Why world is your oyster but your future's a clam, They let you think you're king, but you're really a pawn

The Jam - When You're Young - 1979

Life is timeless, days are long when you're young
You used to fall in love with everyone
Any guitar and any bass drum
Life is a drink, and you get drunk when you're young

Life is new, and there's things to be done
You can't wait to be grown up
Acceptance into the capital world
You pull on some weed, then you pull on someone when you're young

But you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to comprehend
Why you set up your dreams to have them smashed in the end
But you don't mind, you've got time on your side
And they're never gonna make you stand in line
You're just waiting for the right time

You're fearless and brave; you can't be stopped when you're young
You swear you're never ever gonna work for someone
No corporations for the new age sons
Tears of rage roll down your face
But still you say, "it's fun."

And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam
It's got you in its grip before your born
It's done with the use of a dice and a board
They let you think you're king, but you're really a pawn

You're fearless and brave; you can't be stopped when you're young
You used to fall in love with everyone
Any guitar and any bass drum


This song, and this performance, has been running in my mind for the past few days. As always with this band, I tend to get fixated on Bruce Foxton's supreme bass playing; but the whole band really build-up some steam in this remarkable song.

This is from the New Wave era that came just after punk - you still get the punk ethos of angry youth, moody and unreasonable attitudes, machine-gun drumming - but there is a much greater structure, musicianship, excellent lyrics and so forth; for me, probably the greatest era in pop.

Watching this live perfomance I get a sense of that incredible glamour (in the enchanting sense) of pop music for youths and young people; a kind of aching for what is - of course - a kind of illusion.

But with this kind of pop, with this kind of quality, there is a fact of it being produced by people of the same age. The Jam were absolutely fresh: young, raw, very creative and talented - they flared briefly and intensely to light up the world; and then ended.