I feel compelled to finally spell some of this out for people:
"Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet girls like you. She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch." Just the other day I heard a soldier falling off Some Indonesian junk that's going round."
-- This is the about the mother warning her son about loose girls because they are trouble. She also tells him that she has heard that some soldier's you-know-what actually fell off from an Indonesian V.D.
"Father says, "Your mother's right, she's really up on things." "Before we married, Mommy served in the WACS in the Philippines." Now, I had heard the WACS recruited old maids for the war. But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years."
-- This is the father telling the son that the mother is really up on things because she used to server in the WACs (Womens Army Core) in the Phillipines. The kid doesn't buy it. I'm not certain but it sounds like the father is actually being sarcastic poking fun at her for trying to claim she knows about soldiers and VDs.
"Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year? Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear?"
-- Never really understood this one, more information is needed.
"When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch. Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out."
-- Mom & Dad smoking some weed, making out on the couch, playing their kids "hip" music while they thought their kids were in bed. Any parent understand this one ... parents have two faces, the one they show their kids, and the real one they show each other after they think the kids are in bed.
"Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay."
-- Not 100% sure on the actual meaning of Surrender ... but I have always assumed it meant that you have to give in and realize that your parents, like you, are strange and quirky and unique. It also could mean that as parents you surrender to being parents, without fully revealing your secrets/dark side, etc.
I think Helj mostly has it right. The one thing I disagree about though is that this whole song is about someone who grew up knowing his parents had been around the block and totally levelled with him about that. His mother warns him about the type of girls who can give him STD, his father tells him she would know since she was a WAC. What the father (or possibly kid, unclear) doesn't believe in the second verse though is that the WACs were all virgins ("old maids" -- women who won't get married).
I think Helj mostly has it right. The one thing I disagree about though is that this whole song is about someone who grew up knowing his parents had been around the block and totally levelled with him about that. His mother warns him about the type of girls who can give him STD, his father tells him she would know since she was a WAC. What the father (or possibly kid, unclear) doesn't believe in the second verse though is that the WACs were all virgins ("old maids" -- women who won't get married).
This is all pretty shocking for a lot of 1970s midwestern kids: mom had a life before marriage, dad knows all about it (she didn't lie or trick him), they still like each other & their kid & get it on & have fun. I'm sure there are still parents in the midwest not this honest.
I think you are surrendering to the truth that we are all going to be like our parents (and theirs), but don't give up on the idea that you are still yourself, special, something to value (and be careful of STD).
I know it's been quite a long time since you wrote this, but I saw "surrender, but don't give yourself away" as meaning things are going to change, you're going to have to grow up,don't fight it, but you don't have to lose the wildness, you can still be "weird"
I know it's been quite a long time since you wrote this, but I saw "surrender, but don't give yourself away" as meaning things are going to change, you're going to have to grow up,don't fight it, but you don't have to lose the wildness, you can still be "weird"
@Helj Great interpretation! An amazing thing about this song is that its simple lyrics accurately capture complicated feelings from the perspective of a young teenager, not a rockstar trying to appeal to young teens. The simple lyrics may have helped it with Japanese audiences (i.e. Budokan) with limited English.
@Helj Great interpretation! An amazing thing about this song is that its simple lyrics accurately capture complicated feelings from the perspective of a young teenager, not a rockstar trying to appeal to young teens. The simple lyrics may have helped it with Japanese audiences (i.e. Budokan) with limited English.
I feel compelled to finally spell some of this out for people:
"Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet girls like you. She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch." Just the other day I heard a soldier falling off Some Indonesian junk that's going round."
-- This is the about the mother warning her son about loose girls because they are trouble. She also tells him that she has heard that some soldier's you-know-what actually fell off from an Indonesian V.D.
"Father says, "Your mother's right, she's really up on things." "Before we married, Mommy served in the WACS in the Philippines." Now, I had heard the WACS recruited old maids for the war. But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years."
-- This is the father telling the son that the mother is really up on things because she used to server in the WACs (Womens Army Core) in the Phillipines. The kid doesn't buy it. I'm not certain but it sounds like the father is actually being sarcastic poking fun at her for trying to claim she knows about soldiers and VDs.
"Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year? Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear?"
-- Never really understood this one, more information is needed.
"When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch. Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out."
-- Mom & Dad smoking some weed, making out on the couch, playing their kids "hip" music while they thought their kids were in bed. Any parent understand this one ... parents have two faces, the one they show their kids, and the real one they show each other after they think the kids are in bed.
"Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay."
-- Not 100% sure on the actual meaning of Surrender ... but I have always assumed it meant that you have to give in and realize that your parents, like you, are strange and quirky and unique. It also could mean that as parents you surrender to being parents, without fully revealing your secrets/dark side, etc.
I think Helj mostly has it right. The one thing I disagree about though is that this whole song is about someone who grew up knowing his parents had been around the block and totally levelled with him about that. His mother warns him about the type of girls who can give him STD, his father tells him she would know since she was a WAC. What the father (or possibly kid, unclear) doesn't believe in the second verse though is that the WACs were all virgins ("old maids" -- women who won't get married).
I think Helj mostly has it right. The one thing I disagree about though is that this whole song is about someone who grew up knowing his parents had been around the block and totally levelled with him about that. His mother warns him about the type of girls who can give him STD, his father tells him she would know since she was a WAC. What the father (or possibly kid, unclear) doesn't believe in the second verse though is that the WACs were all virgins ("old maids" -- women who won't get married).
This is all pretty shocking for a lot of 1970s midwestern kids: mom had a life before marriage, dad knows all about it (she didn't lie or trick him), they still like each other & their kid & get it on & have fun. I'm sure there are still parents in the midwest not this honest.
I think you are surrendering to the truth that we are all going to be like our parents (and theirs), but don't give up on the idea that you are still yourself, special, something to value (and be careful of STD).
I know it's been quite a long time since you wrote this, but I saw "surrender, but don't give yourself away" as meaning things are going to change, you're going to have to grow up,don't fight it, but you don't have to lose the wildness, you can still be "weird"
I know it's been quite a long time since you wrote this, but I saw "surrender, but don't give yourself away" as meaning things are going to change, you're going to have to grow up,don't fight it, but you don't have to lose the wildness, you can still be "weird"
@Helj Great interpretation! An amazing thing about this song is that its simple lyrics accurately capture complicated feelings from the perspective of a young teenager, not a rockstar trying to appeal to young teens. The simple lyrics may have helped it with Japanese audiences (i.e. Budokan) with limited English.
@Helj Great interpretation! An amazing thing about this song is that its simple lyrics accurately capture complicated feelings from the perspective of a young teenager, not a rockstar trying to appeal to young teens. The simple lyrics may have helped it with Japanese audiences (i.e. Budokan) with limited English.