Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Bolt-lock your doors
Alarm your cars
And still we move in closer
Every day
Top of the list
Is your smiling kids
But we'll be smiling too
So that's OK
Oh, and by the way
Thank you, because you're
Giving, giving, giving
And we're receiving
No, no, we're taking
Keeping the population down
Your taxes paid, but
Police waylaid
And we knows
When the school bus
Comes and goes
We're on your street, but
You don't see us
Or, if you do
You smile and say Hello
But don't underestimate us
When you are
Giving, giving, giving
And we're receiving
No, no, we're taking
Just keeping
The population down
You're giving, giving, giving
Well, it's your own fault
For reproducing
We're just keeping
The population down
Alarm your cars
And still we move in closer
Every day
Top of the list
Is your smiling kids
But we'll be smiling too
So that's OK
Oh, and by the way
Thank you, because you're
Giving, giving, giving
And we're receiving
No, no, we're taking
Keeping the population down
Your taxes paid, but
Police waylaid
And we knows
When the school bus
Comes and goes
We're on your street, but
You don't see us
Or, if you do
You smile and say Hello
But don't underestimate us
When you are
Giving, giving, giving
And we're receiving
No, no, we're taking
Just keeping
The population down
You're giving, giving, giving
Well, it's your own fault
For reproducing
We're just keeping
The population down
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Ambitious Outsiders Lyrics as written by Whyte Morrissey
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Originally when I heard this song, I assumed it was about xenophobic song about immigrants i.e. immigrants living off of the welfare system, immigrants overpopulating to overwhelm the native population in numbers, and the native population being naively unaware of the 'ambitious outsiders' plans.
However, in reading the lyrics and the other posters interpretations, I tend to agree that this song is more likely about child murderers. In two stanzas, children are referenced as the intended targets/victims, 'smiling kids' and 'school bus', reproduction is cited as the 'cause' of the problem, and the narrator talks about keeping the population down.
But to be honest, I don't get the 'point' of the song at all. If the intent is to bring more attention to a serious issue, it certainly offers no hope or solutions at all. It does no good to bolt lock your doors or call the police- you have no way of knowing who the bad guys are. The only possible solution in the song is to stop reproducing, which is absurd.
I also don't get the song title given the content. Ambition usually has a positive connotation- someone who is pushing themselves to achieve some higher aim. I would not associate a positive adjective with a child killer. A child killer would certainly be 'outside' of the mainstream of society, but an outsider could have a positive influence on society as well- causing the majority to think in a different way in order for society to progress e.g. immigrants, outsider artists etc. I would find a much harsher noun to describe child killers.
Songs like Suffer Little Children and Reel Around the Fountain did a much,much better job of handling sensitive topics like child abuse and child murders in a much more tasteful and respectul way. As with many of the songs on Maladjusted Morrissey misses the mark or doesn't do a good enough job or even seem to care to let us know what mark he was aiming for.
I don't think the song is about homosexuality. Considering Morrissey himself is bisexual, I don't know why he would write about homosexuality in a sinister way and playing into the ignorant stereotype that homosexuals target children.