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In the suburbs I
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd never survive
Grab your mother's keys we're leavin'
You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd be fighting
In a suburban war
your part of town against mine
I saw you' standin' on the opposite shore
But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again
Kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams we're still screamin' and runnin' through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all
Meant nothin' at all
It meant nothin
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night
So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before all this damage is done
But if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask
Then send me a son
Under the overpass
In the parking lot we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
Cause it's already passed
It's already, already passed!
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again
I'm movin' past the feeling
I'm movin' past the feeling
In my dreams we're still screamin'
We're still screamin'
We're still screamin'
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd never survive
Grab your mother's keys we're leavin'
You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd be fighting
In a suburban war
your part of town against mine
I saw you' standin' on the opposite shore
But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again
Kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams we're still screamin' and runnin' through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all
Meant nothin' at all
It meant nothin
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night
So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before all this damage is done
But if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask
Then send me a son
Under the overpass
In the parking lot we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
Cause it's already passed
It's already, already passed!
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again
I'm movin' past the feeling
I'm movin' past the feeling
In my dreams we're still screamin'
We're still screamin'
We're still screamin'
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"And all of the walls they built in the seventies finally fall,
And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall."
That to me is about leaving your house, built in the seventies, to go live on your own when you're finally grown.
"Under the overpass
In the parking lot we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and onto the grass
Cause it's already passed, it's already passed!"
That to me is about tangible memories of growing up in the suburbs, as I have many memories of those same things myself, and being stuck in the memories. Now the singer is saying he's grown up and has to let go of the past, "so move your feet from hot pavement" meaning hot pavement is painful, holding on to the past will eventually hurt you; "and onto the grass" meaning cool grass, the future; "it's already passed, it's already passed!" meaning childhood is over.
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before all this damage is done"
having 2 daughters this makes feel so good and emotional at the same time
"It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass". to me this kind of makes me think this person is still trying to convince themselfs that they are over whatever it is that has them hooked.
I know exactly what it means, how I feel when it plays. I just cannot put it into words. My words can't do it justice. It's just too relevant.
This song portays someone's life at the start of this innevitable and slow apocolypse. The song starts will a happy – go – lucky honky tonk piano. The basic and mostly major chord structure jangles along nicely the only blemish being Am to E which sound oh so slightly wrong. “In the suburbs I learnt to drive” the lyrics are told reflectively with a sense of innocence, of living a normal life with a family and a car. The author tells through the eyes of innocence how he is forced away from a friend who was 'standing on the opposite shore' but “by the bombs fell we were already bored”. Society doesn't care, it has come to accept the violence, the hatred, this is normal.
In the chorus the bass becomes heavy and distorted, creating an more ominous tone compared to the blissfully ignorant verse. “somtimes I can't believe it, I'm moving past the feeling”. Sometimes the author is able to step out of the brainwash of society, the media etc and see the madness that is unfolding around him. But he is moving past the feeling, these moments are becoming rare, he is beginning not to care, he is coming to accept the madness. And all the while the heavy bass pounds along relentlessly.
The second verse is quite specific in that it details how 'kids wana be so hard' (they have grown up in a world which trains them to be soldiers) and the peace movements of the past have ultimately failed, “and all of the houses they built in the 70's finally fall, meant nothing at all it meant nothing”.
When the second chorus hits ethereal strings accompany the bass creating a sense of great loss as your heart rises to your throat. This mirrors the shame of the author at the failure of society and his inability to change it or even acknowledge it within himself. He must hide this feeling, he must tell himself that it is wrong to feel this way and that these feeling are crazy. He must move past the feeling and into the night.
“So can you understand why I want a daughter while I'm still young?” Can you understand why he would want to show his daughter the beauty of the world before it is destroyed. Why he would want to remind himself that there was once another world in another time. He is begging for this. But if its too much to ask, he will have a son and he will accept defeat in the face of overwhelming darkness. He will submit himself and sacrifice his children to this monster.
In his heart the author knows that the point of no return has been passed, the world will never be the same again. “So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass” (the safe comfortable suburbs, surrender) “Cause its already past, its already already passed”.
“We're still screaming”
"You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd fight in
In a suburban world"
they were young and got "bored" the relationship didn't last like they hoped it would.
It is more about getting over a first real love. He is finally moving past his first love.
"Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night"
But his first love still haunts him and he still dreams and the memories almost haunt him, but in the end it crumbles like a house. I feel that the line, "walls that they built in the seventies finally fall" could reference the Berlin wall and how different two people could be. Or he could have been on the oppressed side of the wall in his relationship. But in the end he realizes that its over and in the future it really doesn't matter and although his first love had its ups and downs it no longer has meaning to him and he can move on.
But in my dreams we're still screamin' and runnin' through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all
Meant nothin' at all
It meant nothin
He finally moves out of the "suburbs" and into the "city" where he can pursue bigger goals and dreams.
Just some thoughts..
And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall" Someone said that referred to the Twin Towers on 9/11. Possibly.
But what is hard to figure out is this: "what is it about the 70s that has fallen?"
Could it be that it's something as simple as urban decay where things built in the 70s are now old and need to be replaced.
I actually live in a condo built in the early 70s, and it most definitely needs things about it replaced.
I don't know, that explanation might be mere reductionism and AF didn't mean to discuss urban renewal or urban decay at all.......