Friday, May 15, 2009

Damn good. Though overall the first album was better. Lyrics.
I am a martyr I just need a motive
I am a martyr I just need a cause
I'm a believer I just need to a moment
I'm a believer I just need a cause
There seems to be a consensus (based on limited internet search, including the generally hilarious songmeanings.net) that the song is "taking the kids to task for their 'masks of cool and indifference'." Hence, a pompous and preachy song that fails. It seems to me this ignores both the persistent use of first person in the song and the theme of craving fame present in other songs ("Is it so wrong to crave recognition?") In contrast to the insistent first person call to martyrdom, the intro to the song is curiously unemotional in the passive voice:
There was a sense of disappointment as we left the mall
All the young people looked the same
Wearing their masks of cool and disinterest
Commerce dressed up as rebellion
And the absurdity of the radical dick-waving contests:
Well I was brave
And unique,
Intelligent,
A snowflake
I could have been a hero
No-one can be trusted over the age of 14
A song of frustration and powerlessness, which seems to me the emotional complex from which their sound primarily sprouts:
Tattoo our arms
Converse shoes
Cynical
But we still do it
We tell ourselves that we're different
I've gotten so good at lying to myself
All, all my pain and honour is used up
All my guns are rusted
Perhaps a touch of anti-colonialism,
So when are you going to realise those are not your wrongs to right
But then that's chiding the radicals for not being smart enough to let themselves get frustrated.

No comments: