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What A Good Boy Lyrics
Words by Steven Page
Music by Steven Page & Ed Robertson When I was born they looked at me and said What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy And when you were born they looked at you and said What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl We've got these chains that hang around our necks People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same When temptation calls we just look away Chorus This name is the hairshirt I wear And this hairshirt is woven from your brown hair This song is the cross that I bear Bear it with me, bear with me, bear with me Be with me tonight I know that it isn't right But be with me tonight I go to school, I write exams If I pass, if I fail, if I drop out, does anyone give a damn? And if they do, they'll soon forget 'Cause it won't take much for me to show that my life ain't over yet I wake up scared, I wake up strange I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever going to change I wake up scared, I wake up strange And everything around me stays the same Chorus I couldn't tell you that I was wrong Chickened out, grabbed a pen and paper, sat down and I wrote this song I couldn't tell you that you were right So instead I looked in the mirror watched tv laid awake all night We've got these chains that hang around our necks People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same When temptation calls.... Chorus When I was born they looked at me and said What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy And when you were born they looked at you and said What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl, hey Andy Creeggan: Organ, piano Jim Creeggan: Double Bass Steven Page: Guitar, Lead vocal Ed Robertson: Guitars, vocals Tyler Stewart: Drums
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11-20-2008
This song, just like all songs is set to be interpreted by the listener. A lot of us can relate to it based upon specific lines, but the ones I've always had trouble with interpreting for myself was the line "We've got these chains that hang around our necks
People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath"
Now then this could go into a controversial topic but i personally view it now before and after reading your comments that it's about people trying to control our lives and we're suffocated before we get our first real breathe of freedom, we go from immature children and go directly from there into high school and people expect you to be mature, then college where your immature again or your to focused on passing to let yourself be seen.
I'm going to say this song is about being born and trapped into a world where being yourself is considered wrong by a lot of people, it's also about loving somebody but being unable to either see them or more literally "be" with them.
I must agree that it is indeed a very powerful song and anybody who can't see it as such i will pity.
Oh and hey guys, I'm a newbie here just signed up really to post for this particular song :D
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02-18-2008
"I wake up scared, I wake up strange
I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever going to change
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
And everything around me stays the same"
Who can't identify with that?
That's why this song is timeless.
11-20-2008
People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath"
Now then this could go into a controversial topic but i personally view it now before and after reading your comments that it's about people trying to control our lives and we're suffocated before we get our first real breathe of freedom, we go from immature children and go directly from there into high school and people expect you to be mature, then college where your immature again or your to focused on passing to let yourself be seen.
I'm going to say this song is about being born and trapped into a world where being yourself is considered wrong by a lot of people, it's also about loving somebody but being unable to either see them or more literally "be" with them.
I must agree that it is indeed a very powerful song and anybody who can't see it as such i will pity.
Oh and hey guys, I'm a newbie here just signed up really to post for this particular song :D
11-20-2008
People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath"
Now then this could go into a controversial topic but i personally view it now before and after reading your comments that it's about people trying to control our lives and we're suffocated before we get our first real breathe of freedom, we go from immature children and go directly from there into high school and people expect you to be mature, then college where your immature again or your to focused on passing to let yourself be seen.
I'm going to say this song is about being born and trapped into a world where being yourself is considered wrong by a lot of people, it's also about loving somebody but being unable to either see them or more literally "be" with them.
I must agree that it is indeed a very powerful song and anybody who can't see it as such i will pity.
Oh and hey guys, I'm a newbie here just signed up really to post for this particular song :D
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02-09-2008
I sometimes wonder though if my dedication is inappropriate because of the subtle taboo or sexual implicaction.
I believe the "hairshirt" is a metaphor for the Gender Name Boy or Girl. He's saying that it's hasty and maybe some kind of an imposition. I can't rule out the brother sister theory, but I wonder if he's homosexual and he's talking about himself and maybe the female "what a good girl." is just the person he's talking to or maybe just part of his argument.
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12-05-2007
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11-18-2007
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11-07-2007
we always sing this song at the summer camp i've attended for years. where i met my boyfriend, who was a counsellor at the time, and i was a camper, he used to sing this song to me after the campfires, because he is a few years older than i am. & it "wasn't right" at the time, because he was a counsellor.
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08-30-2007
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08-02-2007
"This name is the hairshirt I wear
And this hairshirt is woven from your brown hair "
The name is not the one by birth but the assumed titles of expecations: "good boy", strong boy", "smart boy." The hairshirt is woven from the hair of the girl he lusts after because her sight forces him to wrestle with difficult feelings/emotions... she tempts him to violate family/religious principles but he should be a "good boy" and resist because they aren't married or whatever.
"I go to school, I write exams ..."
This covers how he is supposed to be a "smart boy"
"I wake up scared, I wake up strange ..."
"I couldn't tell you that I was wrong..."
These feelings contradict how he is supposed to be a "strong boy" and some more "good boy"
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07-15-2007
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever going to
change
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
And everything around me stays the same
Depression can seem like that, endless, and yet you should always try to find a way out of it.
