Foster the People: Pumped Up Kicks Meaning
Song Released: 2010
Pumped Up Kicks Lyrics
He'll look around the room
He won't tell you his plan
He's got a rolled cigarette
Hanging out of his mouth he's a cowboy kid
Yeah found a six-shooter gun
In his dad's closet hidden in a box of fun things, I don't...
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1TOP RATED
mss Jun 7th 2011, 14:41 report
Robert is an allusion to a mass murderer, but doesn’t refer to any specific Robert. The name is a metaphor for any kid about to explode with anger.
His dad is neglectful and probably violent and abusive (comes home late, frozen dinner, gun left at hand). Mom is not mentioned and probably gone – or dead.
Robert has disassociated himself from his peers and society in general. He’s the lone cowboy whistling as he rides along. As he tokes his “rolled cigarette” he notices the head of the joint is all fired up – just like his own mind. He realizes he has lost his reason.
The kids with the pumped up kicks are those whose lives are all together. He is extremely envious of them and has directed his anger toward his dad upon them.
They better run cause he’s got a gun.
The tone of the song juxtaposed against the dark lyrics mirrors what often occurs in this type of individual. Everything on the outside is fine, but within something is about to erupt. -
2TOP RATED
anonymous May 27th 2011, 19:19 report
"The song is about an outcast youth who doesn't wear the right clothes, doesn't say the right things and just doesn't fit in," Foster says. "It's really about the mental process of him going crazy. So it's a dark song with a really breezy melody."
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136643883/foster-the-people-an-outsider-anthem-a-viral-hit -
3TOP RATED
anonymous May 15th 2011, 12:01 report
To me, this is a song about a kid contemplating killing people because he's miserable (his dad's typical dinner is beer on ice). He knows his dad has a gun in the closet and he sees himself gunning down the people who piss him off (the rich kids, the bullies, his dad). He's a lonely kid and being alone he's the only one who knows of what he's about to do. Very chilling, but I bet this is how the killing sprees in our nation start: inside the dreamy head of a lonely kid (or kids). Sad.
Amazing song, though! It's catchy, sticks in your head. :D -
anonymous Mar 21st 2011, 01:08 report
This one is easy. Robert likes cowboys, cowboys are cool figures. Pumped up kicks are pump nike shoes all the cool kids use to wear back in the early 90's and robert is out to shoot them hince the line better run, out run my gun. "Daddy works a long day" means he works all the time. "He be coming home late and he's bringing a suprise" means he's probaly coming home drunk."dinner is packed on ice" frozen food or t.v. dinners. as for the last few lines I think he might be thinking about killing his father. peace out bitches
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anonymous Mar 21st 2011, 01:14 report
I think Robert in this song is Robert A. Hawkins the westroads mall shooter.
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anonymous Apr 4th 2011, 21:17 report
Pumped up kicks are a symbol of Veblen's 'conspicuous consumption'. The lust for consumer goods, status and wealth are a result of early traumas, where our youthful dreams were shattered by the grinding industrial machine.
The armed Socialist rebellion can be seen in Foster the People's fanmade video of "indie kids" as a rebirth of the hippie aesthetic, now self-armed and self-organizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLK7hrRijes
(accessed on Apr 4/11)
Run Run Run
The hippies have become yuppies, according to Prof. Heath in The Rebel Sell. And now those gen-xers and Indigo Children
(MJK's Puscifer)are being "radicalize" with violent media, reproducing the infectious Ki with their own disambiguating propaganda.
Vive la Revolucion
Concordia University,
Montreal, QC -
anonymous Apr 10th 2011, 22:04 report
The shooter, Robert, depressed and fired from his job a McDonalds in Nebraska, heads to to the mall with a gun and kills nine people and himself. How dark darkness can be when you feel worthless. Sad thing is, he never knew how valuable he was and the positive contribution he could have made. Great tune with a sobering mesaage from a suicidally depressed boy.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Apr 26th 2011, 06:59 report
I think it's neither about Robert Hawkins or Robert Steinhaüse. I think that the song is based on shootings that happen in general. The lyrics are moving considering it has quite a cheerful tune, which is weird for a song. The Robert Hawkins case, to me, is unlikely because he suffered depression since the age of six and was constantly in mental hospitals and getting help for his depression. Also the lyrics explain how he is sick of other KIDS, yet Hawkins didn't have very many problems with other kids, and the people he killed were employees from the age 24 and above. Yes, it might have taken place in a shopping mall where he could have seen other kids buying things that he didn't have, but he didn't shoot them. With Robert Steinhaüse case he aimed for the teachers, which has nothing to do with the fact that he was poorer than other kids. The students at the school said that when he came into the classroom he ignored them and only aimed for the teachers, so if he was jelous of other kids why would he kill the teacher? They both ended up committing suicide in the end and the song doesn't mention any suicides. anyway, that's my opinion. if you disagree, that's fine. :)
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anonymous May 12th 2011, 19:42 report
I believe this song is about Robert Hawkins and how he killed Nine people in the Mall, then killing himself.
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anonymous May 13th 2011, 17:20 report
I beleive that It could be about Robert yes, and just because its a cheerfull tune it was trying to be a little more eery or crazy sounding... (Like incideous when they played Tiptoe through the tulips by Tiny tim) it was just a weird scary feeling. I think that it could be about him because in the end he could be committing suicide just how the song jus ENDS. Ya know.. Well lame explanation but thats my thoughts.
