The narrator in Barrytown is the one who is conservative: "I'm not one to look behind I know that times must change" and "I like things like they used to be". The narrator doesn't read a high brow newspaper and isn't very critical: "I just read the Daily News and swear by every word". But the narrator also tries to justify himself and stresses that he isn't oppositional: "And don't think that I'm out of line / For speaking out for what is mine". He would be happy to see others do just fine. But look at their clothes! Flairs, flowery? And their hair! Presumably very long and presumably something that scares him. No, the narrator just cannot embrace the others, which I presume to be the youth.
I can't see anything about moonies or race in any of the lyrics.
"Go play with someone else" makes it sound like a child has intruded on the narrator's space. This theme of being pestered reappears at the end of the song with "Leave me or I'll be just like the others you will meet/ They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street". (Notice again the narrator is conservative but pleading that he's actually good at heart.) It is almost as if hippies have come too close for comfort with their flowers and free love.
While you might guess that it is the conservative narrator who is being mocked, he doesn't come out of it too badly. I don't even see the song as being about prejudice, it is more about a cultural attitude that Marge Simpson summed up: "I fear the unknown".
No, no, no, whippersnappers and old timers alike,
The narrator in Barrytown is the one who is conservative: "I'm not one to look behind I know that times must change" and "I like things like they used to be". The narrator doesn't read a high brow newspaper and isn't very critical: "I just read the Daily News and swear by every word". But the narrator also tries to justify himself and stresses that he isn't oppositional: "And don't think that I'm out of line / For speaking out for what is mine". He would be happy to see others do just fine. But look at their clothes! Flairs, flowery? And their hair! Presumably very long and presumably something that scares him. No, the narrator just cannot embrace the others, which I presume to be the youth. I can't see anything about moonies or race in any of the lyrics. "Go play with someone else" makes it sound like a child has intruded on the narrator's space. This theme of being pestered reappears at the end of the song with "Leave me or I'll be just like the others you will meet/ They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street". (Notice again the narrator is conservative but pleading that he's actually good at heart.) It is almost as if hippies have come too close for comfort with their flowers and free love. While you might guess that it is the conservative narrator who is being mocked, he doesn't come out of it too badly. I don't even see the song as being about prejudice, it is more about a cultural attitude that Marge Simpson summed up: "I fear the unknown".
@rosssams What a crock
@rosssams What a crock