Lyrics for Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl as interpreted by fallacies

Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl Lyrics
Used to be the one of the rotten ones
And I liked you for that
Now you're all gone, got your make-up on
And you're not coming back

Bleachin' your teeth, smiling flash
Talking trash, under your breath
Bleachin' your teeth, smiling flash
Talking trash, under my window

Park that car, drop that phone,
Sleep on the floor, dream about me

Used to be the one of the rotten ones
And I liked you for that
Now you're all gone, got your make-up on
And you're not coming back

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Sparklypants
11-01-2009

Rated 0 
To me, this song is a plea to have things be the way they used to be again.

"Now you're all gone, got your make up on, and you're not coming back"

Someone special in the speaker's life has undergone changes, be they in looks or personality, and the speaker wants their old someone back.

A good friend of mine has changed drastically since we graduated high school two years ago, and I miss her old self every day. I miss her vivaciousness and the shenanigans we used to get into. I would give anything to have her back the way she was instead of the toxic situation she's in now.

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shmoogumzz
09-30-2009

Rated 0 
I love this song so much. It makes me happy and reminds me of winter, no idea why. It's just such a perfect song to me, makes me feel as young as I am. It literally is an athem for a seventeen year old girl :)
I think it's a reflection on her youth. I think that there are two possibilities. It could be about a friend that has backstabbed her and become a different person or it could be about herself, talking about who she used to be and who she started to become. I like the second idea better.

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sentstuff05
09-29-2009

Rated 0 
It's a girl singing about how she lost her best (girl) friend. They were outcasts together and now the other girl is a teeth bleaching, make up wearing popular girl. The other girl still wants her back.

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MissPants
08-25-2009

Rated 0 
I think it's about a guy who liked a girl who was just being herself and then she lost herself and fell into the what's in and popular style that many girls do, forgetting about themselves and doing what's "cool"

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mozillaman0
05-30-2009

Rated 0 
I like reading all the different interpretations of the song so far, but I have a bit of a different take on it.

I think that this song comes from two points of view, but read by the same narrator. The narrator is the 17 year old girl, but from the way that the words are spoken and the grammar that is used, it sounds like she is reading someone else's words. I had an epiphany while listening to this song one time, and I realized that the first two verses are actually a letter, or an email, sent by the person that the 17 year old girl is interested in.

The lines "Used to be one of the rotten ones/And I liked you for that" are said by the male sending the letter, which says that they used to be friends, and weren't really that popular. Putting her make-up on was the beginning of selling out to others, which culminated in bleaching her teeth, and looking down on the people that used to be friends with her.

The small third verse is the only response given by the 17 year old girl, which makes clear that she has always like this guy, because all she wants to do is be the center of his attention, and she mistakenly thought that being on of the pretty ones would make her more attractive in his eyes.

The fourth verse is when it gets interesting, because with this context, the second reading of the first verse is spoken both by the male sending the letter, and the girl, regretting her decision to try and change her ways, longingly wanting to go back.

My two cents anyway.

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1 Reply
dogonwheels
05-21-2009

Rated 0 
This song doesn't need much explanation I don't think. But I'm in love with it. And I'm in love with any girl whho also loves it.

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{x.nick.x}
04-26-2009

Rated 0 
I only just got into this band, I can't believe it took me so long. This is the first song of theirs I really connected with. The repetition kind of makes me think of weekend after weekend going the exact same way for the girl in the song, eventually getting the best of her. Then she picks herself up, gets back on track and starts all over again.

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omgslayer666
03-23-2009

Rated 0 
Now I'm not a teenage girl, so I can't relate to it in that way. However, I like the song for it's musical value, and despite the fact that I'm a guy, I like the lyrics a whole lot. The way I see it, the song is from the perspective of a teenage girl, and her best friends has abandoned her to go hang with the "cool crowd." She became superficial and fake in order to join the popular crowd and abandoned who she truly is in order to do so. The girl singing wants her friend to drop the act and hang out with her again, and do the things they used to do together.

Another interpretation that could be pretty accurate is that it's from the perspective of a younger sister talking about her older sister. Her older sister is growing up and moving on in life, driving cars, meeting boys, wearing makeup, doing all the things that teenage girls do, and the younger sister is being left behind. She wishes things could be the way they were when they were younger. It's sort of a coming to terms with adolescence, and the younger sister doesn't want to be forgotten by her older sister.

