Lyrics for Time to Pretend as interpreted by lieswithinus

Time to Pretend Lyrics
I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars

This is our decision to live fast and die young
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun!
Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We were fated to pretend

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone

But there is really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run its course

We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend

Yeah, yeah, yeah

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thadius0924
02-27-2007

Rated +2 
The first verse of this song talks about all the dumb decisions we make as kids. It talks about rebbeling against you're parents and living life the easy way. Its about being afraid to live a real life, find real people who care about you. The song goes on talk to reflect on all the things you start to miss when you realize how important they were to you. This song is about regretting all the bad desicions made in life liek doing drugs and running away from the people who care about you. It can also kinda be about growing up and realizing your life needs a serious change.

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1 Reply
enkychy
09-04-2007

Rated -3 
I think theres no deep deep meaning in this song, their bluntly stating the expectancy of a well off musician's life. the lyrics in my humble opinion are bluntly perfect.

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LisbontheBoy
12-12-2007

Rated 0 
Mainly, this song seems to be about a person in the crossroads of life, particularly between high school and college. The first stanza addresses the hedonistic fantasies most high school students believe in. The second stanza notes the lunacy of not fulfilling ones dreams on the basis of fear. The third in it's brevity conjures powerful images of leaving friends and family. The fourth stanza is of finality of the high school experience. The last two describe the inevitability of the situation.

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1 Reply
ap0theosize
12-16-2007

Rated 0 
i think this song is just about being in a band and having all these aspirations to be famous and marry models and shoot heroin... but yet that rarely ever happens.

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Jack Fox
12-30-2007

Rated +1 
First and foremost, MGMT is amazing and so is this song. However, I think most people are missing one of the most interesting interpretations of the lyrics. They are referring to someone who is going all out in life. Someone who has achieved some level of status and has dreams of just living with the pedal to the floor. Yet, this same person realizes what he would/is leaving behind if he were to follow this lifestyle. Sadly, even though they recognize this, they find excuses and justification to continue down the path of thrillseeking and abandon. it's a sad song really. That's why I like it.

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1 Reply
charliegnarly
01-02-2008

Rated -1 
You people over-analyze songs way too much. It's just them making fun of the typical rock stars.

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1 Reply
accioblitz
01-12-2008

Rated 0 
A lot of what I got from this song was mainly just above growing up and moving on. It's about feeling and living. I was obsessed with this song last summer and was ecstatic to see itunes offering the song for free. Too bad all the itunes freaks kept on bitchin about the "explicit language" and "drug references".

C'mon. Grow a pair.

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severalways
01-13-2008

Rated 0 
i actually like this song..
but at the same time, the lyrics just depress me when i actually listen to it.

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hypemike
01-14-2008

Rated 0 
god this song just inspires me to live my fuckin life like a rockstar!!!!!!!!!!

but then again the second verse almost brings me to tears

the music is excellent as well...just an awe inspiring song!!!!!

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indiediane
01-18-2008

Rated 0 
this song is amazing :]

live fast and die young :D

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nineandninety
01-25-2008

Rated 0 
Very, very nice.

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iluvaon
01-29-2008

Rated +1 
this song is quite catchy for me. anyway, i think there are 3 possibilities about this song
1. the lyric came from their own life styles.(from the band's real lives) 50%
2. they just give images of rock stars who mostly be like this. 62%
3. don't think too much. they make a song just for fun. melody first and then finding some words for the lyrics. that's all. 100%

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2 Replies
mychaosdream
01-29-2008

Rated 0 
i think you are not giving the guys of MGMT the credit they deserve for their songwriting, saying "finding some words for the lyrics", I don't think a musician would really appreciate that view as I am sure they would see them professionals in what they do. I think this song is kind of taking the piss out of people who just think they can waste away their lives and live it the way they describe, then the harsh reality of the fact they are all talk..... fated to pretend...

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bwfagan
02-06-2008

Rated 0 
That last line about choking on their vomit and dying just reminds me of the former singer of AC/DC Bon Scott and how he died from choking on his own vomit in his sleep.

Just putting it out there, but this song seems like it COULD be about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan and their crazy lives. I doubt it is though haha

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kratosaurion
02-09-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is a criticism of the rock star lifestyle.

