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Pale, pubescent beasts roam through the streets
And coffee-shops
Their prey gather in herds in stiff knee-length skirts and white ankle-socks
But while they search for a mate my type hibernate
In bedrooms above
Composing their songs of love
Young, uniform minds in uniform lines
And uniform ties
Run round with trousers on fire and signs of desire they cannot disguise
While I try to find words as light as the birds
That circle above
To put in my songs of love
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice
So sing while you have time
Let the song shine down from above
And fill you with songs of love
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice
So let's sing while we still can
While the song hangs high up above
Wonderful songs of love
Beautiful songs of love
And coffee-shops
Their prey gather in herds in stiff knee-length skirts and white ankle-socks
But while they search for a mate my type hibernate
In bedrooms above
Composing their songs of love
Young, uniform minds in uniform lines
And uniform ties
Run round with trousers on fire and signs of desire they cannot disguise
While I try to find words as light as the birds
That circle above
To put in my songs of love
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice
So sing while you have time
Let the song shine down from above
And fill you with songs of love
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice
So let's sing while we still can
While the song hangs high up above
Wonderful songs of love
Beautiful songs of love
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The Smiths / Morrissey did a couple of songs on that theme.
'Pale, pubescent beasts' is descriptive of every run of the mill Britsh adolescent male. 'Their prey' being the peer schoolgirls, 'stiff knee-length skirts and white ankle socks' obvioulsy describing the school uniform (the word 'uniform' coming up later).
'my type hybernate, In bedrooms above, Composing their songs of love' is the other stereotype, and more empathic (reinforced by the narrator's identification by using the word 'my') socially awkward teen who is trying to prove he's got more substance than the 'beast' whose 'trousers (are) on fire', an obvious metaphor for aroused genitals.
'sing while you have time' means 'enjoy your youth while you have it' and embrace the emotion of puppy love that every teen feels, even if not directed to a specific person. This idea of there being 'someone out there' is something I think most teens can relate to.
'sing while we still can' to me, is a reminder that no matter how old we feel, we are only getting older, and should embrace what youth we have left, even at 90 years old. Singing is a positive thing as well, so in a metaphorical sense, this line means to generally enjoy and take advantage of life. Which I think is the most important meaning of this song. Although it can be interpreted as a song about love, there is no specific recipient of that love, it seems to be suggested that the narrator is projecting this unused, perhaps frustrated, love outward to the world and life in general.
1.
"Pale, pubescent beasts, roam through the streets
And coffee-shops, their prey gather in herds
Of stiff knee-length skirts, and white ankle-socks
But while they search for a mate, my type hibernate
In bedrooms above, composing their songs of love"
The singer is pointing out the irony that he, alone up in his room, and old and single, writes love songs but the young teenage girls in uniforms are the ones experiencing love.
2.
"Young, uniform minds, in uniform lines
And uniform ties, run round with trousers on fire
And signs of desire, they cannot disguise,"
= teenage boys in uniforms who are, well, horny and can't hide it.
Not sure about the last bit, but basically the singer is a little jealous of their young love and opportunity, but ironically he writes the songs for them.