The song seems to be, at least somewhat, a critique on politicians and the way they treat voters, specifically minorities and lower income voters. The first verse mentions searching for the tramp (beggar, vagrant) in the gravel pit, ending with "Until the tramp finds Christ / Injustice is my middle name." This seems like a commentary on self righteous, religious politicians, those that claim to follow Christ but do nothing to aid the downtrodden (or those who do not share their beliefs) through their policies once in office.
The second verse makes a similar point with the line "your English is good" followed by "In this neighborhood / We ain't driving you home." In this case, politicians are looking to court the minority vote (those who may not be native English speakers), but they would never set foot into any of the poorer neighborhoods where those voters live. The overall point being that some politicians will say anything to win support from the desired demographic, but that they don't truly care about the well being of those they are elected to serve.
The lines "And my rook will check / Across this black and white chess board" further emphasize the idea of political strategizing in a game of race. Notice that he specifically mentions that the chess board is black and white.
I had to look up the lyrics to this song -- I thought the opening verse was: "Oh, you MUST go vote..." (I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, right. Because if you dont' go vote, you can't grouse later on!") Well, that's how I ended up at this Web site; I wanted to know the lyrics to this song. I totally thought Tokyo Police Club wrote and sang a song about the hyperbole, rehtoric, and bullsnark election we had this last time around -- you KNOW the one -- anyway, you can't tell me...
I had to look up the lyrics to this song -- I thought the opening verse was: "Oh, you MUST go vote..." (I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, right. Because if you dont' go vote, you can't grouse later on!") Well, that's how I ended up at this Web site; I wanted to know the lyrics to this song. I totally thought Tokyo Police Club wrote and sang a song about the hyperbole, rehtoric, and bullsnark election we had this last time around -- you KNOW the one -- anyway, you can't tell me this song doesn't have political undertones to it, and I LOVE it, LOVE it! Of course, I was singing along with my own lyrics...(grin) and that's allowed when I'm in my own vehicle driving down the street.
My own personal favorite mis-heard lyric: "Takin' care of Elizabeth every day", when they were really singing, "Takin' care of business every day"....sheesh. Imagine my surprise when I finally figured out 10 years down the road that I was singing the wrong lyrics to that song.
I had to correct a friend once on the lyrics to a song, Hot town, Summer in the City: "back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty". She's singing, "Back of my neck gettin' dark and pretty".....sheesh AGAIN! She told me I was wrong, but then had to apologize because she looked the lyrics up online and found out I had that one right.
Anyway, I don't usually post in forums, but I had to on this song. I'll have to check out some of this group's other music. (You can tell I'm not in my 20s, 30s, or even 40s, right...? (ha, I still enjoy the alt rock station!)
The song seems to be, at least somewhat, a critique on politicians and the way they treat voters, specifically minorities and lower income voters. The first verse mentions searching for the tramp (beggar, vagrant) in the gravel pit, ending with "Until the tramp finds Christ / Injustice is my middle name." This seems like a commentary on self righteous, religious politicians, those that claim to follow Christ but do nothing to aid the downtrodden (or those who do not share their beliefs) through their policies once in office.
The second verse makes a similar point with the line "your English is good" followed by "In this neighborhood / We ain't driving you home." In this case, politicians are looking to court the minority vote (those who may not be native English speakers), but they would never set foot into any of the poorer neighborhoods where those voters live. The overall point being that some politicians will say anything to win support from the desired demographic, but that they don't truly care about the well being of those they are elected to serve.
The lines "And my rook will check / Across this black and white chess board" further emphasize the idea of political strategizing in a game of race. Notice that he specifically mentions that the chess board is black and white.
My 2 cents.
I had to look up the lyrics to this song -- I thought the opening verse was: "Oh, you MUST go vote..." (I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, right. Because if you dont' go vote, you can't grouse later on!") Well, that's how I ended up at this Web site; I wanted to know the lyrics to this song. I totally thought Tokyo Police Club wrote and sang a song about the hyperbole, rehtoric, and bullsnark election we had this last time around -- you KNOW the one -- anyway, you can't tell me...
I had to look up the lyrics to this song -- I thought the opening verse was: "Oh, you MUST go vote..." (I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, right. Because if you dont' go vote, you can't grouse later on!") Well, that's how I ended up at this Web site; I wanted to know the lyrics to this song. I totally thought Tokyo Police Club wrote and sang a song about the hyperbole, rehtoric, and bullsnark election we had this last time around -- you KNOW the one -- anyway, you can't tell me this song doesn't have political undertones to it, and I LOVE it, LOVE it! Of course, I was singing along with my own lyrics...(grin) and that's allowed when I'm in my own vehicle driving down the street.
My own personal favorite mis-heard lyric: "Takin' care of Elizabeth every day", when they were really singing, "Takin' care of business every day"....sheesh. Imagine my surprise when I finally figured out 10 years down the road that I was singing the wrong lyrics to that song.
I had to correct a friend once on the lyrics to a song, Hot town, Summer in the City: "back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty". She's singing, "Back of my neck gettin' dark and pretty".....sheesh AGAIN! She told me I was wrong, but then had to apologize because she looked the lyrics up online and found out I had that one right.
Anyway, I don't usually post in forums, but I had to on this song. I'll have to check out some of this group's other music. (You can tell I'm not in my 20s, 30s, or even 40s, right...? (ha, I still enjoy the alt rock station!)
i really like your interpretation! i'm glad someone was able to formulate a coherent thought on this song cuz it's pretty difficult
i really like your interpretation! i'm glad someone was able to formulate a coherent thought on this song cuz it's pretty difficult
Thanks!
Thanks!