I didn't take the time to read all of the posts here, but I don't think this song is primarily about being "nonconformist" or whatever. It's fairly clear that there is an element of nonconformity but more importantly this song is about being comfortable doing things your own way even if it isn't the popular way. The perspective that I see in this song is one of somebody who is about 22 or 23 and in college or who just finished with college and is really developing into their own person and accepting that.
All through high school and most of college people discount you like you aren't a part of the real world because you are still in school and aren't really part of the "real world" yet. You aren't out there in a career or working 40+ hours a day with full adult responsibilities.
In college and even to some degree high school, people are always trying to get you to "take a seat and plot your life in black and white..." pick a major, a career, and set your life up before you've even had any experience or really lived life! That's the "right" track, but few people ever do this successfully and are actually happy in doing so. I think the point of the song is you don't have to do it that way. At that point in life, everybody is looking for answers, some are looking in books, some were prom kings or drama queens, or whatever else. You can live your life and make a plan and try and stay inside the lines, or you can get out there and live life and really find out what life is about. The people who do this are going to be far happier and better off then those who sort of walk the prescribed path.
I think that the main character or narrator of this song has done that and realizes that the whole process is a sham and that living life is what it is all about, and doing things your own way is all that really matters. There is no such thing as the real world and all of this responsibility and heavy handedness that everyone always references, there really is only yourself and your life and whatever you want to make of it.
Sorry if this rant made no sense, but I think the song has much more of an existentialist slant than simply being about not conforming.
Wow, you said exactly what i would have said.. I couldn't have said it better =]
Whenever i hear someone reference the 'real world', i tend to get annoyed. The world is what it is, it includes people who live in extreme poverty, and people who inherit millions and never work a day in their lives - it's all real, and the people who delude themselves into thinking that their way of life (an arbitrary place between the most difficult life and the easiest life) is the 'real world' are the ones who are distancing themselves from reality more than anyone...
Wow, you said exactly what i would have said.. I couldn't have said it better =]
Whenever i hear someone reference the 'real world', i tend to get annoyed. The world is what it is, it includes people who live in extreme poverty, and people who inherit millions and never work a day in their lives - it's all real, and the people who delude themselves into thinking that their way of life (an arbitrary place between the most difficult life and the easiest life) is the 'real world' are the ones who are distancing themselves from reality more than anyone else.
I didn't take the time to read all of the posts here, but I don't think this song is primarily about being "nonconformist" or whatever. It's fairly clear that there is an element of nonconformity but more importantly this song is about being comfortable doing things your own way even if it isn't the popular way. The perspective that I see in this song is one of somebody who is about 22 or 23 and in college or who just finished with college and is really developing into their own person and accepting that.
All through high school and most of college people discount you like you aren't a part of the real world because you are still in school and aren't really part of the "real world" yet. You aren't out there in a career or working 40+ hours a day with full adult responsibilities.
In college and even to some degree high school, people are always trying to get you to "take a seat and plot your life in black and white..." pick a major, a career, and set your life up before you've even had any experience or really lived life! That's the "right" track, but few people ever do this successfully and are actually happy in doing so. I think the point of the song is you don't have to do it that way. At that point in life, everybody is looking for answers, some are looking in books, some were prom kings or drama queens, or whatever else. You can live your life and make a plan and try and stay inside the lines, or you can get out there and live life and really find out what life is about. The people who do this are going to be far happier and better off then those who sort of walk the prescribed path.
I think that the main character or narrator of this song has done that and realizes that the whole process is a sham and that living life is what it is all about, and doing things your own way is all that really matters. There is no such thing as the real world and all of this responsibility and heavy handedness that everyone always references, there really is only yourself and your life and whatever you want to make of it.
Sorry if this rant made no sense, but I think the song has much more of an existentialist slant than simply being about not conforming.
Wow, you said exactly what i would have said.. I couldn't have said it better =] Whenever i hear someone reference the 'real world', i tend to get annoyed. The world is what it is, it includes people who live in extreme poverty, and people who inherit millions and never work a day in their lives - it's all real, and the people who delude themselves into thinking that their way of life (an arbitrary place between the most difficult life and the easiest life) is the 'real world' are the ones who are distancing themselves from reality more than anyone...
Wow, you said exactly what i would have said.. I couldn't have said it better =] Whenever i hear someone reference the 'real world', i tend to get annoyed. The world is what it is, it includes people who live in extreme poverty, and people who inherit millions and never work a day in their lives - it's all real, and the people who delude themselves into thinking that their way of life (an arbitrary place between the most difficult life and the easiest life) is the 'real world' are the ones who are distancing themselves from reality more than anyone else.