I’m afraid I have to disagree with mqduck; Devo were most certainly promoting “freedom of choice” with this song. The concept which started Devo was that we had stopped evolving and started DE-VOlving. With this and many other songs they were pointing out that a lot of people simply follow the societal herd rather than choosing their own paths. And whereas some of their other songs made this point in much more obscure ways, this one was as straightforward as you can possibly get. At the end of the song they aren’t merely implying that people don’t want freedom of choice, they’re saying it quite explicitly and are criticising people who have that mentality. And as for offering a solution they most certainly are providing one! In the first verse the lyrics are “sink, swim, go down with the ship; but use your freedom of choice”, which can only be taken to mean that you shouldn’t allow the outcome to be determined for you; they are saying – frankly and openly - that whatever happens you should make sure that it is occurring because you used your freedom of choice.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with mqduck; Devo were most certainly promoting “freedom of choice” with this song. The concept which started Devo was that we had stopped evolving and started DE-VOlving. With this and many other songs they were pointing out that a lot of people simply follow the societal herd rather than choosing their own paths. And whereas some of their other songs made this point in much more obscure ways, this one was as straightforward as you can possibly get. At the end of the song they aren’t merely implying that people don’t want freedom of choice, they’re saying it quite explicitly and are criticising people who have that mentality. And as for offering a solution they most certainly are providing one! In the first verse the lyrics are “sink, swim, go down with the ship; but use your freedom of choice”, which can only be taken to mean that you shouldn’t allow the outcome to be determined for you; they are saying – frankly and openly - that whatever happens you should make sure that it is occurring because you used your freedom of choice.