Born Outside
Born Outside: A Poetic Journey Through Transformation and Heritage
Lyrics
Put the finishing touches on
Completing the final details
A watershed year
A significant year that marks a turning point
In transformation pain
Experiencing pain during a process of transformation
Mark where you stand
Identify your position or status
Outside the picture now
Being excluded from the current situation
By enclosing it in this frame
Creating boundaries by framing the situation
O little child
Addressing a young child
You will never know a world
The child will never experience a world that allows forgetting
That lets you forget
Reflecting on the difficulty of forgetting one's past
What you've been
Recalling and acknowledging one's history
When I was a boy
Reference to the singer's childhood
I honestly thought
Expressing a past belief
I would be relieved to find out
Anticipating relief upon knowing the end of a story
How the story ends
Expecting resolution to life's narrative
O little child
Addressing the child again
You will never know the world
The child will not experience a world that allows forgetting
That let you forget
Emphasizing the challenge of forgetting one's past
What you'd been
Recalling and acknowledging the child's history
I really thought I would be
Expressing a past expectation
relieved to find out
Anticipating relief upon knowing one's place in the world
Where I fit in
Reflecting on the search for one's identity
For most of my life
Describing a significant portion of life
I've done nothing but burn through
Using up an inheritance through life's journey
The inheritance every day
Never anticipating or imagining
Never imagining never imaging
Repetition for emphasis or reflection
I would live to see a demagogue
Seeing a charismatic leader gain power
Finally get the keys to the United States
Observing a significant political event
Even though we had this coming
Acknowledging the inevitability of consequences
My old man's own notion of living free
Describing the singer's father's philosophy of freedom
Wore down his resistance
Overcoming resistance through time
If you were born here, son
Warning about the challenges of being born in a certain place
Before long you were strung out
The consequences of being born in a specific location
All strung out on the frontier distance
Being profoundly affected by the frontier distance
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