Punk Rocker

[Boots]

Just interested in peoples interpretations of this song....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZl31jL0 ... ndi%20thom

Made me think of a few from here.
Kinda has that olde worlde folky feel and the lyrics are good. It should cross a few generations I think...

[shiney]

Part of the lyrics are pretty good ~ for example: the only way of communicating long distance was via a letter.

But to be a punk rocker with a flower in her hair. Ever seen a punk with flowers in their spikes? Do you think she is getting hippies mixed up with punks?

We have had it played alot here on the radio, but I don't actually like the song as a whole.

[Boots]

I like to think she is referring to transformation... or the potential for it... whimsically maybe.

Hang 5 *just putting on my philosphical muse hat *

She refers to two time frames... 77 and 69... and the freedom or courage to step from one political movement to another. Punk followed Flower Power, but it was a direct contrast, an blatant objection to it really... Folks were either one or the other and the division was possibly as strong as some religious divisions. Imagine trying to unite them back then? No chance. Only time and youthfulness permitted that, and only those who experienced it will object to share understanding today.

Every time I listen to it, I hear something else that makes me think... about life today, about kids, and what and how they are learning, and how slack society is today. How folks don't 'move together' anymore, and people talk a lot but don't really stand out as collective individuals to actively advance change.

We have Prime Ministers that entire countries openly mock and disrespect, but they are still there. Why are they there, if so many people don't like who they are and what they are doing? It doesn't really say much for the people does it? Do we have governments that we deserve? I think so.

Really must take this hat off, have gone a bit deep with this... My apologies. I just find it very thought provoking.

[bwaymark]

I agree with wasshisface from Radio 1 who said it should be "I wish I was a Prawn Cracker".

I liked the song at first, but local radio plays it every five minutes, so its getting on my nerves a bit and has given me way too much time to think about the lyrics, which I have now decided are mostly shite nostalgia and often non-sensical. As mentioned before, Punk Rockers didn't generally have flowers in the air.

Also, as a refuge from Anarchists politics (granted in the late eighties not the late seventies, and in Canada not the UK) I can't help but think that punk-rock never had the revolutionary bent (or popularity) that the hippies did. Maybe someone else can tell me different.

Intersetingly enough, though, its amazing how many punks, even high profile ones like wassderfaces from Crass, are into the whole small farming and self-sufficiency thing.

I reckon on this a good portion of y'all where punks, goths or Emos (which my 12 year step daughter tells me in the term for modern gothic punk rockers). :-)

[legendaryone]

I think she is referring to the fact her generation hasn't had a proper "youth movement"
I don't think she is saying punks had flowers in their hair She is just wishing for a strong youth movement that wanted to change things she could take part in, a new movement not some old second hand one.

Perhaps it is common to wish you were part of a movement from yesteryear, when i was younger i would of like to have been around when the Beatles and the Stones were emerging but now i am pleased to have been around when punk burst in the late 70's

[Dave]

I think this song has been played to death it drives me slightly mad now. I also disagree with the idea that there is no youth movement in this country.

The anti-war march in London saw more people protest than at any other time in history - 1 million people stood up to be counted (although unofficial reports put it closer to 2 million).

Also there is a growing concern about the environment and the plight of developing countries amongst today's youth. For example 250 000 protested at the G8 summit in Edinburgh with millions of others joining around the world. This was made possible by modern technology-the internet and mobile phones have united people in ways that were impossible 20 or 30 years ago.

I agree that there is no real singular youth culture anymore but was there really in the 60's and 70's? - you had Mods, Rockers, Teddy Boys, Psychobilly, Disco, New Wave etc etc. I don't think that this is all that different from today with - Emo, Anti-Folk, Nu Metal, Grunge, Hip-Hop.

Despite no singular youth culture I think the emerging generation has a very strong united political ideology. This in part is helped along by a very strong Anti-Bush and Blair feeling since the Iraq war. So I think Sandi Thom is wrong, wrong, wrong.

This not meant as an attack on you Boots at all so sorry if I've offended you. I just bloody hate Sandi Thom!!!

[Boots]

LOL - no attack taken Dave. Am interested in your ideas and don't ever take opposing ideas as a personal thing. I agree that airplay bombardment can really grate on folks nerves. It has never made much sense to me why radio stations find good songs and then tax them to the max, until folks just stop listening anyway. Am afraid I am not a radio fan, but have noticed the song repeating on the kids music shows on TV so figure it is probably getting a hammering. Daughter #1 told me this morning it is sitting at number 1.

I had a brilliant convo with my girls about it, and I really hope other adults talk about it with other young people. I think there are a lot of lines in there that only previous generations can explain. Like her or not, she has studied the historical and social development of music and has done a pretty good job of pulling together a painting with words, I reckon.

The public protests were one of the ironies I considered too... the fact that young people are really noticing the mass objections and the governments' complete disregard of them. We have become a largely inactive global globule, I think. It is almost as though they have learned movements are fruitless. Iraq was a very good example. I took a north to south bike ride across Aus and saw the mass objections to that war in this country. There were banners on buildings, marches in streets, signs everywhere, blatant and noisy objections from the biggest cities to the tiniest towns. People from all walks of life, every generation, race and culture united to say NO, but we all learned that as individuals and as a collective we were nothing. Our head of states don't play guitar... they are not part of the music making...

