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When people listen to you don't you know it means a lot,
'Cause you've got to work so hard for everything you've got.
Can't rest on your laurels now,
Not when you've got none.
You'll find yourself in a gutter,
Right back where you came from.
Someone told me being in the know is the main thing.
We all need the security that belonging brings.
Can't stand on your own in these times,
Against all the odds,
You all just fall behind like all the other sods.
You slap our backs and pretend you knew about,
All the things that we were gonna do.
What ya gonna do, what ya gonna do,
When it's over?
You're on your own now,
Don't you think that's a shame?
But you're the only one responsible to take the blame.
So what ya gonna do when the novelty has gone?
Yeah, what ya gonna do when the novelty has gone?
You slap our backs,
And pretend you knew about,
All the things we were gonna do.
What ya gonna do, what ya gonna do
When its over?
'Cause you've got to work so hard for everything you've got.
Can't rest on your laurels now,
Not when you've got none.
You'll find yourself in a gutter,
Right back where you came from.
Someone told me being in the know is the main thing.
We all need the security that belonging brings.
Can't stand on your own in these times,
Against all the odds,
You all just fall behind like all the other sods.
You slap our backs and pretend you knew about,
All the things that we were gonna do.
What ya gonna do, what ya gonna do,
When it's over?
You're on your own now,
Don't you think that's a shame?
But you're the only one responsible to take the blame.
So what ya gonna do when the novelty has gone?
Yeah, what ya gonna do when the novelty has gone?
You slap our backs,
And pretend you knew about,
All the things we were gonna do.
What ya gonna do, what ya gonna do
When its over?
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I think this song is full of bitterness and irony.
At first I thought it was a critique against the injustice, cruelty and craziness of a life lived by the rules of mainstream, conventional society and the system, a subject he also touches in Candidate ("We're living by your rules, that's all that we know."), in my opinion.
But the world "novelty" does not really fit. I agree it must refer to the punk movement (explosion) of his time and the novel tactics it used (situationism) to make itself heard. I think he was predicting quite justly that it would lose its power, once the novelty had passed, and would be alienated from its purpose by the consumerist system. Which it did, punk is widely considered just a music genre today focusing on its superficial characteristic, while its revolutionary and political content has faded.
So my (possible wrong) opinion is that he is describing the evolution of the punk movement, both with sympathy and criticism, and its reception and eventual defeat by mainstream society.
Definitely he's criticizing the idea of compromising your ideals to become part of a group for the safety it brings, I read these parts as completely sarcastic.
This is fast turning into one of my favorite songs.
I think this song is full of bitterness and irony.
At first I thought it was a critique against the injustice, cruelty and craziness of a life lived by the rules of mainstream, conventional society and the system, a subject he also touches in Candidate ("We're living by your rules, that's all that we know."), in my opinion.
But the world "novelty" does not really fit. I agree it must refer to the punk movement (explosion) of his time and the novel tactics it used (situationism) to make itself heard. I think he was predicting quite justly that it would lose its power, once the novelty had passed, and would be alienated from its purpose by the consumerist system. Which it did, punk is widely considered just a music genre today focusing on its superficial characteristic, while its revolutionary and political content has faded.
So my (possible wrong) opinion is that he is describing the evolution of the punk movement, both with sympathy and criticism, and its reception and eventual defeat by mainstream society.
Definitely he's criticizing the idea of compromising your ideals to become part of a group for the safety it brings, I read these parts as completely sarcastic.
This is fast turning into one of my favorite songs.
Reading the whole song is different than when I've listened to it. Like other things I had my own idea/impression independent of the actual thing (in this case lyrics) and it's different. My idea impression before reading the lyrics... was confronting some neophyte about what will happen "tomorrow" or in the long run. It was criticizing/sneering at the aesthetes or even him sneering at himself.