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06-06-2007
Be with me tonight ' I think he says 'bury it with me' as if he is telling the girl/other person to bury all the expectations and hair shirts that have been placed on them, and then they can be with each other. I'm English and BNL aren't so big over here, so maybe its an accent that just makes it sound different :P but iv listened to it over and over to try and tell...
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04-23-2007
1) we do not wear chains! what gave you that stupid idea? SOME of us MIGHT wear a Magen David on a chain around our necks, but so what? how does that imply that as a culture we wear chains? I've seen way more Christians with crosses than Jews with Magen Davids. you are just wrong.
2) which brings me to my next point. We most certaintly do NOT bear crosses! I can't believe how stupid it is to assume it's a Jew talking about him bearing a cross.
3) what is with the assumption that, because incest is considered taboo by this guy's community, he must be Jewish? correct me if i'm wrong, but can anybody tell me of a modern-day religion where incest is in fact NOT frowned upon?
OK, sorry about that, everyone, but these assumptions of his are too much to bear.
On a much more mellow note, and probably arising from my desire to muddy the waters here and draw the conversation away from Jews, did he ever say that "This name" was in fact HIS name? It's a reasonable assumption to make, and i can't really think of anything else he could be referring to, but did he actually SAY it?
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04-06-2007
A hairshirt is like a Cilice (like from the DaVinci Code)
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A cilice was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt). In more modern religious circles, the word has come to simply mean an object that can be worn to induce some degree of discomfort or pain.
Totally makes sense to me now
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12-24-2006
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10-17-2006
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04-08-2006
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03-24-2006
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01-30-2006
"I go to school, I write exams
If I pass, if I fail, if I drop out, does anyone give a damn?
And if they do, they'll soon forget
'Cause it won't take much for me to show that my life ain't
over yet"
as tho academic success is all that matters instead of actually livin life
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01-27-2006
When he says that his name is hairshirt or whatever- a hairshirt is a thing of shame right? Well you obviously get your last name from your parents, and sometimes even your first name. No matter what he does, he still feels their expectations weighing him down becuase its in his very name.
and its woven from her hair because something about her would shame his parents (perhaps that fact that he wants to be with her before marriage).
I think you looked into the Jewish thing a bit too much. I don't think that the chains are nessisarily indicative of his religion. I know several jewish people who don't wear stars of david around their neck. i think the chains are strictly a metaphor. However, it is a jewish beleif that the soul enters the body with the first breath, or so I am told.
while I suppose it could be as you intially said, this just seems more likely to me.
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12-22-2005
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12-07-2005
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10-13-2005
I think of this because of these lines:
1) "This name is the hairshirt I wear
And this hairshirt is woven from your brown hair"
His name is a hairshirt because he is related to her, and "is woven from your brown hair" which means that she is the cause of his hairshirt (or pain, curse).
2) "We've got these chains that hang around our necks
People want to strangle us with them before we take our
first breath
Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same
When temptation calls we just look away"
This verse is implying that the boy and girl are Jewish because they wear chains and "people want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath." Also Steven Page (who wrote the song) is Jewish, so this is a no brainer.
Next it says "When temptation calls we just look away" This means that the boy and girl just looked away because they knew it wasn't right when awkward situations arose.
This verse also implies that this boy and girl can not be together because of their religion. (I am not Jewish, and I don't know much about it, so I wouldn't know.) But I don't think so because why would his name be his hairshirt? His religion would be his hairshirt.
3) "This song is the cross that I bear
Bear it with me, bear with me, bear with me
Be with me tonight
I know that it isn't right
But be with me tonight"
He is telling her that the song (which is about them not being able to be together) is what he bears, and he wants her to bear it with him, and to be with him tonight, altho "I know that it isn't right"
4) "I couldn't tell you that I was wrong
Chickened out, grabbed a pen and paper, sat down and I
wrote this song
I couldn't tell you that you were right
So instead I looked in the mirror watched TV laid awake all
night"
He can't tell her that it is wrong because he still feels for her.
Also the first verse, which is just starting the story about the boy and the girl. In the verse "they said what a good boy..." THEY SAID is probably their family.
_______________________
So, there are my reasons for me thinking it is about a boy who likes his sister/cousin. I hope someone can prove me wrong, because it is a great song and I don't want it to be about a weird brother sister relationship.
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07-01-2005
"Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same"
I think everyone can identify themselve's with that lyric.
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05-13-2005
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04-26-2005
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04-23-2005
by the way, according to dictionary.com, hairshirt is an adjective meaning \"self-sacrificing\"... *shrug*
i think this song is about someone raised in a very specific but limiting manner, with a very limited viewpoint, and then this person meets someone who\'s very different from him, someone he wants to be with, but feels he can\'t be with, due to how he was brought up. the other person (presumably female) says, hey that\'s stupid, but he still can\'t be with her
i dunno that doesn\'t make a whole lot of sense...it makes sense to Me, anyway..
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