The National – Afraid of Everyone

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  My Opinion:To me this is song touches on a lot of things, such as the insecurity of being a father, modern societies addiction to drugs (in this case leaning towards prescription medication), and, most notably, the current American cultural condition.
  
  Their is so much to say about this song, but I'll dive into my interpretation of the first few lines.
  
  Lines 1 and 2, (the first one is really "venom radio and venom television") obviously touch on the poisonous rhetoric that we are exposed to every day of our lives. Corrupt news corporations with personal agendas, leading us to be "afraid of everyone." Political radio hosts and tv stars like Glen Beck and Bill Maher have influence on millions of people, leaving most of their fan base in states of disgust/fear of those who aren't like them. It's disheartening to say the least...
  
  Another interesting line follows with "lay the young blue bodies, with the old red BODIES" (again another correction). This line hits American society on multiple fronts. The "young blue bodies" represent the stereotype of being more liberal in your youth (blue being the color representing the Democratic party aka the more liberal party) while the old red (Republican color...older people tend to be more conservative). They both are in the same state of lifelessness and being put into the same spot (lay...with the..) however they still differ in their color aka their ideals and political alliance. To me this represents the futility of separating yourself from ideas or people simply because of an allegiance that in the end does not matter. You see this type of backwards thinking every election, when people simply vote by looking at the R or the D and not making an educated decision. Again, with the influence of radio and television, the electoral process of this country is simply a highschool-escue popularity contest.

  Flag George3318on January 10, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:I shall interpret this as he has a very big inferiority complex. He's 'afraid of everyone', tries not to hurt the people he loves (with my kid on my shoulder i try, not to hurt anybody I love), tries very hard to be a dependable father.
  
  But he perceives himself to have failed and thus sinks into depression. This desire to be a dependable father might be because his own father was not dependable/ abused him/ put him down and discouraged him - which is reflected in the line 'your voice has stolen my soul' --> his father who has constantly discouraged him and criticized him, which results in a terrible inferiority complex problem.
  
  He does not 'have the drugs to sort it out', the escapism and temporary high that drugs provide, the forgetting of his inferiority and all his problems.
  
  Well, this is just my own interpretation. Maybe its because I'm not American and don't get all the related meanings.

  Flag parodypertikion February 11, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:It sounds like he's singing about modern media trying to scare people into thinking everyone's out to kill them. "Venom radio, venom television". These forms of media are spitting out attacks against all sorts of people and ideas. The character in the song is kind of lost. He wants to protect his family and the people he likes, but he doesn't know how he can protect them from everything that's apparently out to get them. "Blue bodies" with "red violets" are dead soldiers, most likely, probably talking about the United States' current wars. The "yellow voices" are cowardly voices, telling him to be afraid of everything.
  
  I think.

  Flag PairOFishon January 23, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:lots of interesting points, Im pretty sure the main thoughts behind this was fear of fatherhood. amazing song though

  Flag Manchasmon August 11, 2011   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:On the darkest of days, this song is bliss. If you are happy, don't listen. I think the meaning is obvious. But I don't have the drugs to sort it out. I love guitar and build up/ending so much it hurts. I like to listen to this on Monday mornings on the bus, everyone is so unhappy that this song makes me happy. Sort of.

  Flag nicolemusicon June 14, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:"You're voice is swallowing my soul, soul, soul"
  
  How can someone come up with such lovely shit?

  Flag TiredAndWiredon May 15, 2011   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:This song, for me, is the anthem of our time. We struggle to find a way to make sense of it all, to find ourselves amid the noise and mayhem of mass culture, to be kind to others, to be good citizens, good parents, and yet we are overwhelmed with this anxiety that stops us dead in our tracks. Standing there in our brand new clothes, we feel an emptiness that cannot be numbed with any drugs and we are afraid of what the future holds in store for us, afraid of living. My personal version reads: "your voice has stolen my soul soul soul".

  Flag emilinaon January 23, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:At first the orange umbrella line confused me, but the health insurance thing makes sense. I interpreted the kid on the shoulders line to being him in a large group of people and is trying to show his kid something. maybe a parade? (very American). Also the star-spangled tennis shoes show his hypocrisy of hating the United States in the first verse and being patriotic (young blue bodies are the soldiers being killed in Iraq and the red violets are the flowers on their graves) Basically, he follows the rules of his country and says he loves it, but secretly despises it. He is afraid of everyone because he thinks that the morals of most Americans are false and he is scared of what that means.

  Flag Indiekid39on January 10, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:"I defend my family with my orange umbrella." This is a reference to Citibank. Their logo was the words "Citi" with an orange umbrella over the letters. The same Citibank who's lights the character in "Mistaken for Strangers" was mistaken for a stranger by his best friends. The character in this song is suffering in the uncertainty and angst of a world that seems to be crumbling around him. He's been conditioned by years of watching pharmaceutical commercials on Fox News that there is a pill for every problem, but it's not working this time. He loves his family and is never knowingly mean to anyone, but he knows so little - and he doesn't know it. The corporate-owned news channels he watches have been telling him what he thinks he already knows: he's a good person surrounded by freedom-hating people who want to kill him because they are jealous of his virtue. But the truth that is eluding him is that much of the rest of the world - people who love their families also - are suffering under the exploitation of the corporations that he is invested in. He's unaware, or unwilling to admit to himself, that his comfort is built on the suffering of others and it is this exploitation that is creating the backlash that he's so fearful of.

  Flag ghosttrainhoboon December 01, 2010   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:On first listening I imagined it was about the zombieapocalypse

  Flag barelyawakeon November 07, 2010   Link

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    0

    I thought the same thing, and still do. I'd go so far as to say every song on this album is about the apocalypse. Dunno where people are getting this cliche romance thing from.

    Flag Chumbawambaon January 07, 2011  

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