Lyrics
Believe It
It could happen to you,
A defect from the wasted outskirts of Los Angeles
With a crumpled-up pass for the RTD
And no authority or trajectory
On the brink of insanity.
You'd better believe it,
Because it's written all over your face
Just a neighborhood reject,
Out of step and out of place,
You'd better believe it.
Would you ever have thought
Persistence could prevail
Against the almost
Unbearable weight of the system?
With nothing better to do,
And no one else who you can look up to.
You'd better believe it
Because it's written all over your face
A political defect,
Out of step and out of place,
You'd better believe it.
And the future is bright
When ideas run astray
So turn out the light,
A punk can't have a say,
Sometimes desire is all that's there
Who said life was fair?
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Song Interpretations
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I'm not sure how the last four lines clash with the rest of the song. For one, it didn't say what could "happen to you" - it might have been a negative thing all along. The second verse is more akin to "who'd ever thought we'd be so lucky", but it also doesn't say whether it's gonna happen or not - it just says "you'd better believe it". Actually, to me this is about two things - 1. you don't know what's gonna happe…
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Actually, to me this is about two things - 1. you don't know what's gonna happen, so don't be so sure (whether you're overly positive or negative), and 2. going along with the "sometimes desire is all that's there" aspect - don't give up beforehand, you better believe it if you're gonna go for it. It's a double edged approach in my opinion (as this also breeds fundamentalism or questionable autosuggestive esoteric "YOU CAN DO IT!"-salesmen-types... I hope you get the picture), but if you break it down to "give it a shot, don't sell yourself short" it's actually in line with the rest of the album's themes (You've Got A Chance, Don't Sell Me Short, Let It Burn...).
It's a little unclear to me, but I think the message to these people is to expect that burden and believe that you can change it the way things are if you're persistent, have freedom of expression. But then the last four lines seem to suggest that effort to change things would be futile, but this might be BR's famous satire.