these "times were living in" are times of apathy and this "future he was born into" is a seemingly meaningless one, not one of fame or importance as we've been raised to believe we'd have.
"outsiders dressed up like sunday morning" illustrates the lost feeling he has amongst all these fake people, and how our time is one of isolation and loneliness
in disagreement with tifnz, i think what "with no berlin wall what the hell you gonna do" means is that we are a lost generation - we have no battle to fight, no purpose. nothing big is happening in our time,so our lives feel meaningless. as tyler durden said, we have no great war, our war is a spiritual war, which is what this line is getting at.
on a side note, its interesting that this hippie esque music arises from a hippie esque people, a 'lost generation', people once again defying the position handed to them. like history repeating itself.
the chorus is the message of the song, which is a hedonistic and hippie one. its saying live for the now, its the way to get by and overcome the obstacles described in the verses. smell the roses. the fact that he uses 2080, not some year far, far in the future emphasises his message, we really havent got that long to live, so its important we enjoy it despite a grim future. he provides an alternative view to all these "think about the future" issues that bombard us these days, which we need, as its getting too much. he says that our purpose is but to live.
"and the moon shines bright on the water tonight so we wont drown in the summer sound" is such a meaningful two lines. it says "we get by" - perhaps only just. perhaps we can only just save ourselves from drowning, and going under, being beaten, but we are such strong creatures that we can take the smallest thing such as the beauty of moonlight and let it save us. there is always hope.
By the bridge, hes gotten so desperate (he's "grabbing at the chance") with his situation that hes suggesting this really quite drastic ultimatum. he suggests an escape from our cold, harsh reality by getting back to basics, and stepping back in time to days when to live was a struggle in itself - you had to grow your own food ie. people had a purpose and were not faced with the issue of a meaingless existance.
it was also a time when people were more simple, and contented by "winning blue ribbons in county contests", because there were simply less problems of consumerism and materialism. to summarise, "dude, lets start a commune" is exactly what hes saying, because essentially, its just drastic - we need to wipe the slate clean, go back a century or two and just start again. that is the state we're in, why the bridge out of the whole song hammers it home the most. hes saying "is this the way forward?", "do we need this?"
and something that makes it so affecting, is quite how desperate it is and how it is so clear that although he doesnt say it, he absolutely craves this escape. the lyrics AND the music paint this scene as being a complete idyll to him ("handsome farmers"). The modal music and old fashioned flutey thing not only accentuates the step back in time but the medievalness of it gives it a fairy tale quality - like the legendary dragon slaying tales of old ie. this escape is elusive, and hard to attain. also, the way he suggests this course of action so directly as if things were that simple is child-like, and ironically sad as we know its not that simple and he can't just snap his fingers and have that life.
The following fill is easily the most beautiful part of the song, to express the beauty of his vision.
All of this combines to leave us with a nostalgic feeling, and a sadness that these happy times are mostly gone from the world and it really effectively alerts us to the sad height of the situation we got ourselves into, that we need to go that far to pull ourselves back from the brink.
incredible 40wattclub has it down pat
these "times were living in" are times of apathy and this "future he was born into" is a seemingly meaningless one, not one of fame or importance as we've been raised to believe we'd have.
"outsiders dressed up like sunday morning" illustrates the lost feeling he has amongst all these fake people, and how our time is one of isolation and loneliness
in disagreement with tifnz, i think what "with no berlin wall what the hell you gonna do" means is that we are a lost generation - we have no battle to fight, no purpose. nothing big is happening in our time,so our lives feel meaningless. as tyler durden said, we have no great war, our war is a spiritual war, which is what this line is getting at.
on a side note, its interesting that this hippie esque music arises from a hippie esque people, a 'lost generation', people once again defying the position handed to them. like history repeating itself.
the chorus is the message of the song, which is a hedonistic and hippie one. its saying live for the now, its the way to get by and overcome the obstacles described in the verses. smell the roses. the fact that he uses 2080, not some year far, far in the future emphasises his message, we really havent got that long to live, so its important we enjoy it despite a grim future. he provides an alternative view to all these "think about the future" issues that bombard us these days, which we need, as its getting too much. he says that our purpose is but to live.
"and the moon shines bright on the water tonight so we wont drown in the summer sound" is such a meaningful two lines. it says "we get by" - perhaps only just. perhaps we can only just save ourselves from drowning, and going under, being beaten, but we are such strong creatures that we can take the smallest thing such as the beauty of moonlight and let it save us. there is always hope.
By the bridge, hes gotten so desperate (he's "grabbing at the chance") with his situation that hes suggesting this really quite drastic ultimatum. he suggests an escape from our cold, harsh reality by getting back to basics, and stepping back in time to days when to live was a struggle in itself - you had to grow your own food ie. people had a purpose and were not faced with the issue of a meaingless existance.
it was also a time when people were more simple, and contented by "winning blue ribbons in county contests", because there were simply less problems of consumerism and materialism. to summarise, "dude, lets start a commune" is exactly what hes saying, because essentially, its just drastic - we need to wipe the slate clean, go back a century or two and just start again. that is the state we're in, why the bridge out of the whole song hammers it home the most. hes saying "is this the way forward?", "do we need this?"
and something that makes it so affecting, is quite how desperate it is and how it is so clear that although he doesnt say it, he absolutely craves this escape. the lyrics AND the music paint this scene as being a complete idyll to him ("handsome farmers"). The modal music and old fashioned flutey thing not only accentuates the step back in time but the medievalness of it gives it a fairy tale quality - like the legendary dragon slaying tales of old ie. this escape is elusive, and hard to attain. also, the way he suggests this course of action so directly as if things were that simple is child-like, and ironically sad as we know its not that simple and he can't just snap his fingers and have that life.
The following fill is easily the most beautiful part of the song, to express the beauty of his vision.
All of this combines to leave us with a nostalgic feeling, and a sadness that these happy times are mostly gone from the world and it really effectively alerts us to the sad height of the situation we got ourselves into, that we need to go that far to pull ourselves back from the brink.
: D
: D