What does Flagpole Sitta mean?

Harvey Danger: Flagpole Sitta Meaning

Album cover for Flagpole Sitta album cover

Flagpole Sitta Lyrics

I had visions, I was in them,
I was looking into the mirror
To see a little bit clearer
The rottenness and evil in me

Fingertips have memories,
Mine can't forget the curves of your body
And when I feel a bit naughty
I run it up the...

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  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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     Jul 9th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about Joseph Heller's novel, Catch 22. Not all of it is obvious but there are tons of references to the book. Some of the more obvious references are: "you told them all I was crazy" which actually refers to a lot of things in the book, "they cut off my legs, now I'm an amputee" I believe refers to a scene where a boy (Kid Sampson) is cut in half by a helicopter, the chorus is basically the whole point of the book "I'm not sick but I'm not well" is the Catch 22--the rule that states that the main character (Yossarian) has to be crazy to want to fly the kinds of missions he has to fly but that the only way he can be sent home is if he asks to be sent home but as soon as he asks to be sent home he's no longer considered crazy and he has to keep flying, "I wanna publish zines" refers to a character in the book who's constantly taking pictures of women and telling them he works for Life magazine (which he did before the war), "paranoia paranoia everybody's coming to get me" refers to yossarian's increasing paranoia throughout the book and the thought that everyone is trying to kill him (which is actually not far from the truth) and the last stanza is basically an example of a regular catch 22 "if you're bored then you're boring". I could take this argument further but I think this is enough, read the book, it's amazing.

  2. zanx
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     Mar 1st 2021 !⃝

    I interpreted this song as fitting into society, particularly as a homosexual person where people don’t accept you.

    [I had visions, I was in them
    I was looking into the mirror
    To see a little bit clearer
    The rottenness and evil in me]

    First there is realising you are “rotten” and “evil” looking in a mirror, because that’s what you’ve been told by society.

    [Fingertips have memories
    Mine can't forget the curves of your body
    And when I feel a bit naughty
    I run it up the flagpole and see
    Who salutes, but no one ever does]

    This is about impotence (“and see who salutes, but no one ever does”) with a woman (the ‘flagpole’ being an innuendo).

    [I'm not sick but I'm not well
    And I'm so hot 'cause I'm in hell]

    The singer doesn’t feel sick but he is told he isn’t well by society because he doesn’t conform. He’s ‘hot’ and ‘in hell’ which relates to a Christian belief that sodomites burn in hell.

    [Been around the world and found
    That only stupid people are breeding
    The cretins cloning and feeding
    And I don't even own a TV]

    He goes around the world and realises it’s not much better in other societies. “The cretins are cloning” relates to people who don’t think for themselves and just copy other people, and they keep ‘feeding’ which relates to ultra-consumerism which perpetuates the problems.

    [Put me in the hospital for nerves
    And then they had to commit me
    You told them all I was crazy
    They cut off my legs
    Now I'm an amputee, goddamn you]

    He is put in a mental hospital, possibly by the woman he had intercourse with after she found out he likes men. They ‘cut off his legs’ meaning they stopped him from running away and took his freedom.

    [I'm not sick but I'm not well
    And I'm so hot 'cause I'm in hell
    I'm not sick but I'm not well
    And it's a sin to live so well]

    “It’s a sin to live so well” means he loves his life as a gay man and being himself but he’s told it’s a sin by society.

    [I wanna publish 'zines
    And rage against machines
    I wanna pierce my tongue
    It doesn't hurt, it feels fine
    The trivial sublime
    I'd like to turn off time
    And kill my mind
    You kill my mind
    Mind]

    This is him lamenting on what his life could be if he was free. This is the rebellious part of the song where he wants to be a punk rocker. “Kill my mind” refers to taking drugs, which quickly makes him paranoid...

    [Paranoia, paranoia
    Everybody's comin' to get me
    Just say you never met me
    I'm runnin' underground with the moles
    Diggin' holes]

    He becomes paranoid because of society suppressing him. “Runnin’ underground with the moles” relates to him becoming part of an underground scene with other people outcasted by society.

    [Hear the voices in my head
    I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring
    But if you're bored then you're boring
    The agony and the irony
    They're killing me, whoa]

    Now that he is conforming to society he feels boring, and notices the irony that now that now he is released from the hospital he’s living like everyone else to fit in after being so rebellious. He is both bored and a boring person now. He describes it as being in agony. Though he’s still part of the underground punk scene, on the surface he acts like everyone else. Which is calls ironic because that is the very thing he hates.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
     Aug 8th 2018 !⃝

    Flag pole sitta means Flag pole sitter: a fad from the 1920 where people would set up chairs and sit on flag poles. See a picture of this http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/1920s_flag_pole_sitting_article

  4. anonymous
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     Dec 18th 2017 !⃝

    This song is about Conformity and when you don't conform your labeled as defiente or sick. We turn human feeling and behavior into labels and conditions. Between sexual urges and thoughts to thoughts of paranoia, neroticisim .. we get committed or trapped by conformist and social standard. Those of us who don't are rebels or deviants
    He's having visions looking into the mirror (self reflecting) on the rotten and evilness in him. Which is ...He's thinking normal feelings and having normal urges.. He's not sick but he's not well (according to social standard) others told him he was crazy. Its social standard and conformity that makes and labels people as crazy and when you can't meet those standards you rebel .. piercing your tongue doesn't hurt it feels fine.
    The agony and the irony is that what people say is normal isn't and what is normal is labeled as sick. He prefers to live the normal (society standard aick and deviant life) but he doesn't regret it. It a a sin to live so well.
    Pure nonconformist

  5. anonymous
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     Aug 19th 2014 !⃝

    I think this is about sitting on flag poles. Like gay men.

  6. anonymous
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     Apr 23rd 2007 !⃝

    I think this is about wanking. I mean seriously 'Finger tips have memories I can't forget the curves of your body, and when I feel a bit naughty, I run them up the flagpole to see who salutes but no one ever does...". This song is obviously about a single guy who is remembering his ex and indulging in self love.


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