Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
you can't lead the punks to reason, but you can't make them think, and lifelong trouble with the burning fists and angry hearts of america's young is a fear of the new and the narrow outdated tunnels they see the world through. and where to turn, but up one's own ass where the answers are free but shit, nonetheless.. we're used to the smell and content with the mess because a slogan's much easier than a second guess.. and still we water paper flowers, thinking we've found the way for tomorrow, lest we forget: the empty heads will always be the first to try and kill what's already dead.
Lyrics submitted by d_lacy
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
And hot cross arent broken up there just in a hiatus
Here is my interpretation
"you can't lead the punks to reason, but you can't make them think, and lifelong trouble with the burning fists and angry hearts of america's young is a fear of the new and the narrow outdated tunnels they see the world through."
People are trying to make punk-rock kids think differently because they are open-minded and think differently, and adopt the ideals they believe, the ideals they consider to be reasonable. They have a rage and power because they are young and they don't like the world around them, because of the people pushing their bullshit ideas on them and because of the general situations in current society.
"and where to turn, but up one's own ass where the answers are free but shit, nonetheless.. we're used to the smell and content with the mess because a slogan's much easier than a second guess."
The ideas being forced upon these kids is close-minded crap (made literal by the reference) by people with their heads up their asses. People are so used to being close-minded and dealing with the mess because it's tough to change.
"and still we water paper flowers, thinking we've found the way for tomorrow, lest we forget: the empty heads will always be the first to try and kill what's already dead."
The paper flowers are symbolizing if you get a paper wet, it will fall apart. The people destroying the world and society are making things fall apart. The song comes to a close, by saying the types of people have to preach and tell others what to believe and who to be are just killing society even more, and what is the point...it's so messed up as it is that it might as well be dead.
R.I.P. Hot Cross.
In my mind, this song exemplifies the ideals of the post-hardcore genre. It's calling out the punks for becoming narrow minded perpetuators of a movement that stopped making a difference long ago.
At the same time the melody is in a way showing the transition from the simplistic, overly imitated style of hardcore punk to the vastly more experimental post-hardcore sound. Where in the beginning it's a simple 3 chord progression, around a minute in it gives way to melodic dueling guitars.
The phrase "we're used to the smell and content with the mess because a slogan's much easier than a second guess" is telling of the repetitive nature of punk themes and the hollow chants that dominate their hits. Meaningless slogans that sound promising but that essentially mean nothing ("If the kids are united they will never be divided"...).
And watering paper flowers is a great metaphor, as they may look pretty, but they're just for show – trying to feed them wont make them grow, it'll just kill them.
That said, there were some great punk bands that did make change during their time. But those bands gave way to overly-aggressive meathead crap that inspired a split in the scene. This song is an illustration of that split.
(:
Maybe it's just me, but Hot Cross seems a lot angrier than Saetia was. I like it.