So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
Buddy, you're a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on your face, you big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
We will, we will rock you (sing it out)
We will, we will rock you
Buddy, you're an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday
You got mud on your face, big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place
We will, we will rock you, sing it
We will, we will rock you, everybody
We will, we will rock you, hmm
We will, we will rock you
Alright
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
Buddy, you're a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on your face, you big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
We will, we will rock you (sing it out)
We will, we will rock you
Buddy, you're an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday
You got mud on your face, big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place
We will, we will rock you, sing it
We will, we will rock you, everybody
We will, we will rock you, hmm
We will, we will rock you
Alright
Lyrics submitted by paulotheman
We Will Rock You Lyrics as written by Brian Harold May
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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jeez.....you guys are all nuts. Here is what the song really means......it a three different snapshots of one mans life....as a boy....a young man and an old man.....as a boy He is playing.....kicking his can all over the place...refers to a childrens game called kick the can....waving your banner all over the place and the blood on your face line refers to the fact that many young folk get involved in causes,factions and the like when they still are motivated by idealism and finally as an old man who has come full circle,back to his childhood.both the first verse and the last includes the line...mud on your face....as an old man he hasn't changed a thing hence he is a disgrace.....this has nothing to do with gay rights or any of that shit. I find it amusing that gays wrap themselves in the cloak of Queen music to espouse their lifestyle.I am no homophobe but I find it tedious that Gays wanna find some gay reference in almost every queen song.Get a fucking clue.
@MoonlitKnight There's a bit more to it, the main character is obviously a rebel and seen as a disgrace by society. Seeming particularly worse off in old age. It seems fairly open-ended and could be about anyone who doesn't fit into society including someone who's gay or perhaps not. Most lyricists tend to allow some degree of interpretation by the listener. What the song isn't about is the average person getting through life.
@MoonlitKnight Especially since Freddie didn't write all or even most of the lyrics. Brian May wrote the song all by himself. Some people think Another One Bites The Dust is about AIDS. John Deacon wrote that one and it's quite possible he didn't even know what AIDS was at the time he wrote the song. I've even heard that Bohemian Rhapsody is about AIDS. Literally nobody knew what AIDS was when Freddie wrote that song. The only song that Freddie wrote about AIDS was I'm Going Slightly Mad which was a witty, humorous take on the cognitive decline he was suffering at the time. I've also heard people say The Great Pretender is about Freddie being gay or something like that. It was a freaking cover song from the 1950s, LOL.
@MoonlitKnight it's all about [and only about] Mercury getting knocked back one weekend while on tour
@MoonlitKnight This drives me crazy too. Brian and Freddie wrote equal amounts of songs with John and Roger usually putting in one song on an album in the 70s. This changed to usually 3 Brian/3 Freddie and the other 3 or 4 Roger or John in the 80s until The Miracle where they worked more collaboratively. I find the fact so many people seem to think Freddie wrote them all annoying. From what I understand, We Will Rock You was completely written by Brian. After their concert at Bingley Hall where the audience was particularly participatory and loud, he had the "stomp, stomp, clap" come into his head with the idea of a song they could participate in. The words were 100% written by him, in typical Brian May style in which there is a bit of a story to it with a beginning, middle and end (following a man from boyhood, to idealistic young adult, to unhappy old man). Even the stomp, stomp, claps are very Brian (and his overly scientific genius brain) in that he hand calculated a logarithm to figure out how to make the sound of about 10 people stomping on boards sound and have the reverberation of an entire concert hall stomping. Freddie just sang it (perfectly by the way). If people want to discuss gay referencing songs from Queen, you have your choice of several Freddie songs including Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Don't Stop Me Now, Get Down Make Love, and pretty much all Freddie songs on Hot Space. He did do several songs about yearning for love, without directly referencing being gay but he was singing about finding a man such as Somebody to Love, It's A Hard Life, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. However, as Freddie said several times, he found lyrics hard to write and thought of them as throw away in a lot of cases. I suspect there is a lot of songs everyone is trying to find deep meaning to that he didn't have deep meaning behind.
@MoonlitKnight That's really something there... considering most the record sales were from people you might consider to "average person" and is if any life is a picnic(??) everybody's got it rough especially the ones who don't complain because they understand that it's nobodies fault they are dealt the cards they're dealt. the song is is most certainly about the "average" just like the foo fighters song "My Hero" the narration about a rich & famous rock star who realizes the guy mowing his lawn on Saturday and really only expects life to be life and works hard anyway.
Hey, this is my first post here, I'm surprised to see that people seem to be confused about this song, for me the meaning is clear. Ok the way I always thought of this song is that it is about a Revolution.
Freddy Mercury is the Voice of the Ruler (a King or Dictator or something) and he is speaking to a crowd of Protestors (Revolutionaries), He's trying to bring them down, saying things you're a "big disgrace". The People respond with just shouting "We Will Rock You!", meaning We Will Bring you down or We Will Overthrow you!
"Waving your banner all over the place" Clearly the crowd is carrying Revolutionary banners.
"Buddy you're an old man poor man Pleading with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day You got mud on your face You big disgrace Somebody better put you back into your place"
This bit shows this clearly, the poor people are rising up and their ruler says get back into your place. i.e. I'm in charge you're just a lowly peasant.
I assume that in the end the people storm the Ruler's palace and overthrow him. To me this is defiantly an anti-authority song, I don't know if my interpretation is 100% correct but that's the way I've always imagined this song.
@Hibernian dream intoxicide of the only seperation
I just recently saw my 1/2 brother, and he was an 70's child so I asked him what he thought the song meant. He said "I don't know, but I remember that they always played it at any sports thing for like 5 minutes, and everyone would just keep saying 'We will, we will rock you!'". So even though I do think that this song is a representation of the different stages of life, I think it's just a nice song to listen to when your in the mood for rock. :)
It was never a gay anthem. It wasn't even written by Freddie. It was written by Brian May.
I agree with most of you on how the song loses anything in once possessed due to the fact it's played so much at sporting events. I know all the words but I knew this song before I ever heard it at a sporting event. Great song. Simple yet really gets your mind going.
Thank you to the select few who are actually using this site correctly and posting what you think about the lyrics!!! I think the three verses do refer to the same person, and he is considered a disgrace by society because he's trying to not conform.
by far one of those songs that you can't easily find out what it is just by the first few words
5/11/05 Hi, I'm 52, which gives you an idea of the generation that I grew up in (Beatles, Stones, etc.) I LOVE this song followed by Champions, but I really don't understand the lyrics. Who is stomping whom? Are those with mud on their faces, at different ages, different generations (in one time frame? or at different time frames, meaning the same boy, man and old man???), stomping, fighting our society? Or, is Queen telling us that "they," the men represented in the lyrics, deserve to be stomped? If so, exactly WHY? And why is this song followed by The Champions? Did Queen mean that those who thought that the boy, man, old man in We Will Stomp You, to be annhiliated, socially, then would be "stomped" out by the champions of the world? Please enlighten me. I always blast this song and The Champions, but am confused as to its true meaning... Thoughts from the gallery???
good thinking, but freddie didnt write the song
here here Moonlitknight. So many people do that whole gay champ thing with these lyrics.....ITS A RED HERING people. I also agree thats its 3 different stages of this dudes life The last part seems to suggest that as an old man, he has now lost touch with what the youth want as they have their own generational agenda thats far removed from his, hence being put in his place, and thought of as a disgrace.
Yes it is the classic 3 stages of life, wasting it, ruling it, and just living in it