This song is meaningful to anyone who is young and who holds left wing views. There are always those on the right who will critique young leftists for being naive, or old ones for being dinosaurs, wealthy leftists for being hypocrites, or poor ones for being jealous. Essentially Weller is calling bullshit on the old conservative trope that all people get more conservative as they become more worldly. Weller vehemently disagrees, and says that it is not worldliness, but rather bitterness, hatred, small-mindedness and "twisted cynicism" that might cause a change in values.
This song is meaningful to anyone who is young and who holds left wing views. There are always those on the right who will critique young leftists for being naive, or old ones for being dinosaurs, wealthy leftists for being hypocrites, or poor ones for being jealous. Essentially Weller is calling bullshit on the old conservative trope that all people get more conservative as they become more worldly. Weller vehemently disagrees, and says that it is not worldliness, but rather bitterness, hatred, small-mindedness and "twisted cynicism" that might cause a change in values.