I think this song could be interpreted from a number of perspectives, but I think those 2 are the ones I like the best. Great song overall. BSS is amazing.

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missme
03-22-2009

Rated 0 
Reminds me of Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos - she was one of the different girls but abadoned them to become like everyone else.

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pragmatic
03-16-2009

Rated +1 
The emotional nuance of this song is spot on, which I think is the sadness in leaving childhood behind and attempts to make it last just a little bit longer. It's full of nostalgia. The narrative behind it goes like this: A young girl at the cusp of adolescence [adulthood is possible here too, the narrator here can be anywhere from 8-17], a time of confusion, enormous change, and general emotional tumult. Social links change too as people change, move away,attend different schools, etc. It can be hard to see an another [older?] childhood friend or a sister excited at the prospect of "growing up" so to speak who is moving into a different path in her life [figuratively and literally] and knowing that you can't share that with her and the sadness this separation brings. There is the feeling of being left behind and perhaps being forgotten in the process...

In a nutshell, the narrator sees all the signs of maturation [learning to drive, putting makeup on, moving away to live alone, starting a different life] in her friend is generally accepting of it all, but hopes that she won't be forgotten in her fervent plea, to "dream about me". Alternatively the song is a retrospective of a younger self as a youth... to never forget...

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kawaiihannah
02-09-2009

Rated 0 
Ultimately the perfect song. I listened to this all through being 17, and it's still attatched onto me.

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flozboz
02-03-2009

Rated 0 
Oh - and the way it's sung is like a ghost, small voice from the past. Her teenage self calling to her. Oh it just makes sense!

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flozboz
02-03-2009

Rated 0 
I think this song is about a woman looking back on how she used to be as a teenager.

Used to be the one of the rotten ones
And I liked you for that
Now you're all gone, got your make-up on
And you're not coming back

Pretty obvious, she used to be rebellious and she liked that about her old self. Now she's grown up and has lost that side of herself. The line "got your make-up on" makes me think of her as being a smart businesswoman now. She knows she can't get her teenage self back again.

Bleachin' your teeth, smiling flash
Talking trash, under your breath (I'm sure it IS under your breath first time round!)

Again, the bleaching teeth and smiling flash make me think of the businesswoman trying to impress others and make deals, always smiling fakely. Then the talking trash, under your breath is like she hasn't got the courage (or the lack of responsibility) to say what she really feels anymore, like she did when she was a teenager. She has to say it under her breath instead.

Park that car
Drop that phone
Sleep on the floor
Dream about me

Ok, best verse! This just makes me see her having a breakdown, or moment of realization. Like, she's on the phone to some big business client (sorry, im obsessed with her being a businesswoman! :D) and then suddenly she just can't take it anymore so she just drops her phone, stops her car, curls up in the back seat and... dreams of her old self

beautiful :)





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goodnightgravity
02-01-2009

Rated 0 
I can see how this could be from a guy's perspective when I read the lyrics, and it would make sense because then he might be afraid to sing a song like this, in case the girl he's talking about might make the connection. but when I listen to it I think of it from a girl's perspective. like she's frustrated because she's tried being one of "the rotten ones" and the boy she wanted didn't pay her any attention, and even now that she's changed into someone she doesn't want to be but thought he might like better, he still doesn't want her. so now when she gives up and goes back to who she was before, who she really is and who she's comfortable as, her friends won't have her anymore because they think she sold out. and she realizes that she basically did just that. all for a boy who would never like her anyway.

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nutopia101
01-12-2009

Rated 0 
"Bleaching your teeth, smiling flash, talking trash, under my window"

Absolutely love the choice of words here, "under my window" is so personal. I feel that it perfectly describes how girls talk about each other at that age, and the way they try to conceal it from each other no matter how obvious it is. Such a great song!

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dreamersbelong
01-12-2009

Rated 0 
"Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that."

I feel like this is a way of saying "Don't leave me behind. Don't leave me alone. I liked you for who you were before."

"Talkin' Trash, under my window."

