The White Stripes: We're Going To Be Friends Meaning

Song Released: 2002

We're Going To Be Friends Lyrics

fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, book and pens
i can tell that we are gonna be friends

walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 30th 2013 !⃝

   I always like to think about the song as the story of life.
   "hear the yell" - birth
   Then he talks about living and making friends with no worries at all, up until the teacher:
   "teacher marks our height against the wall" and "Teacher thinks that I sound funny but she likes the way you sing" - the teacher is a metaphor for society, and it's judging, categorizing; the beginnings of discrimination and prejudices.
   "we don't notice any time pass, we don't notice anything" is the monotomy of the adult life and the quick time passage
   Now the bed and sleeping is the end of life - death. "Tonight I'll dream while I'm in bed when silly thoughts go through my head about the bugs and alphbet" - at the end, thinking about his youth and his life
   "And when I wake tommorow I'll bet that you and I will walk together again" - hope for a life after death, perhaps heaven
   
   But then again, this is my interpretation

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 5th 2008 !⃝

   It's about the days when everything was simple, like when you were a child. There wasn't fighting and wars and arguments that we deal with as young adults and adults. Being a kid isn't complex at all, your involved in school and relationships with other people and that's really it.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 18th 2019 !⃝

   I’m doing a project in school where I have to write a script for a little play using song lyrics so I chose this song and used it in a way where the weird kid in school tries to be friends with someone who’s “too cool” for him. But in the end, they sit side by side in every class and we’re friends.
4. anonymous

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   Jul 5th 2018 !⃝

   i think the meaning of the song is when he was a child and every thing was simple and there was a girl that he bonded with and he knew they were going to be friends
5. anonymous

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   Feb 15th 2018 !⃝

   I think the song is about the the kind of love that develops completely organically. The kind that you just know is the real thing and founded on the fundamental part of any love...friendship.
6. anonymous

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   Jun 13th 2009 !⃝

   I know this isn't at all what the song means but whatever: I was listening to this song and for some reason something clicked when I heard the lines "teacher marks our height against the walls". It just seemed like it could be a metaphor for the teacher killing the students one by one (gunshot to head = marking their height against the wall). I know that's a REALLY bad way to interpret it, but it makes the rest of the song have more meaning to it too. At first they're having fun, and the boy is hanging out with Suzy. Then, BANG, psycho teacher time. They're sitting side by side in class, hostages or whatever. And at the end, maybe a long time after, the boy dreams about his fun times with Suzy who is no longer alive and he wants to be friends with her.
   
   I know, kind of pieced together interpretation, and not a very sane interpretation, but I kind of thought of it because of a short story I read a while back in a story writing contest. In it, a substitute teacher tortures and kills some students (violently) and honestly I didn't want to remember that story one bit, so maybe that's why I remembered it?
   
   So ya, that's my "interpretation" though I know that's not what the song actually means, but it makes the song take on a different meaning to me.
   
   -James (aka "Not-so-anonymous")

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   May 25th 2006 !⃝

   This song is about two people that are starting a new year at school and they say that they are gunna be friends.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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