A youth movement requires activity and there can be no change without conflict - that is fact. I think youth cultures are alive and well. They just aren't very active, possibly because there are so many extra considerations today? So nothing moves. It all just becomes a talk fest. Protests have become organised public addresses... polite little speeches by educated recruits who wait for their turn to speak about rights and privileges that aren't upheld by the law to begin with.

In our country, the government has moved to support our youth by acknowledging they are disengaged... makes me laugh really. I can just see the kids rolling their eyes at the whole concept. Wha? We're not a part of the community? You sure about that?

[Dave]

I'll have to disagree again, I think youth activism is alive and well it's just not reported in the mainstream press. Take a look at to see what I mean - http://www.schnews.org.uk/ With people like Rupert Murdock owning half of the media it still will remain unreported and I think that's the beauty of things like schnews and indiemedia.

I'm sure the Ausies youth have their own activists - One of the only Ausies I know over here used to be a campainer for Greenpeace when he was back home. So not all Australias youth are disengaged.

I think since my generation (dubbed Generation X) there has been this assumption that the youth are apolitical and apathetic. I think there has been a shift away from mainstream politics but youth and politics still go hand in hand-they just don't vote. It's a shame really as that is still the easiest way we can make change.

[Boots]

Sorry Dave, wandered back to the painting (am now covered in it) and didn't realise you were actually still here.

Excellent site. The final article entitled REVOLTING kind of sums up where I was coming from, but clearly there is lots happening over there.

Will paste in a bit that caught my attention and made sense to me (it also gives sishers a typo mention... )

It may be that for the first time in the UK’ shistory, our views are no longer confined to a small minority. The anti-war movement may have reached its peak but great damage has been done to faith in the status quo and the liberal-authoritarian idea of democracy. We need a strategy that goes beyond mass-media politics, to convince a fractured population that there are other solutions and ideas, and that they are not alone in their fears.


The Global South is rising, and we need to get back out on the streets and in the trees – we have no choice. Be part of history - don’t just let it happen to you...

I also think that all of our major youth movements were music backed and fuelled, so without doubt that is why I noticed this song. It stood out to me as a song that could contribute to a change in thinking across generations. Personally, I think it has the potential to make people think, talk, reflect, share and define personal values. When we do that (no matter what age) we either challenge or fortify those values. More often than not that's a good thing. Unfortunately, like most protest songs it will probably just blend into the pop culture.

Is there a reason you hate the singer, or is that just linked to the whole airplay overload thing?

[circlecross]

I'm sorry but I HATEd this song - I first heard it in the car after travelling back from Cambridge on a very hot day, with a yelling toddler in the back, and ended up making up my own lyrics, missing the times past when racism and sexism were acceptable sitcom material, and child abuse was unknown but flashers weren't...you get the picture, all very tongue in cheek, but filling in the gaps of the song's easy(queasy?) nostalgia.

It does seem to be striving for something to rebel against or belong to - the youth of today (how sad am I not to be included in this any more???) maybe do feel a sense of futile anger that there is nothing to rebel against but only stuff that is particular to them. Ie. there is plenty to get really really angry about, but if there are no immediate benefits, it is seen as maybe a bit too much effort to do anything about it? There are so many global, serious issues, that fighting for a new carpet in the student union may be a bit tame.

And I had a summer of children singing it tunelessly and incessantly at summer playschemes (on karaoke for goodness sake).

[Shirley]

I love it!!!! I turned the radio up loud when I first heard it. I have to say though that I'm not exposed to it being played over and over again... we tend to listen to the local radio station and it plays songs from all eras. If I'd been hearing it everytime we listen to the radio perhaps it would have irritated me too.

I was bemused by the punk rocker with flowers in her hair bit... didn't see any of those in the Banshee in Manchester!! Pink spikes yes.... flowers.. um no.

Perhaps she wanted to be a punkrocker/hippie cross.... a punkrocker with flowers in her hair!

She's from up here in Aberdeenshire, which is another reason I liked it I guess... always good to hear of locals doing well!

I get the schnews newsletter - it's really good!!

[hedgewitch]

I HATE that song it's just the most ridiculous load of drivvel I've ever heard. If she wants to be a punk rocker with flowers in her hair then just do it - don't write a song about how she wishes she was!!!
Ugh!

[Boots]

Heck of a lot of hate getting around in this thread.

My apologies to anyone who finds the song or this thread difficult to digest. I genuinely apologise for opening the door to it, as sharing a major neg definately wasn't my intention.

...When I asked for perspectives, I never considered for one minute they would be so dark.

Think I might go spike my hair with soap and stick daisies on the tips with superglue just for the heck of it.

[legendaryone]

Hi Boots, don't apologise i have enjoyed reading this thread.
I think some people have forgotten it is just a song

[Shirley]

Think I might go spike my hair with soap and stick daisies on the tips with superglue just for the heck of it.

I want to see a photo if you do