We laugh at danger(and break all the rules)

My friend and I were talking about this song this weekend. We came to the conclusion that this song is about Tom's guitar and "mary" is the name of the guitar. Is this true? Or is it refering to something else?

I always thought it was Mary, like the Virgin Mary. But I could definitely be wrong..

its definitely the Virgin Mary...even on their website the lyrics section says in parenthesis "as in the Virgin"

says it in the liner notes of the album as wel

Quote :

it was a birthday gift from a mexican telecaster that from this day on i will play along to all my young pioneers records. and there will be a poetry spoken silently between me and the stereo. i'll work mornings and you can work through the night. mary (as in "the virgin"), there is no hope for us. if this gm van don't make it across the state line we might as well lay down and die. because if florida takes us, we're taking everyone down with us. where we're coming from (yeah) will be the death us. and i cannot help but hold on to a handful of times when what was spoken was a revolution in itself, and what we were doing was the only thing that mattered. and how good it felt to kill the memory of nights spent holding your shirt for the smell. i heard you used to cry when you made love to him, but this band will play on. because all we can do is what we've always done. and on and on...

just to post the lyrics.

it's pretty straight forward, just bein in a band trying to get out of your homestate. the chorus is like a prayer that the whole band sings.

i do not know what the line about "you used to cry when you made love to him" is about. i guess there's a girl that they are playing for. maybe another Mary they know or something... that'd be weird if they knew a Mary and sang her name out and referred in the booklet to the virgin mary.... hah

i love the (Young) Pioneers.......who seconds?

AM!ShitSTroll wrote:

its definitely the Virgin Mary...even on their website the lyrics section says in parenthesis "as in the Virgin"

yepp.

I am striving to write a chorus as amazing as that, but yet to no avail.

I think it's mostly just a fun-drunken-type singalong song. Just because if florida takes us we're taking everyone down with us.

i cannot help but hold on to a handful of times when what was spoken was a revolution in itself, and what we were doing was the only thing that mattered. and how good it felt to kill the memory of nights spent holding your shirt for the smell. i heard you used to cry when you made love to him, but this band will play on....
one of the best lines in all of music

dandangoose wrote:

i love the (Young) Pioneers.......who seconds?

second.

That second verse is fucking boss.

I scream this song and hang out the window on every roadtrip I take.

There is a a danger portion.

FLIP wrote:

dandangoose wrote:

i love the (Young) Pioneers.......who seconds?

second.

hell yeah

Fornikatieng wrote:

I scream this song and hang out the window on every roadtrip I take.

There is a a danger portion.

Ooh, a few weeks ago i was listening to RAR in the car and almost hit somebody while going crazy on that first break into the Politics of Starving.

Ok the song is about doing what you love, and not letting ANYTHING stop you. Against Me! hails from florida, when they say "if florida takes us" they mean, if florida holds them down, if they never get their message, if they never get past their home town, if they never make the impact they want to, then everyone who ever was in the same situation as them, they minus well lay down and die.

The women Tom refurs to is just another obstacle in the way of doing what he has always loved. This song is about coming to peace with what people feel compelled to do for themselves.

"Don't let anything hold you back from what you have to do for for yourself, never let them take you alive" is the message.

THe ending is about finally accepting what he is doing, for himself, is bigger than a girl or anything else. He basically says" I have never felt better, I finally can let go of all the nights where I was on tour (doing what I have to for everybody just like me) sitting back regretting and remembering what we had, I finally know that this thing were doing is better than anything you and me could ever had. And we won't stop, because we can't this is us, we've always been doing this, and will go "on and on and on"."


I mean "If florida takes us" means if the people from their home holds them down (friends family lovers) from going out into the world (not florida) and doing what they were made for, then they minus well lay down and die, because if their home holds them back then they'll never finish what they were made to do, they minus well lay down and die because held back by their everybody at home, they'll never share with the world what they were made to do (what they are alive and destined to accomplish)


stolen, but i really think this is what it means.

I don't know if anyone else here watches movies that crimethinc comes out with, but this song is in the credits of a movie called the miami model.

I think this is a fairly strait forward song about... being on tour, escaping the binds of your comfort zone (home state) and realizing your dream for music. The chorus is a prayer, hence the reference to the virgin marry.

i like the thought that mary is tom's telecaster.

It sounds more like Mary, and the woman towards the end of the song aren't the same thing. So Mary could easily be the Telecaster. Or just the Virgin Mary for the sake of the prayer-chorus.

Doesn't it say, "Mary (as in the Virgin) there is no hope for us...", in the liner notes?

Kyle wrote:

Doesn't it say, "Mary (as in the Virgin) there is no hope for us...", in the liner notes?

Yes, it does. Which is why I don't understand why people aren't clear on how to interpret it. It's fairly straightforward.

Zing.

dannyglover wrote:

Kyle wrote:

Doesn't it say, "Mary (as in the Virgin) there is no hope for us...", in the liner notes?

Yes, it does. Which is why I don't understand why people aren't clear on how to interpret it. It's fairly straightforward.

Thanks for saying it.