Brand New: Sic Transit Gloria....Glory Fades Meaning
Sic Transit Gloria....Glory Fades Lyrics
She doesn't wanna blow it.
Shaking head to toe
while your left hand does "the show me around."
Quickens your heartbeat.
It beats me straight into the ground.
You don't recover from a night like this.
A victim, still...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Honestly...I think this song is about a young genuine boy (rare, I know) that has gotten himself in a rut..He's with this girl that he really wants something with...he has some thing real to offer her, yet all her past broken relationships have lead her to believe that sex is the only thing that's important in a relationship. He doesn't exactly know what's happening but he just wants her to be happy...so he does what she wants him to do. It's obviously his first time and he's quite reluctant...he thinks it's wrong, but still he wants to please her. Because of his feelings, it wasn't as great as what all his friends told him it would be. He just wanted things to be taken slowly and he wasn't ready by any means. Now that the deed is done he feels stupid and full of shame and he realizes that all he wanted in the beginning was ruined because of what he just did. Now it's like all her other reationships.
Once you lose you virginity, you're not really a kid any more. "Up the stairs, the station where the act becomes the art of growing up." "Die young and save yourself." It means to just die before you put yourself through bad times like that. Die young so you have the past to savor...once you grow up all is lost. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:The song has duel meanings. It's obviously about a boy losing his virginity to an older girl, but the hidden meaning is about growing up. Sex is like a rite of passage right? so its saying that when you're young you are innocent and you can still make mistakes and live... but once you've crossed the bridge you've lost it all and become an adult where the choices you make can't as easily be fixed or covered up. You are stuck with the tragedies of real life unlike when you are a kid you are too ignorant to realize how bad that life could become.
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I mostly agree with what others have said here about this song being about a young man being taken advantage of by a young woman, but I think there's something a little more to it that I only caught on to when I watched the music video. In the beginning of the video he's running, like he's trying to run from the inevitable, like growing up or facing reality, but then becomes curious and is lured in anyway. He then starts to realize his own ability to influence others and becomes more condfident, feels like he can go out and 'be a man', so he goes and finds a girl, and at first he feels like he's the one in control, trying to use his new found 'power' to make her undress, to make a move on her, but then as soon as he thinks he's getting what he wants, suddenly he's not in control anymore, he's the one being controlled. He turns around to see a shadowy figure that then starts controlling him and essentially threatens his life. If you look closely, the shadowy figure looks to be the same woman he was just trying to seduce, albeit in different, less innocent and feminine looking clothing. It feels similar to the way that I was always kind of a timid young man myself, but then when I finally got my confidence and thought I could go out and get me a woman, the first one I found I tried to make mine, and as soon as I thought I had her, I realized, she had me. She lured me in, manipulated me, and once she had me where she wanted, she took control, and she abused me, took advantage of me, and destroyed my life. He is the lamb, she is the slaughter.
I think it makes a statement about gender roles and sexuality and the way it is often confused, the way men are expected to 'be a man' and take control, and women are seen as the submissive, innocent ones, when in fact the reality is sometimes completely the opposite, that women can just as easily, maybe even more easily, manipulate and control, but it's rarely seen for what it is, even by the victim, until it's too late. -
I love the people trying to defend girls who date rape, who actually gives a fuck what the gender is go kill your self..
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I believe this song is about our perceptions concerning the role of sex for men and women, especially when still young. It is often believed and accepted that guys pressure girls into having sex before they are ready for it. This song flips that notion around, by stating that guys are pressured into having sex - by society - before they are ready.
So, while society might infer that some girls have sex because they want to be loved, this song illustrates that some boys have sex because it is considered proof that you are a man. So, just like girls might have sex for acceptance, the same is true for boys.
The boy in this song is aware of this; he might have liked to have an honest and real relationship before starting having sex (maybe he really likes the girl), but to be accepted and to prove that he is a man, he feels he has no choice but to do it.
Sex here is a rite of passage - "the station where the act becomes the art of growing up" - and he feels he needs to participate, even though "all he wanted was to hold her".
The pressure experienced from peers is also evident: "Despite everything he learned from his friends, he doesn't feel so prepared".
He sees himself as the lamb, and the girl as the slaughter - which means he sees himself as a sacrifice - a sacrifice being made for the sake of fitting in and being a man.
This is why he says "Die young and save yourself" - die young before you have to corrupt yourself and yield to social pressure and conformity. -
I have always thought that this song had something to do with the movie "The Graduate". The line from the song, "Dripping wet and clearly depressed, he headed straight for the stairs." helps to paint the picture in my mind, as this line perfectly describes one of the first scenes of the movie. I have also always pictured the woman from the song as Mrs. Robinson, and the man as young and reluctant Benjamin Braddock.
