this is the first single from Florida punk rock band Against Me! tbh i just started listening to them this year and i think their songs are pretty deep. this is one of my favs.
listen to the song here
well, let's first look at the whole lyrics before we dissect the song:
I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution.
I had the style, I had the ambition.
I read all the authors, I knew the right slogans.
There was no war but the class war.
I was ready to set the world on fire.
I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution.
Do you remember when you were young and you wanted to set the world on fire?
I was a teenage anarchist, but the politics were too convenient.
In the depths of their humanity all I saw was bloodless ideology.
And with freedom as the doctrine, guess who was the new authority?
I was a teenage anarchist, but the politics were too convenient.
Do you remember when you were young and you wanted to set the world on fire?
I was a teenage anarchist, but then the scene got too rigid.
It was a mob mentality, they set their rifle sights on me.
Narrow visions of autonomy, you want me to surrender my identity.
I was a teenage anarchist, the revolution was a lie.
Do you remember when you were young and you wanted to set the world on fire?
I was a teenage anarchist.
i think from the song title, the song is a reflection of this anger-riddled thoughts on a political movement slash social commentary against capitalism (or in general how the current society is right now). something like an invitation message to join the anarchist cult, perhaps??
tbh, though it's quite obvious, well, will you be surprised if i tell you that i did not only interpret it that way? tbh i personally think the song has a personal touch.. like a recount on how shitty a dude (not that im sexist here but cos it's a male voice) feels about his life.
and so lemme talk about the song, dissecting it from 2 very different message:
#1 social commentary --> i hate capitalism but i kinda begin to agree that's how the world works
#2 personal recount --> basically my life is shit and i am giving up
“I was a teenage anarchist, looking for a revolution. I had the style, I had the ambition. I read all the authors, I knew the right slogans. There was no war but the class war. I was ready to set the world on fire."
reflects: message #1
lemme start by putting in layman terms what's an anarchist
Anarchism: a political philosophy and movement that is sceptical of authority and rejects all involuntary, coercive forms of hierarchy. Anarchism calls for the abolition of the state, which it holds to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful (source: https://g.co/kgs/xZUrti)
i think, growing up, we were once naive and committed to the hope that our lives has a purpose. we were born in this world at this time on this planet in this universe for something. we believed that we were here for a reason, to change something, to create, to empower, to inspire. and ofc, being born in this fucked up society, it hurts our ego self to be a sheep and cling on the view of how the hierarchies of money and status in the current world is organised. so this "style" and "ambition" here, is exactly a rejection to the old-school notion of class and elitism, rejection to the encrustations of inherited hierarchies. he was "looking for a revolution", clinging on the hope that one day he can change the system, and so he promised himself he's gonna work hard, a very meritocratic idealism.
reflects: message #2
the first line gave it off to me... let's imagine a dude going thru some quarter life crisis. he's probably really bored with his work but yet hast really found his purpose yet --> indication of feeling lost?
but perhaps he did actually had a goal in mind.. like a dream as a child, you know.. an ambition
we all had one of those things growing up, right? if you find your 5-year-old self’s diary, let me guess, it's probably filled with angst-riddled pages alongside gripping stories of your imaginary friend, a list of things you want from secret santa, and maybe a list of things you wanted to achieve by the age of 25. These included (but not limited to): own a condo; be a successful stocks investor, become a famous singer/actor; be engaged (or even married); and own a black bmw.
yknow, just a typical high-achieving driven dude. "i knew the right slogans" to me meant that he knew his shit, he figured what he's supposed to work towards. he is 100% onz and was really on fire. and he's committed to play this game called life. he can't wait to grow up, adult, and all. "there was no war but the class war" gave off the hint that his goals were much focussed on materialistic stuff. class, status, social hierarchy, ego. lol what a typical boy.
ok moving on,
"I was a teenage anarchist, but the politics were too convenient........ I was a teenage anarchist, but then the scene got too rigid."
context: message #1
convenience: the state of being able to proceed with something without difficulty
here, i think he's talking about capitalism. perhaps, it is sort of a conscious decision to give in to the nature of elitism, and give up on his idealist nature. idk maybe at this point he's either had taken a step towards social revolution, but unfortunately failed, hence giving up on making a change, or he began to realise that there's literally no way out but to suck it up (if he still wants to live). like, just imagine if this boy was born in north korea or something.. literally if you wanna continue living, you cant help but to contain your rebellious hunger for revolutions, otherwise you'd just be shot to death within seconds.
i guess, as a child, it helps to think that the justification to our society's gaping inequalities is attributed to the amount of hard work of successful people and the laze-ness and shortcomings of unsuccessful people. it's such a naive thought. perhaps, it's much easier to think of how the world works that way. however, as we all grow up, we see the world from different perspectives, we start to see the yin amongst the yangs.
then guess at this point the author of this song realises the myth of meritocracy eventually.
