Interpretations:Prepare

Instant Nostalgia

We live in a society right now of "instant" everything, from oatmeal to being able to check a photo right after you take it. You hear terms casually bandied about like "instant classic" that imply all future opinions should be 100% in agreement that this was a bona fide work of genius. Perhaps the narrator of this song is looking at this phenomenon tongue-in-cheek: "Remember a second ago / Recall if you can how it used to be ... It's hard to believe we were so naive". Of course, if it was just a single second ago, it's preposterous to think things would be that different (barring a nuclear explosion or something catastrophic in nature). The line "Comb your hair and compose yourself" is an amusing reference to the selfie culture. :-) --MisterMe (talk) 08:01, 13 October 2015 (EDT)

Pace of change

When I heard this the first time I was embarrassed for JL because I thought he was rehashing Older. Now I don't. Instead it seems the point of this one is that the pace of change in our lifetime has become so accelerated that you must be prepared to thoroughly throw away & remake your assumptions from one moment to the next. The emphasis appears to be more on cultural than technological changes because of the words ideas and customs. The social cost of failing to be ready for such shifts is hinted at by the use of the word naïve - you certainly don't want to be seen as a Neanderthal, lost in the dark ages of old attitudes now rendered moot. --Nehushtan (talk) 00:31, 26 August 2019 (EDT)