Day 20: The Kids Aren’t Alright – Fall Out Boy
We all have a person who helps us through things. Maybe it’s your mom or dad, your brother or sister, your boyfriend or girlfriend. Things are okay when they’re around, even when things aren’t all that okay.
You’ve heard it said before – it’s okay to not be okay. That’s what the song “The Kids Aren’t Alright” is about. The title is an allusion to The Who’s 1966 song “The Kids Are Alright.” The first verse dives right into it – you feel like giving up. It even includes a reference to Top Gun.
Stuck in the jet wash
A bad trip I couldn’t get off
Maybe I bit off more than I could chew
Overhead of the aqua blue
Fall to your knees bring on the rapture
Blessed be the boys time can’t capture
On film or between the sheets
I always fall from your window to the pitch black street
And with the black banners raised
As the crooked smiles fade
Former heroes who quit too late
Who just wanna fill up the trophy case again
Things seem to be going to crap for our friend. They’re fed up by life and feel overwhelmed. They’re just not doing well. However, they have a best friend who understands.
And in the end
I’d do it all again
I think you’re my best friend
Don’t you know that the kids aren’t al-, kids aren’t alright
I’m yours
When it rains it pours
Stay thirsty like before
Don’t you know that the kids aren’t al-, kids aren’t alright
If you try to do something or accomplish a task and you fail, but you have fun or learn something, it was worth it. My boyfriend and I tried to do a craft a few weeks ago with mixed results. Did it turn out perfectly? No. Did we have fun doing it? Yes. It’s all in how you look at it and who you do it with.
In the meantime, it’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to not be okay. Just make sure you have a support system around you.
Day 21: Welcome Home, Son – Radical Face
I’m a very nostalgic person. For the most part, I always have been. I look back on things and remember them fondly, even if it wasn’t as fond as I remember. That’s why I love my childhood home so much. I spent my whole life growing up there, so I love going back. And when I do, I’m always welcomed.
But like Radical Face says, nostalgia can be a tricky thing. It can make us misremember or misinterpret, especially as we get older and things from our past tend to die away. How much are we willing to cling to the past? That’s what these lyrics, whispered like they’re a secret, are trying to convey.
Sleep don’t visit, so I choke on sun
And the days blur into one
And the backs of my eyes hum with things I’ve never done
Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline
Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass
Was never much but we made the most
This is a very introspective song. The narrator is having sleepless nights remembering things from his past–even the things he misremembers.
The chorus of this song is simple. It’s just “Welcome home.” This has been interpreted in many ways. Either the narrator has come to terms with something from his past so he feels he is now able to come home, or he has returned to a healthier mental state after struggling for a long time. The bridge alludes to the latter:
All my nightmares escaped my head
Bar the door, please don’t let them in
You were never supposed to leave
Now my head’s splitting at the seams
And I don’t know if I can
When you’ve existed in a troublesome headspace for a long time, it can feel like you’re lost. If you’re able to have a breakthrough, it feels a lot like coming home.
Audrey D. DeBoer 