context: message #2
on a different context, in his personal recount, we see that this dude began to "wake up" and realised that he is 25, single, unable to pay his rent and the closest thing he owns to a car is a bicycle with broken brakes that bought 2nd hand from carousel 2 years ago. i think i can kinda relate to this state tbh. i graduated from uni, all i ever imagined when i was a child is, i would be fully financially independent, living alone in my own apartment away from my parents, and paying my own rent. but i am nowhere near that image. bruh, im still living with my parents now. we all know adulting is hard and we dont want to grow up. we wanna keep ourselves free. youth life is much easier because we get to be away from bills, rents, financial issues. no responsibilities. no work deadlines. when i was in uni, life was so much more fun. i used to eat supper with my friends, go for social events, make friends, meet people, play. all i needed to worry was what to eat for today's dinner, essays due next week, and what to do for a friend's birthday. oh i miss those times. is it weird that i find this song nostalgic? like, thinking about the lyrics gives me chills cos i would get reminded of the youthful, care-free days when i was in uni. i didnt have to wake up at 7am. i could if i want to. but i was no morning person and my friends knew that for sure. i could even manage my own timetable at the start of each sem. so 100% yall know how my tutes were all in the afternoon. ok back to the song, i think this dude has kinda given up on adulting (or maybe given up on his dreams). and started to be open to the reality that being an adult isn't so fun after all. it isnt what we dreamt to be. like, dreaming of owning bmws didnt come with the idea that he had to change its tyre, wash the car body regularly. dreaming of living alone didnt come with having to repair leaking pipes and scrubbing toilet floor tiles. i think the "politics" here refers to a no-responsibility carefree life. it refers to the no-fuss, no-struggle, easy-peasy life where hunger=trip to the kitchen=food in the fridge. meanwhile the "scene" on this line refers to adulting. independence. work. office. duty. bills. responsibilities.
isnt it ironic how being free doesnt exactly equate to independence?
as a child we all wanted to grow up quickly. become someone great. we look up to those adults we see. we aspire to be someone like them, if not greater. but as we reached that age we've always desired to be at, we realised it's not so dreamy after all. now all we wanna do is go back to the childhood days and rot on school holidays. we all just wanna be really lazy and sit around on our asses watching netflix and doing nothing.
"In the depths of their humanity all I saw was bloodless ideology. And with freedom as the doctrine, guess who was the new authority?"
context: message #1
big question mark right here, does anyone actually believe that opportunities belong to those who have earned them?? like, as we all grow up, im sure you do wander if people in the poorer countries have access to internet. if they know what is a blog. if they have any idea what's vpns, how to type on a keyboard, or if they have any clue what is even a keyboard. do you actually think that people are born having equal opportunities? im sure as we grow up we begin to realise that the dynastic system has taken a completely new shape. and unfortunately it's what we all used to cling to, i.e. meritocracy. so this is what i think the author of the song meant by "bloodless ideology".
i think it helps to think further on how meritocracy works. note: i uds this is getting soooooo dry, i know. but i believe if you've gone this far, im sure ure finding this topic somewhat interesting anyway. HAHA.
anyways, yeah. on meritocracy. put this simply; in reality, meritocracy isnt exactly meritocracy. it is simply a a system of class filtered by meritocracy. so no matter how hard you work, your success would still be follow the old dynastic system. we know how in reality, government benefits like education, healthcare are not exactly distributed evenly. it's somehow favouring the majority. and those who sit in the majority group in the society somewhat would have been selectively picked out from the old upper and upper-middle classes of the previous century. aka, we can never actually get away from this whole class system. in fact, believing in "meritocracy" means feeding into this class system.
I was a teenage anarchist, the revolution was a lie.
context: message #1
i think this line is the highlight to message #1. basically tells the listeners, that, it is what it is. if youre born a certain way, then all you can do is literally accept the lemons you're gonna get. AND dont believe the saying "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade". because you dont exactly have the resources to make good quality lemonade everyone wants. even if you managed to make lemonade, it's probably expiring tomorrow or something. unless you're born a non-minority, then you would have the opportunity to make a good quality lemonade.
this ideology got me a little thirsty btw. for water. just to clarify.
so yeah, social equality can seem quixotic after all. maybe that's the major realisation that the author has come into terms here.
"It was a mob mentality, they set their rifle sights on me. Narrow visions of autonomy, you want me to surrender my identity."
context: message #2
The message reflects the question i raised to yall earlier (with regards to message #2). "rifle sights on me" reflects the die-die-must-do responsibilities as an adult. and that "narrow visions of autonomy" reflects the naive idea of a 5-yo dream to be a grown-up.
i think it's quite interesting how the "you want me to surrender my identity" here can be interpreted as if he's literally talking to his 5yo self, showing how much he wants to keep his youthful self. his freedom. and all things the thought defined his "younger" self.
you can see how much he's trying to compare and contrast his life now and then. which i tots can relate to. like, dont u just find everything much more fun as a child? that life is much better back then?
perhaps, this whole thing also reflects abit of depressive thoughts, yknow. and maybe a certain level of anxiety. that fear that resulted from realising that other people are "achieving" when he's floundering. i guess this whole thing led him to want to run away; to start again; or bury myself in anything that will distract him from his own reality that's "too rigid".
to sum it all, well i think this song is damn beautiful. it really reflects the dilemma, speaking from a dude pov who's probably my age and going thru identity crisis. something that resonates nicely to listeners of against me! cos they're probably around that age too. besides, i find it fascinating how it can be interpreted to more than 1 message. i think in both contexts / messages, the main topic boils down to freedom. whether it's all just an illusion. perhaps it is. or perhaps it is not that freedom doesnt exist. perhaps it's our limited mind that cages us from making sense of freedom as a wide and abstract concept.
what do yall think?
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