I'm not sure what's subtle about 'outrun my gun' - or the verse in which the protagonist appears to shoot his dad.īut acknowledging that the song is dark is about as far as most critics who have reviewed 'Torches,' Foster the People's debut album, have come to engaging with 'Pumped Up Kicks.' Yet, when that interview went up on the NPR website, the introductory text reduced the song to 'a breezy summer jam with a subtly sinister edge.' He has said that he wrote the song because he's been troubled by school shootings, telling, for instance, NPR Music's 'World Cafe' that he wondered 'what would it be like to be inside of a kid's head that's a teenager and is basically losing his mind.' Mark Foster, the group's Cleveland-bred frontman, did not respond to an e-mail request to address some of the questions raised by the song.īut in interviews, when the song's dark subject matter has been an issue, he's seemed able to satisfy questioners by referencing Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood.' They'll play 'Saturday Night Live' this coming weekend, with Ben Stiller hosting.Īnd the tune has been top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since Aug. They're on a mostly sold-out tour right now, scheduled to hit Chicago's Riviera Theatre Wednesday night. From nowhere, they've gone to playing Lollapalooza this summer. 'Pumped Up Kicks' has been very, very good to Foster the People, the L.A.-based trio who released it as their first single. I don't for a moment fear that my kids or yours are one ill-considered pop song away from going bad, but I'd just rather not have their environment include a school shooting treated with all the gravity of bubble-gum pop - with whistling!

Or maybe we figure - as I initially did - that it's just pop music, and its ear-candy qualities trump whatever the point of view might be.īut after looking closely at the song's lyrics and listening to it many extra times, I have come to agree that this song is more deserving of a push away than the warm embrace it has mostly received. Maybe naming the song after fancy sneakers instead of the weaponry creates enough emotional distance. Maybe we're desensitized by the almost absurdly violent first-person-shooter video games so many kids spend their afternoons playing. 'All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,' says the chorus, 'you'd better run, better run, outrun my gun … You'd bettter run, better run, faster than my bullet. 'Pumped Up Kicks' is also a song about a kid preparing to shoot his classmates at school. And its bright carousel of a chorus gets in your head and spins merrily around. It is a perky pop ditty with just enough low-fi murkiness to make it hip. 'Pumped Up Kicks' has been hailed as the song - or at least a song - of the summer, although it first hit the charts in spring and is peaking now, in fall. You surprise me daily through and through.It was when my wife shoved the music player back across the table that I realized I needed to think harder about the tune I was playing for her. I like how I don't expect anything from you, I like to swim around in your good grace. I like the way you watch me when I walk away, *possible language is not confirmed, and the lyrics aren't official* Learn from your shadow, learn from your steps. It's the tremor inside that's making you cry

Here in darkness, you're paying for your sins They think they are protected with them masks

We will hunt for everything that's still alive Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween Halloween, Halloween, Watch your step, you'll have a great fall Halloween, Halloween, I want to die on Halloween. What do we get from the light of the sun?ĭrown in the surf and blood like a leech.Ĭome close and see what's hidden from sight. (series of words from Gregorian Latin chant 'Crux fidelis' since no sentence is complete, translating it would yield a meaningless text.) Archangel Friendship to Last (also from Nemesis) (Contrary to popular belief, the original song never had English lyrics present) Enigmatic Soul 9 Concert Live Versions (with lyrics change).2.1 Friendship to Last (also from Nemesis).

The road to nowhere lyrics meaning