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anonymous May 15th 2011, 03:24 report
Robert's got a quick hand...
Robert's acting impulsively and not stopping to reflect on the morality of his actions as a normal person would...
He'll look around the room, he won't tell you his plan.
Robert has planned out what he's about to do...
He's got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth...
he's a cowboy kid...
He's a loner
Yeah he found a six shooter gun...
Six shooter is more reference to the cowboy kid.
In his dads closet hidden in a box of fun things...
He found the gun in the closet with the other "fun" things, so Robert is going to have fun with what he does with the gun
and I don't even know what...
Robert also has other "fun" things besides the gun that he found in the closet, maybe bombs, or other weapons of killing.
But he's coming for you, yeah he's coming for you...
Here the band wants the audience to relate to being the kids with the pumped up kicks and not to being Robert... (I know some of you sickos are relating to Robert and you should get help immediately...lol) -
anonymous May 15th 2011, 03:33 report
He's got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth...
I almost forgot to mention this line. This is clear from the later verse when he talks to the cigarette. He doesn't have any human beings in his life that he's close enough to talk to. The cigarette hanging out his mouth is his friend, with its hair on fire. It's obvious Robert is the one who has "lost his wits"... -
anonymous May 15th 2011, 03:44 report
He's got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth...
One final thing I forgot to mention. The "rolled" is very important. It's not just an ordinary cigarette, it's one that is rolled, meaning Robert actually created his "friend".
I'll talk about the other versus later, if I remember to. I gotta go... Later... -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous May 19th 2011, 22:25 report
I think the cheeriness of the song is a clue. I don't think Robert was planning to kill anyone, instead I think he's a kid who was playing cowboy, found his dads loaded gun thought it was a toy and went out to go play with the other kids. I think this is about parental neglect more than a depressed teen going on a killing spree. Otherwise the reference to being a cowboy doesnt really fit.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Jun 9th 2011, 15:38 report
The song is not about any historical shooting incident. It's a fictional account of a neglected latchkey kid who turns on his peers and parents.
The cowboy fantasy is a result of him being raised by television instead of his parents. He has no foundation at home to fall back on. His world is imaginary and isolated. -
anonymous Jun 9th 2011, 19:13 report
first off nike never made pumps they were reebok. And i actually remember when walking down the streets of bmore with some sneakers on meant you might have to outrun(or return) a bullet to keep them. Nice melodious song though
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anonymous Jun 14th 2011, 08:24 report
I think it's about Robert Hawkins. He took his father 6 shooter gun, which makes him feel like a "cowboy" having that freedom to do whatever he wanted. The line "I don't even know why? But hes comming for you, ya hes coming for you." I feel has to do with his mother not knowing why he would do such a thing, yet he's able to go after anyone. Then he goes to the mall where all the kids that where pumped up kicks ("Cool Kids")and when everyone starts running after hearing the gun shots it's kind of pointless because if he wants he'll get you anyways "you better run better run faster than my bullet." When he talks about his father comming home from work drunk with dinner "packed in ice" meaning tv dinners, Something thats the same all the time. Maybe in some way he blames his father for what happened to him. Than he talks about reasoning with his cigarette thats something only a crazy person would do. Robert had many psychological disorders by the time of the shooting. "And say your hair's on fire, you must of lost your wit, yeah" He ended up shooting himself in the head after he killed 8 other people, so it's more of a foreshadowing of what's to come of him.
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anonymous Jun 17th 2011, 11:26 report
"Robert's got a quick hand
He'll look around the room
He won't tell you his plan
He's got a rolled cigarette hanging out his mouth"
--This plays out like a movie. This is what is currently happening. He's walking into the room, he has a "quick hand", he's getting ready to shoot people with a "cigarette" hanging out of his mouth. We'll get back to the "cigarette" in a moment.
[Flash back in Robert's minds eye]
He's a cowboy kid
Yeah, he found a six-shooter gun
In his dad's closet hidden in a box of fun things [He's home alone with nothing better to do but go through his father's stuff. Probably a social outcast at school and abused at home]
And I don't even know what [drug paraphernalia?]
But he's coming for you, yeah, he's coming for you
___________________________________________
Daddy works a long day [It appears as his dad's days are long, but he probably gets off work and heads right to the bar, which would make a long day.]
He be coming home late, yeah, he's coming home late [again... from the bar]
And he's bringing me a surprise [A beating? Physical abuse?]
Because dinner's in the kitchen and it's packed in ice [More alcohol-- beer, liquor, etc.?]
I've waited for a long time [this has been building up over a long time and has finally reached a boiling point]
Yeah, the slight of my hand is now a quick pull trigger [he's practicing his quick draw while he waits?]
I reason with my cigarette [Back to the "cigarette". I believe that this is a joint that he found in his father's box with the gun. The "I don't know what..." stuff. Now he's high and trying to reason with the joint, justifying to himself what he is about to do]
And say your hair's on fire [The end of the lit joint burning]
You must have lost your wits, yeah [He's high. He's personified a joint, he MUST have lost his wits]
CHORUS:
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks [I don't think "pumped up kicks" refers specifically to a particular kind of shoe, but popular shoe or even popular clothing warn by popular kids...]
You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet
[I think here he is lacing it with sarcasm saying, 'you better hope your shoes are fast enough to outrun the bullets in my gun']
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