First of all I wanted to say how deeply nostalgic this song makes me for the era in which it was written, especially the relative calm known as the Cold War.
Basically, the lyrics are quite prescient in that the speaker reminds the listener that political liberty and the pleasures of capitalism are all relatively new to the world scene and are not permanent. The speaker desires to live to the fullest during this special time in history by taking full advantage of its many pleasures and liberties before the true nature of the world, war and change, comes 'round again at last.
Thus the song is a carpe diem song and yet the speaker is troubled by all the possibilities of how to seize this day-- he is condemned to his own freedom in that he's unsure how best to make use of his liberty-- in other words, he feels the terror when one realizes although you can be almost anything, you cannot be everything. And yet he must decide because he he knows time is short.
First of all I wanted to say how deeply nostalgic this song makes me for the era in which it was written, especially the relative calm known as the Cold War.
Basically, the lyrics are quite prescient in that the speaker reminds the listener that political liberty and the pleasures of capitalism are all relatively new to the world scene and are not permanent. The speaker desires to live to the fullest during this special time in history by taking full advantage of its many pleasures and liberties before the true nature of the world, war and change, comes 'round again at last.
Thus the song is a carpe diem song and yet the speaker is troubled by all the possibilities of how to seize this day-- he is condemned to his own freedom in that he's unsure how best to make use of his liberty-- in other words, he feels the terror when one realizes although you can be almost anything, you cannot be everything. And yet he must decide because he he knows time is short.
Great review.
Great review.
This is the most amazing short explanation of a song I have ever read.
This is the most amazing short explanation of a song I have ever read.