able to show off any piece of skin that would be too much. After all, you're a young girl who's not supposed to dress up so scarcely.

Prevention is the only cure

• Prevention is meant here in the sense of the girl preventing herself from being abused/drugged/raped, etc. She's supposed to protect and cherish her innocence, not let it get consumed by society's false norms.

Kiss them through windows

• Windows create distance. She's advised to only watch that fake world from her window instead of being part of it. She'd better not kiss them for real but do so through windows.

Throw up in your plate

• Don't attend parties in order to throw up after having drunk more than you could possibly handle. Don't go there to vomit after having taken drugs, either. Don't let others get to you while you're vulnerable. So, throw up in your plate instead. That is still ugly but it's also safe. You won't be harming yourself with booze or drugs. That isn't the way to go.

Look angelical

• Look the way you actually are. You don't have to fake your own self. You're just as good the way you are without being a slave to modern-day society. A young girl in her early/late teens is supposed to look more innocent than many in fact do.

If you sleep before I arrive

• If you've actually come to your senses and decided to stay home with your family for a change...

I’ll pray for you my girl

• I'll pay for you to get better, to let go of this fake life. This is not the reality you'd like to be living in for the rest of your life, and I (as a mother/father/etc.) would not want to continue seeing you ruin your life and future in front of my eyes.

A flower on fire

• The girl is as pretty as a flower. But she's on fire due to her violent youth. She wants to matter, to be accepted amongst her classmates and friends. She's doing wild stuff outside that are highly likely to be harmful for her.

And I will always let you down

• This is a twist in the lyrics, as I'd call it myself. My personal interpretation is that a parent would always let their child down by not allowing them to do certain things such as attending parties. No matter how hard a parent/parent figure or even a friend would try to explain to that teen that he/she might as well not be right in his/her destructive ways, that teen would always turn their back on them feeling misunderstood. Quite often we tend not to appreciate others' help, even more so at such a fragile age.