Just my interpretation, but this is what I choose to picture while listening to this song. -
The song's about date rape. He changed the pronouns around so that people wouldn't freak out about him writing a song about some young girl's deflowering. "the tickle, the taste of..." Come on. Transpose the pronouns and see how much mystery is left in the song.
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"Keep the noise low.
She doesn't wanna blow it.
Shaking head to toe
while your left hand does "the show me around."
Quickens your heartbeat.
It beats me straight into the ground."
The girl is all over him, she wants him bad and doesn't want to screw up sealing the deal. She gets excited, her heart beats faster (pounding him like a hammer down further into the ground so he must go through with it)
"You don't recover from a night like this.
A victim, still lying in bed, completely motionless.
A hand moves in the dark to a zipper.
Hear a boy bracing tight against sheets
barely whisper, "This is so messed up.""
He is essentially dealing with a rape-like scenario, but he is letting it happen, for her. While it isn't rape, he's being taken advantage of and he's unable to stop what is taking place, partially because he wants it to happen, tho he questions himself and what he has done in the past.
"Upon arrival the guests had all stared.
Dripping wet and clearly depressed,
he'd headed straight for the stairs.
No longer cool, but a boy in a stitch,
unprepared for a life full of lies and failing relationships."
He seems to be a player, who in the past has used girls in the same way he is being used by a girl now. At this point in life he wants more, but is unprepared for what is actually happening. He can't handle her lies (to get him into bed) or the fallout from her actions, and the inevitable end to their one night stand.
"(Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.)"
Basically, upstairs, in your bedroom, this is where you finally grow up. He's already graduated to sex in terms of growing up, but I believe him not wanting JUST SEX is what they are referring to as "growing up"!!! I don't believe it's his first time having sex.
"He keeps his hands low.
He doesn't wanna blow it.
He's wet from head to toe and
his eyes give her the up and the down.
His stomach turns and he thinks of throwing up.
But the body on the bed beckons forward
and he starts growing up."
I think he realizes here, the consequences of his past actions. He's done this to girls before, now he wants more than just sex, but he can't seem to find it. Now this girl is treating him as he's treated others in the past. His realization comes in the thought of throwing up, but when she beckons him forward, is when he realizes he is actually becoming a man because he no longer wants this type of one night stand and there is more to a relationship than just sex.
"The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell."
I think this is the girl saying, no matter what, I knew I hooked you from your movements, your behavior and your general unwillingness to leave. Despite the fact that she knows he doesn't want to be there. He is a conquest for her.
"Die young and save yourself."
I believe this is strictly about love. And dying young before you fall for someone and they break your heart!
"The tickle, the taste of...
It used to be the reason I breathed but now it's choking me up."
This part is what makes me think this is what he use to do to girls. He loved the tickle of the tongue, basically the taste of sex. It use to be all he wanted, but now it's "choking him up" because he wants more, he wants the love he has denied to others that came before.
"Die young and save yourself."
again, dying before you can be hurt by love.
"She hits the lights.
This doesn't seem quite fair.
Despite everything he learned from his friends,
he doesn't feel so prepared.
She's breathing quiet and smooth.
He's gasping for air."
It no longer seems fair, his actions in the past, because now he has to deal with them. He questions everything about his past and what he's done to girls before by taking advantage of them. What he speaks of "learning from his friends" doesn't speak to his "first time", it means he learned this same behavior from his friends, he was a player because they were players, it was what it was. Her quiet breathing is what he use to be like, but not he's gasping for air because he is experience the other side of his coin, he's the one now being taken advantage of.
"This is the first and last time," he says."
He states this as being the first and only time he will be taken advantage of. He will not let it happen again, he hates it, he's learned what his "victims" felt.
"She fakes a smile and presses her hips into his.
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides.
He's holding back from telling her
exactly what it really feels like."
She's enjoying being a user here, he won't move his hands, perhaps to give her what she wants, perhaps so he doesn't physically remove her from him. He keeps to himself, that he is miserable and doesn't want this life. That maybe it's sex and he's getting off, but it's now an empty, meaningless act.
"He is the lamb, she is the slaughter.
She's moving way too fast and all he wanted was to hold her.
Nothing that he tells her is really having an effect.
He whispers that he loves her,
but she's probably only looking for se-..."
This verse is relatively straight forward. She's leading him where he has lead others previously. She ignores him as he ignored the girls in his past, he tries to tell her he loves her to make her think, possibly stop and realize what affect she is having on him? But he realizes, she's just looking to get banged.