On a side note, the music video for this is amazing.
It contains reenactments of scenes from Alejandro Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain".
(My favorite film by the way.)

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sebastit
02-12-2008

Rated 0 
This song is all about the important things in life. Family, friends, all the things that were there before everything. Your family will always be there even if you lost everything. All the superficial things like drugs, models can't be there forever and even after getting it you always come back to the root.

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thingsfallapart
02-13-2008

Rated 0 
this song is simply about self discovery, growing up, and the hardships or changes that come with...the singer seems to live a rock star sort of life.

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Stevo93
02-16-2008

Rated 0 
Just a basic observation of our lives within the "civilized" world. Which there is some irony as the music video portrays more barbaric aesthetics.

They make strong points about specific goals instilled by our culture described as a "fun" and fulfilling life. But there are some emptiness and loneliness to this depicted battleground, of which we forget about our friends, family, and things that brought us simple happiness and joy.

We are fated to pretend to live a life that is instilled upon the human race, and it is because of this cycle that we exist today. Sad, but true...

But perspective is key. We each have the power to see what we want. Just as we all have different interpretations here.

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saraXkills
02-20-2008

Rated 0 
this song is efing sweeeet man!
i love it so much, it be muh favorate!

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troymcgreggor
02-24-2008

Rated 0 
I can't help but view this as a facetious song. A band, on its first track of its first album, speaking of the necessity to move to a big city and lead the prototypical rocker lifestyle ("But, there's really nothing we can do..."). With the middle section of the song, they realize the gifts of living the quiet life.

On the other hand, I can easily see how this can easily be construed in other ways. Stevo, I really like your analysis.

Either way, terrific song. Very catchy, and Dave Fridmann's work is very apparent, with the bombastic drums and heavy keyboards. Could easily be a Lips song.

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alex1990
02-25-2008

Rated 0 
I agree with MyChaosDream. To me, it sounds more like theyre mocking all of the cliche rockstar lifestylr than actually wanting to be part of it. Especially the line, "The models will have children, we'll get a divorce,
we'll find some more models."

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hiimryanolan
02-26-2008

Rated -4 
aww dude thats your fav film no way fucking cool and you knew scenes you are so fuckin cool i think this song is about how you only have so much time in this world and theres way too many dicks out there you cant suck em all you know. i think i nailed it im a super deep thinker and post my veiws on a website to boast my ego dont forget to use big words when you post something it makes you sound smarter!

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1 Reply
richard_lisp
03-11-2008

Rated 0 
this song is really cool.

the bit on david letteman where they played the doors riff is telling...

move to paris, shoot some heroin and f...

they're both gloomy/suicidal through excess and mocking themselves all the way down....

singular duality.....satan/christ.

great stuff. of course, it will be totally lame if none of them kill themselves....oh, and dear god....please don't choke on a ham sandwich.....then again....

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nates54321
03-14-2008

Rated 0 
are they fated to pretend that they still have the existence of their childhood memories, family, and a peaceful life while they are living life to die young?

or are they fated to pretend that they are living the wild lifestyle they describe even though they know they will never live in paris with model wives?

I kind of think the second is true

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nicktibo
03-14-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song basically shows what the life of a rockstar is and what you eventually have to give up to become one.

In the first verse, the band is dreaming about becoming rockstars. Live fast die young, the cars the drugs the models etc. They cannot imagine doing anything else with their lives:

"Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute"

Then they finally decide to live it up:

"Forget about our mothers and our friends.
We were fated to pretend"

I think they are fated to pretend in the sense that they were fated to live a lifestyle that revolves around image and glamour, always pretending to be more than what they really are.

Then the singer refers to all the things he will miss when he embraces this lifestyle. I think he refers to the emptiness you can feel when you're at the top, away from the ones you love and all the simple pleasures of life.

In the next verse, they acknowledge that they have sacrificed these things to become rockstars:

"But there is really nothing, nothing we can do.
Love must be forgotten."

Then "life can always start up anew" means that even without love, there will still always be new things coming into their lives seeing as they have the freedom to do whatever they please and hook up with whoever they please :).

In the end they will die having lived the rockstar life, they were fated to pretend. And so in the end was it worth giving up love and all the simple things in life?

You decide.

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