[Flamenco]

When I listened to Kids yesterday I finally read the words while the song was playing. It seemed to me the general theme about this song represents a separation or divorce?

What cha think?

[dreyfuss]

"It's not that the Kids don't get it, it's that the kids don't get it, this everything around"

If what Gord says before they play the song live most times is true, it's more about the planet in it's current state, and how when the "kids" get it, it'll be much worse off.

But it's not like everything Gord says before a song is really what it's about.

[The Heron Outside]

I thought I heard something from Gord about the song being about his own kids, and how they won't inherit the fame the band has acquired, because they don't want it, nor does the band want them t'have it...That runs in tune with Family Band, in a sense then...

As far as interpretations go, earlier this year I was so fucking fed up with University and contemplated dropping out...Walking home one day, listening to Kids, it kind of made sense, and I thought I could give these lyrics to anyone who wondered why I would want to drop out....

"I'll be as careless, as you are certain...I'll get out of my own way...I'll stop to cry into the curtains and like the greats before me go onstage..."

I sorta thought that following some bullshit plan won't necessarily let you achieve success, but if you do things on yer own terms, reckless or not, you'll still "make it big", or something...

I soon snapped out of it, realizing the world doesn't revolve around me, and that it's just a rock and roll diddy...Graduation's Monday.

[NegPhil]

Gords lyrics are like a Rorschach test administered to a hungry man, everything looks like a banana.

For me the meaning of the song became clear when I saw them preform "Kids" in Seattle. At the end of..."I’ll be the antlers and I’ll be the elk, I’ll be the right whale and I’ll be parallel".... he added... "to that whale."

It seems to me that Gord has placed himself in-front of the juggernaut that is The Tragically Hip. Yes, the success has insured the security of the bands families for generations. What the kids, fans and press don't understand is the sacrifice that has been required. The reason the right whale was prized by Whalers was for its vast quanties of oil and the fact that it floated to the surface when killed.

Gord keeps telling himself that the greats just blow their nose into the curtain and take the stage. Suck it up, the show must go on. Want to stay in your room and read a book. Suck it up the show must go on. Gord is destined to float to the surface so we can harvest his oil. Suck it up, the show must go on. The kids don't get it.

[bstrauss24]

"Its not so much what they don't understand, as it's what they don't inheret"

Spoken at one of the Phoenix shows in Toronto this past October.

[tth_fan]

"ya, the kids don't get it...it's not that they don't get it, it's that they won't get it. It's not about understanding it's about inheritance."
- October 28th, 2006, Calgary, AB.

Maybe he's saying that parents don't instill the same values in their children that they had instilled in them growing up...?

[j-monster]

Or is it more personal for him? That his kids don't understand the difficult lifestyle of touring to build up a successful following for the band, but they inherit the benefits it has accorded him and his family?

Then again, Gord's lyrics rarely strike me as being too personal. They are often a riddle wrapped in a mystery contained in an enigma (or something like that)... but that's what often makes them fun, no?

[redhill]

I thought I heard something from Gord about the song being about his own kids, and how they won't inherit the fame the band has acquired, because they don't want it, nor does the band want them t'have it...That runs in tune with Family Band, in a sense then...

As far as interpretations go, earlier this year I was so fucking fed up with University and contemplated dropping out...Walking home one day, listening to Kids, it kind of made sense, and I thought I could give these lyrics to anyone who wondered why I would want to drop out....

"I'll be as careless, as you are certain...I'll get out of my own way...I'll stop to cry into the curtains and like the greats before me go onstage..."

I sorta thought that following some bullshit plan won't necessarily let you achieve success, but if you do things on yer own terms, reckless or not, you'll still "make it big", or something...

I soon snapped out of it, realizing the world doesn't revolve around me, and that it's just a rock and roll diddy...Graduation's Monday.

nice post :thumb:

[opiated]

this thread proves why it's such a great tune