"(Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.)
So much more than he could ever give.
A life free of lies and a meaningful relationship.
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides.
He waits for it to end
and for the aching in his guts to subside."
This verse seems where he truly realizes the hurt and pain he's caused others. It's introspective to what is happening to him now and he realizes this is the torture he's put girls through in the past. Now he's just wanting and yearning for it to be over. He has realized the pain he's caused others.
"The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell.
Die young and save yourself.
The tickle, the taste of...
It used to be the reason I breathed but now it's choking me up.
Die young and save yourself.
Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.
The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren't too hard to sell.
Die young and save yourself.
The tickle, the taste of...
It used to be the reason I breathed but now it's choking me up.
Die young and save yourself."
the repetitiveness here is what hits it all home. Over and over he repeats the main "plot" of the song. He's learned his lesson, he isn't that person, and he doesn't know if he'll every find real love that he now yearns for. He's grown up and alone. He's been scarred and bruised, just as he has scarred and bruised others. -
The meaning behind the song isn't as lyrically complicated as most of Jesse's songs. It is about a boy losing his virginty to a girl who has no real interest in him, but he feels its what he wants because of what he hears from his friends. If you watch the music video he goes into a bar, and every man in there does the exact same thing he does. Meaning that he is no different then any other man that the girl has slept with, nothing special.
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I think it's pretty simple really, just a boy who was peer pressured into having sex with a girl who he wasn't ready to have sex with yet but wanted to please, and ended up regreting it. I feel really bad if the boy is supposed to be Jesse in his childhood cuz that's messed up. XD
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This song is based on a conversation from The Royal Tenebauns.
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Pretty much everyone interpreted this song the same way, totally forgetting the fact that Jesse Lacy is a lyrical genius and nothing he says is ever what it really means. He has said numerous times, the video has nothing to do with the song. With that said, the obvious point of this song is rape. He is clearly talking about non-consensual sex, the woman being the rapist, the man being the victim. With that said, I do not believe this song is about sex at all. I'm going to get metaphorical, so keep up: the woman is a metaphor for the music industry and sex represents fame. Jesse is basically having a panic attack about being a signed artist, playing for huge crowds, dealing with executives telling him what kind of music to make. He knew Deja Entendu was going to make them famous, it makes your favorite weapon look like crap in lyrical comparison. He wrote this song not for his fans, but for his musical peers, almost as a warning. Getting signed may seem beautiful, like the woman in the song, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Music used to be the reason he breathed, now it's choking him up
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I think this song has a lot of metaphorical meanings to it. I think that the girl in the song is not actually a girl but a metaphor for his record company. Jesse is the boy in the song and he wants to keep writting music without the fear and pressure from the record company. Jesse is not someone who wants to become famous. When i went to Atl to watch him play one of his last shows he did not seem like he wanted to be there, he seemed pressured and unsure about what he was doing. The song seems to have a deeper meaning than the words in the song. To understand Brand New you have to look outside of the box and stand in his shoes.
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what about the part that says she was only looking for... so much more than HE could ever give... I used to think it was about what everyone has already posted... Now i wonder if the girl is also reluctant and just trying to please him. "fakes a smile and presses her hips into his."
Now i think this song refers to the pressure placed on everyone to have sex and i think that neither of these two in the song really want to do it. -
This song is actually about when Jesse stole the lead singer of TBS's girl friend and this song was a response to one of their songs that calls him out. It starts out her lipstick his collar, well his collar is Jesse's collar. So Jesse wrote this song in like a hey it wasnt my fault this is what happened.
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I think we're forgetting here the difference between translation and interpretation. If you'll take what I say with a little grace,.. Most of what has been said has been translation, what has been said in the song has been reworded and detailed.
But what does it mean? That's where translation differs from interpretation.
I submit to you that this song is detailing the consequences on a boy who is looking for "A life free of lies and a meaningful relationship" from the values of a society that bases maturity on sexual conquest.
But in truth, we are more than conquerors. -
the song's on the line meaning is about a boy who isnt ready for sex but the girl he is with pushes him into it. the fact that the roles here are reverse of what most people would assume is ironic and shows jesses innocence.
the true meaning though, is about brand new as a band and how they blew up overnight. this song is from their second cd, and jesse didnt expect the success he got from "your favorite weapon" and he is trying to deal with the industry. "deja entendu" has a lot more deep lyrics and doesnt have the raw passion and anger that their first cd has. jesse lost his innocence after releasing his first cd (which prior to that, he had very idealistic beliefs) and is unprepared to deal with the world
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