R.V.

I definitely don't see the guy portrayed in this song as having set out to be a loser. The last sign is a dead giveaway to that. It's one of those vicious cycle things. He became like his father and he's going to make his own kids believe they're no better either.

I don't think this guy really should be seen as either a victim or a perpetrator...more that this is simply what it is. A huge sector of people with no motivation to better themselves.

This song definetly made me laugh i wonder if nintendo has ever heard this song cuz it sounds like mario is underwater

theres something about this song that i just find really saddening. sure it's half-novelty because of the goofiness of it. but these lyrics are very telling.

everyone else has commented about how this guy is a loser and scum... but even the narrator hates himself. he's defeated.

"i hate you... talking to myself"

"i'm only bleeding" "you don't feel it after awhile, you take a beating"

those lines just show how he feels helpless and no one notices... and after a while of dealing with this he just went numb... just accepted being nothing. he's given up on what he once desired and now his outlook has become pessimistic/nihilistic.

he still thinks he's worth something ("would anybody tell me if i was getting stupider?"). but due to whatever he's lost hope.

i love the last verse: "Where are the kids? i dont know... Maybe getting pregnant or on drugs or on welfare on top of the world on the honor roll on parole on the dodgers on the backs of milk cartons..."

it just feeds his hopelessness. showing that everywhere he looks he just sees these pointless or erroneous things people are doing with their lives and feels lost in the bigness of it. feels he can't change the machine of the world and so just carries on the family traditions of defeat.

Nobody sets out to be a loser. I think it's about regret and self-hatred, that Patton thinks white-trash is feeling or should be feeling. But basically everyone can end up like this guy. Might be a reflection of Mike's own feelings about how he could've ended up like this.

"I agree with the sentiment that there are people that set out to be losers, whether conciously or uncounciously"

That doesn't make sense. If you set out to do something you are making a concious decision - you have made up your mind and plan on doing it. So you can't set out to do something unconciously...

You CAN set out to do something and unconciously fail due to unforseen circumstances, situations and events.

Personally, I don't think anyone sets out to be a loser. I think many people have an idea of where they want to be and what they want to do but either fail because of things out of their control or because of the decisions they have made that seemed like a good idea at the time without realising the repercussions or importance of said decisions thus leading to them failing at their goal.

I set out to build robots - seriously, I was really into cybernetics n stuff. I needed to study at school to get into uni. However, due to women, alcohol and going out (that seemed fun at the time) resulted in me getting good grades but not good enough. Hence I never got into uni. So I failed although I never set out to fail but yes, it was my own choices at that caused me to fail.

And I think this is the case with most 'white trash' in the US. (I'm English btw - and we have white trash too - just in council houses or tenement not trailer parks or cheap housing).

I doubt many 'white trash' make a concious and decide "I like the idea of living in a shit caravan/house doing nothing, scavving off society and treating everyone like shit". I should imagine many did have dreams and ambitions perhaps when they were younger and either situations conspired against them or their hopes and dreams were wiped out by their own, parents/guardians/environment.

As pointed out by SacrificialNewt the last line is very important - this is the one that points out it's not necesarilly a concious decision but vicious circle perpetuated by the parents. If a child is brought up in this environment then they will learn from their parents and do what they have to survive - it becomes very difficult for a child or young adult to break the mould and step out of the cycle as they wouldn't have been taught or brought up to think like that.

Mike Patton and the guitarist hated each other and I think Mike wrote this about the guitarist. This and a few others. But it might not be this song.

Ahhh I love this song! You can get such a visual of a fat P.O.S. sitting in his broken down trailer, drunk and rambling to himself. This song makes you want to say "Go ahead throw that belt over the shower curtain rod, do everyone a favor, loser."

I beg to differ shadow. People do set out to be losers. If the choices you have made and the path you have chosen to take, bring you to a sad and pathetic place, like the one described in this song, then that is the life you have made for yourself. We all have free will and we can all make ourselves. We all make mistakes but if you let your mistakes make you a failure and you don't try to rise above them then , in my opinion, you are setting out to be a loser.

every time i hear this song, for some reason, i picture phil anselmo with his hands down his pants, al bundy style.

I love the conversation style in this song, although this man is probably scum, a wife beater, you feel sympathy for him, he seems a poor guy and the song is beeautiful.