The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades Lyrics

Lyric discussion by CB2001 

Cover art for The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades lyrics by Timbuk3

I have just come across a disturbing interpretation of this song. Now, you're probably wondering, "What's so disturbing about it?" It's a dire warning to people not to get into the field of nuclear sciences and going to work at nuclear power plants, because it'd make you insane. Think about it.

The first lines of the song is "I study nuclear science, I love my classes, I got a crazy teacher who wears dark glasses." This sounds like a good thing, especially since the singer is saying he's doing alright, getting good grades and his future's so bright that he's gotta wear shades.

The second verse of the song is him saying that he's got a job waiting for him after he graduates from school (the music video shows a picture of a nuclear power plant). Like anyone getting out of school, he's psyched about the amount of money he'd get each year and that he could buy a lot of beer to get drunk on as much as he wants.

Here's where things get weird: the third verse. "Well I'm heavenly blessed and worldly wise, I'm a peeping-tom techie with x-ray eyes." Apparently, during his time working and possibly being drunk on the job, he apparently has a psychotic break and thinks he's got superpowers from working at the power plant.

And here's the sad part, the first verse is repeated again, indicating that he's been forced out of the power plant and is stuck teaching nuclear science to the next generation, with the repeating of the verse being from a new student who was just as hopeful as he was, sitting in the class with a "crazy teacher who wears dark glasses", unaware of the irony (with his teacher who may have also gone insane because he had the same job). The future's so bright? More like dark....

My Interpretation