I think she's saying the subject of the song is talking trash about her. Like suddenly, this person doesn't care about her at all, and is just trying to fit in by putting her down, because she (the singer) is still a "rotten one".

"Park that car
Drop that phone
Sleep on the floor
Dream about me"

This is how it used to be, before everything changed. They used to dream together, sleeping on the floor. But now, this teenage girl got her license, and is always talking on the phone, like teenage girls sometimes do. And the singer is saying, "please come back. I miss you"

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xXEmpty_InsideXx
01-07-2009

Rated 0 
first off, to whoever said this is pop.
not so much my friend, and just for that remark you should be ashamed.
pop is mainstream SHIT.

this is what we like to call indie at its finest.
xD

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oh_madi
12-06-2008

Rated 0 
i love this song so much. ever since the first time i heard it i couldn't stop listening to it. it reminds me of my old best friend and how we used to be such little shitheads and me and her were "the rotten ones" but now she's gotten all slutty and would pick a guy over me anyday.

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manicpixiedreamgirl
11-27-2008

Rated 0 
This song is a metaphor for everything that scares people about life. It is themed on loss and losing people who are close to you. The repetition symbolizes exactly how difficult it can be to deal with terrible things in life, and how everything seems to lead back to that. The surreal quality of the background symbolizes fear of the unknown. Her synthesized voice over her clear voice represents how facades can be absolutely terrifying and yet so familiar and natural. Words like mirror, sleep, and dream, symbolize the fact that no matter how certain you are that you are seeing something clearly, you can never be completely sure of anything in life and that in itself is very disconcerting.


brilliant.

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wordless
11-10-2008

Rated 0 
i just listened to this song for the first time today and i can already tell that i am very most likely going to become obsessed with it . its so ... dreamy… & surreal [the beginning kind of remind me of Alice in wonderland... though i have no idea why]

anyway. i found it because today, a guy i dont even know all that well, out of nowhere mentioned this song, saying that it reminded him of me.
but now that i listen to it. i have no idea what he meant by that ... could anyone fell me in on that? of what that could mean specially with him not really even knowing me for all that long...? cause im confused with what the song even means to begin with…

+ amazing song


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tarzan05
11-07-2008

Rated 0 
These lyrics aren't right. I'm pretty sure there's three different lines, Talking trash under your bed, then Talking trash under your breath, and then Talking trash under my window... or something like that.

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*sway*
09-08-2008

Rated 0 
was this song in the movie mirrormask?
cause i kinda remember hearing it in there but i don't remember and when i look up the sound track everything sucks.

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kaitmander
09-07-2008

Rated 0 
i agree that it's either the parents watching their child grow up or the girl looking back on who she used to be. i think the line 'used to be one of the rotten ones and i liked you for that' meant that she was different from everyone else; almost socially unacceptable. and whoever the narrator is liked that about her. 'now you're all gone got your makeup on and you're not coming back' means she changed herself to be like everyone else and they miss that.

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edgette
09-01-2008

Rated 0 
i think this song really really hits you hard once you've surpassed the ridiculous teenage years where you are struggling to find yourself. once you've made it to the other side and reconnected with who you really are and always will be this song completely bitch slaps you haha

i think it is 17 (as opposed to 18 or 16 or whatever) because once you reach 18 you're an adult officially and shoved off into the adult world of caring for yourself. But at 17 you are still a child but are beginning to realize that, that part of your life is over and you see what you've become and what you've really left behind.

that's my take on it, coming from a girl who has known this song since it came out, but then i was only 15 and originally i didn't really get what all the hype was about and why this song meant so much to people, but once you get to the place where you've found yourself again and can look back and see how you've changed and possibly offended some people along the way, this song means so much, and almost acts as a tribute of the loss of your childhood and innocence in growing up.

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Johnieam
08-23-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's a girl singing about her ex-best friend.
She says the girls "used to be one of the rotten ones" and that's why she liked her, meaning she was probably unpopular.
Then the girl became popular [got your make-up on, bleachin' your teeth, smiling flash (taking pictures)] and the girl's best friend starts talking behind her back [talking trash under my window] and isn't the girls friend any more [And you're not coming back].
Then she tells her ex-best friend to get rid of all her material things [her expensive car, cell phone, and bed] and to think back about her [dream about me].

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