Perhaps like most I perceived the song by the band Queen, the anthem of so many hockey nights, We Will Rock you, as a happy, inspirational song, and in a way it still is. But I found an interpretation that I feel suits every lyric and word and perhaps even the powerful melody. The lyrics to this song are quite easy to grasp and yet I think they still elude most. Many modern song productions have complicated psychoacoustics to such an extent that people mistake a word here and there or entire phrases. Some artists twist our ears even by purposely playing word games. Queen's track does no such thing. The lyrics are plain and easy to hear, and even to understand for non-English speakers. So it is a wonder that many do not understand the song to be sad and describing quite a cruel situation.
This interpretation is about how a boy with dreams and aspirations became an old beaten up man who still wants to put the world in its place for killing all his ambitions. It has three passes of references interleaved with the hook "We Will Rock You". The first part it says he's a boy, the second that he's a man, and the final third that he's an old man. Queen is implying a certain time has elapsed between the three periods, and the individual has aged with all their experiences as we all do.
What initially started off with mud, became blood, and was back to mud again. The fact mud turned into blood means not only that the world became crueler to the individual but that the person despite all of their earlier life lessons still could not learn sufficiently how to defend themselves from these bullies. Mud in the face and blood in the face is not from playing around, practicing soccer, nor from vigorously pursuing snowboarding per se. But rather from conflict with others.
As well the third line in each passage is descriptive of a victim's feelings. First the boy is kicking a can the way we all distract ourselves from bad feelings after a school yard fight. Then the young man is waving his banner, though this is figurative for it first states the young man was shouting in the streets about changing the world, as all young university students shout in varying protests. The world did this and that to me, I am a victim and I will change it. I will fight for what I believe in, what I believed in as a kid, I will show you evil naughty world, just you wait! The final climb down from the hill in the third passage Queen explains clearly the man is now old and frail and is pleading but with his very eyes for peace which he hopes comes.... some day, still hopeful that some day this poor soul will find peace from the wretched life on Earth replete with all its cruelty. The closing line before the final hook of "We Will Rock You' says it all though. When they sing "Someone better put you back in your place" it explains the entire purpose of the lyrical story telling. Queen obviously are not the type that hate the weak, nor the victims of this place. They're saying how those in power perceive victims, those who want to change the world, those for whom a desire to rebel against a prison culture type of zoo environment is so strong that they end up pushed into the mud as kids, bloodied for standing up for the weak, and poor and neglected elders. It means the authorities better silence yet another soul by putting him back in his place, back in the ground, back in the casket, back into meaninglessness, nothingness, from which the masses can not alter a single avenue for the better. The authorities better silence this old man before his tales spring up a riot.
Queen's words are evocative of a very sad experience on Earth that many will no doubt relate to, and yet if you speak to most they can not put all this into words as I just did. There are other interpretations but this is the one that strikes a chord with me as being the most accurate one as it seems to include most of the lyrics. Even the phrase about the man being a disgrace fits into the picture, as in most societies think the man beaten by others is a disgrace and not those doing the beating. He the strong is worthy of love, affection, money, power, and money. He the weak is the problem in our chain and must be eliminated. He the victim is a disgrace to our powerful nation. It's no wonder so many shootings and violent acts happen around the world with this mentality prevailing. Monkey see, monkey do. I saw the bully rewarded with a better job, I saw the better job giving him a new car and house. So I, too, shall mimic him. I, too, shall be strong. I, too, will avoid being a victim. This is my path through this thick forest. I will not be a disgraced muddied, bloodied, poor old man when I look back on my life, no matter what.
But how does the hook of "We Will Rock You" fit into it? It seems to be the exact opposite, as being rocked usually means astonished, pleased, even made love to. It's a positive phrase, isn't it? Depends on the context I suppose. The related phrase of "We will rock your world, baby" could mean that when you meet us all of your dreams will change and usually people imply for the better. But for the worse is also derived if the individual stating it has poor intentions as in "Don't mess with the champ, I will rock you back in time". In this context the word rock means sort of a life shattering earthquake type of rocking erasing all of the opponent's accomplishments. In this regard the key phrase "We Will Rock You" means the leadership and oppressors and the bullies rocking the victim's world, rockin' his dreams away, rockin' his hopes out of the picture. So therefore now it has a negative meaning and no longer that champion calling of "We Will Rock You with our prices on sofas" for example, which would've been a positive view of the meaning.
Feel free to play with the lyrical meanings of this song as well as many others. There is a completely opposite view of this song's words and although I like that one as well, given our modern world of terrorism, crime, and gun violence, I felt in particular that looking at a young man growing old who went from kicking a can to shouting in the streets to pleading for peace was a more relevant view.
Listen hard.
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