What does Pumped Up Kicks mean?

Foster the People: Pumped Up Kicks Meaning

Album cover for Pumped Up Kicks album cover

Song Released: 2010


Pumped Up Kicks Lyrics

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 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...

  1. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 4th 2011 !⃝

    I think it's about a kid that feels alone, his dad seems to ether be drunk or have some other proublem. The kid need to take his anger out, the anger is most likely has something to do with his dad but he could also have proublems at school. The kid takes his anger out on his dad then the other people that bother him

  2. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 4th 2011 !⃝

    this song is based on the westroads mall shooting in omaha nebraska in 2007. in the 1st verse it says roberts got a quick hand. Which is the same name of the guy that went on the killing spree, and then commited suicide before the cops had a chance to find and arrest him.(Robert A. Hawkins to be exact) yeah then it says he found a 6 shooter gun in his dads closet. The Robert A. Hawkins guy really did find a gun in his dads closet, except it was a rifle. and his dad had lots of oher guns in there tooo. The hook basicaly talks about how he's in the mall and how all the kids wearing or shopping for al the cool shoes better start running, because he's about to open fire. In the 2nd verse it says daddy works a long day, which means while his dad was working was when he went in the closet and got the gun.At the end of the 2nd verse he says your hair is on fire must've lost your wits is about how i mentioned earlier that he comited suicied after killing 9 people.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 27th 2011 !⃝

    Robert is mad and wants to kill kids who wear fancy clothes cause he is to poor to get vans.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 20th 2011 !⃝

    I was disturbed by this song when i listened to it more, it made me think of the columbine shooting with the two kids whom came into their own school and shot 12 students and 1 teacher. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 19th 2011 !⃝

    Ok... Heres the bottom line... I just lost half of my extended to a gun.... Funny thing is... This is the last song I sent jake(one of them that got it) and now I get it... The bottom line to the whole song is..... Put your guns away-lifes hard enough without them

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 17th 2011 !⃝

    I 100% believe this song is about the Von Maur shooting in Omaha.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 12th 2011 !⃝

    Pumped up kicks were name brand (a.k.a. expensive) shoes.

    The kids with the pumped up kicks are "popular kids"

    The song is not simply about murder.

    It's about a kid who gets bullied and is ready to kill the others.

    His dad neglects and abuses him also.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 7th 2011 !⃝

    What is wrong with Foster The People?! This song is scary to everyone. Ok, tell the public that a mentally insecure kid is on their way to them with a gun. Wonderful. If this is the new "generation" of songs, count me out. The worst part is that in homeroom in school on monday they play music for us and this was the song. For 7th grade! I am a very quiet, good kid who doesnt like to hear about the bad in the world. Why must it be brought up so much! The only things i ACTUALLY LIKE in the song are that it reminds me how lucky i am for having two loving parents who bend over backwards for me(if only everyone could say that), and the beat.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 6th 2011 !⃝

    This song is about all the kids in the ghettos that dont have Air Jordan's and all these kids that are being murderd because other people want these shoes. This song should be heard by the whole world...also this song really symbolisis what poverty is.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 5th 2011 !⃝

    People have been screwing with him and it's payback time..

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 2nd 2011 !⃝

    as you know the song pumped up kicks is based of the mass murder-suicide murder by Robert A. Hawkins, a 19 year old Psyco with major problems. Robert lived in belvue, 10 miles away from south omaha.

    a meaning that i spotted was line like : yeah found a six shooter gun: this is repersenting the six died that insantly.
    if you guys what to know somthing sad about this you should have read a part of his suicide note( not the nices language)
    -i just want to take a few peices of shit with me..... just think tho, i'm going to be fuckin famous.
    t
    thats just sad

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 29th 2011 !⃝

    It is about the columbine shootings.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 26th 2011 !⃝

    The song is about a kid that gets bullied and his life sux... So he gets his dads "six shooter" (which is a revolver) and goes to the school and shoots all of the cool kids (the bullies) wearing nice and expensive shoes ("pumped up kicks)

  14. Christian Puschell
    click a star to vote
    Oct 24th 2011 !⃝

    I believe this song is about a teenager named Robert who dropped his microwaved plate of spaghetti and got mad at his dad for warming it up too long. Afterwards he played Cooking Mama via 3DS and got even angrier when he messed up his spaghetti order and imagined himself shooting and killing whoever invented spaghetti and whoever designed Cooking Mama the video game. To get his mind off his problems he wanted to try smoking his dad's cigarettes he found but accidentally kicked the entire pack into a cowboy who then threw spaghetti at poor Robert's face. Robert now suffers from schizophrenic episodes of flying spaghetti monsters and is currently incarcerated at the Mayonnaise Clinic in Minnesota.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 24th 2011 !⃝

    As for the interpretation.....who cares!!!
    We all like the catchy tune....just sing along with the voilent theme .....because a rapper's got nothing to do with it... so its okay to promote the power of a gun!! You better run....I bet Iced T is sing this song right now.....God bless Stupid America!!!!




More Foster the People songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Happy? anonymous
Rock Show anonymous
Don't Go anonymous
Tek It anonymous
Don't Leave Me anonymous
Chop Suey anonymous
Taking Over Me anonymous
All The Good Girls Go To Hell anonymous
Wingriddenangel anonymous
I Spoke to The Devil in Miami anonymous
This Woman's Work anonymous
Action! Not Words anonymous
Everybody Loves Me, Baby anonymous
Fall in to Sleep anonymous
Lemon Boy anonymous

(We won't give out your email)