We Are Young

This song has caught my ire in a BIG way. I listen to the music that my kids listen to, not because I like it, but to be familiar with it. There is a lot of reasoning behind it (Queen of Reason? A later posting) This song's message and popularity has me a bit disturbed. Allow, if you will, a print out of the lyrics:

Give me a second I,
I need to get my story straight
My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State
My lover she’s waiting for me just across the bar
My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses asking 'bout a scar, and
I know I gave it to you months ago
I know you’re trying to forget
But between the drinks and subtle things
The holes in my apologies, you know
I’m trying hard to take it back
So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I’ll carry you home

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

Now I know that I’m not
All that you got
I guess that I, I just thought
Maybe we could find new ways to fall apart
But our friends are back
So let’s raise a cup
‘Cause I found someone to carry me home

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

Carry me home tonight (Nananananana)
Just carry me home tonight (Nananananana)
Carry me home tonight (Nananananana)
Just carry me home tonight (Nananananana)

The moon is on my side
I have no reason to run
So will someone come and carry me home tonight
The angels never arrived
But I can hear the choir
So will someone come and carry me home

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I’ll carry you home tonight

Now that we have the lyrics posted, let's break this down a bit. Lying is right off the bat - give me a second I need to get my story straight. Straight into drug abuse in the next line - my friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the empire state. Physical abuse - my seat's been taken by some sunglasses asking bout a scar. Deceitfulness - but between the drinks and the subtle things, the holes in my apologies. Great, you said sorry and really didn't mean it. Cheating - I know that I'm not all that you've got. Binge drinking - so by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down, I'll carry you home tonight. 

All of this is topped off with the anthem of reckless abandon. Tonight, we are young, so let's set the world on fire. We can burn brighter than the sun. This has become the hit song of the early summer and people everywhere are eating it up. I can't turn the radio station without hearing this song and it has me concerned about the message it sends for the sake of being popular. 

We all stumble and fall along the way, we all make mistakes but to make them out to be something of valor for popularity is truly disappointing. This should be a running list of what NOT to. During our youth and maturing process, many of these issues arise and are suffered. What is the worst part is that it is treated all as right of passage passe. The message is that it's not only ok, but fun (That's the band's name - Fun) This isn't fun, deprecation of self and character to be cool and popular. 

The song is catchy and it becomes imbedded in your ears from the media overexposure. While I think some of the lyrics are paid attention to, it's the ending that seems to pass people by. The angels never arrived, but I can hear the choir. That eludes to all of the debauchery getting the ultimate best of the writer - death. We are not as invincible as we would believe to be in our youth. There is no eternal flame that sets our spirit ablaze and leaves us forever in remembrance.  I, for one, wouldn't want to be remembered for the folly of my youth. I would much rather be remembered for my maturity and strides I have made past that crazed youth. 


Today, I am old. 
I want to do responsible things 
like housework and going to my job
I am too tired to stay up late
Can I just take a nap?


Yeah, my song doesn't have as much pizzazz. It isn't looking for popularity and isn't catchy. That's ok though, I am not looking to impress anyone. Impress yourself with how far you have come instead of living in some fleeting youth. Growing old can be graceful and beautiful <3