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I used to be a renegade
I used to fool around
But I couldn't take the punishment
And had to settle down
Now I'm playing it real straight
And yes, I cut my hair
You might think I'm crazy, but I don't even care
'Cause I can tell what's going on
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
I like my bands in business suits
I watch them on TV
I'm workin' out 'most every day
And watchin' what I eat
They tell me that it's good for me
But I don't even care
I know that it's crazy, I know that it's nowhere
But there is no denying that
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
So hip to be square
It's not too hard to figure out
You see it every day
And those that were the farthest out
Have gone the other way
You see them on the freeway
It don't look like a lot of fun
But don't you try to fight it
And an idea whose time has come
Don't tell me that I'm crazy, don't tell me I'm nowhere
Take it from me
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
So hip to be square
Tell 'em, boys
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
So hip to be square
Hip, hip
I used to fool around
But I couldn't take the punishment
And had to settle down
Now I'm playing it real straight
And yes, I cut my hair
You might think I'm crazy, but I don't even care
'Cause I can tell what's going on
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
I like my bands in business suits
I watch them on TV
I'm workin' out 'most every day
And watchin' what I eat
They tell me that it's good for me
But I don't even care
I know that it's crazy, I know that it's nowhere
But there is no denying that
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
So hip to be square
It's not too hard to figure out
You see it every day
And those that were the farthest out
Have gone the other way
You see them on the freeway
It don't look like a lot of fun
But don't you try to fight it
And an idea whose time has come
Don't tell me that I'm crazy, don't tell me I'm nowhere
Take it from me
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
It's hip to be square
So hip to be square
Tell 'em, boys
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip
Here, there, and everywhere
Hip, hip, so hip to be square
Here, there, and everywhere
So hip to be square
Hip, hip
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This song represents the extreme yuppie culture that came with the economic Boom(s) of about 1975-1983 and then started again in the late 1980s to about 1992 or so and the transition time of the late 1980s where the hippie anti-war culture of the late 1960s was almost completely gone. Movies like Wall-Street were popular where "greed is good" and businesses suits are common.
The movie American psycho encompasses that very well too and was as satire on the yuppie culture of that time. Everyone is so materialistic that they don't even remember the names of other people. People think they have had dinner with"Paul Allen in London" even though they can't even remember who he really is.
People are so wrapped up in their own personal materialistic lives someone like Patrick Bateman could get away with murder. This is why this song fits in so well for the movie and for what it is.
The song came out in 1986 where just 20 years prior to its release hippies were protesting the Vietnam war. The rebels and the counter culture of the era just prior to this song. "He used to be a renegade, he used to fool around" but not anymore he's playing it strict he even cut his long hair.
Now he's wearing business suits, making money being a square and conforming to everyone else. He's even working out most everyday and watching what he eats.
An excellent song that encompasses the ridiculous yuppie era on the 1980s that transitioned from from the hippies of the late 1960s probably cutting their hair and becoming businesses executives etc themselves.