The Hopeless Housewife

Song details

Bad Religion original
Yes
First released
2000
First release
The New America (album)
Songwriter
Greg Graffin

Lyrics

The Hopeless Housewife

Oh me oh my... Get out of your 1950's fantasy, Your face shines with misery transparently. Spew out that sobering Half-assed victim rhetoric, Make 'em all squirm While they chew on it. It's a secret handshake And a passing wink of the eye As the witches bridge club weekly Meets to pen the tail on the sly. But they never ask: "Why, oh why, Don't we raise our voices to the sky?" Instead you're mute and fawn, Just waiting to die, Like some kind of hopeless housewife. But you can change while you're alive And let 'em all know At least you tried To kill the demons inside. Oh me oh my... Damn your transcendental paralysis, We can work together And make sense of this. Don't be so sure you can chuck it all away, You've got to proceed No matter how bad you want to stay. It's a natural cause And a comfort zone There in your head. And the world turns away As you tap the snooze button in bed, But nobody can hear a word you said. Your history was never read. Instead you're mute and fawn, Just waiting to die, Like some kind of hopeless housewife. But you can change while you're alive And let 'em all know At least you tried To kill the demons inside.

Versions & recordings

Grouped by recording

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Song statistics

Archive coverage at a glance

47release versions
#122

122nd most featured song

42documented shows
#125

125th most played song

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Song Interpretations

What do you think this song is about? Share your interpretation and explain your reasoning.

5

OscarDigitalDudeMar 5, 2012
"Spew out that sobering half-ass victim rhetoric" is probably the most memorable line in this song to me. It's telling you not to wait for things to happen, you have to make them happen. The victim role is just an excuse not to persevere.
legacy memberOct 6, 2004 · edited Date unknown

My take on "The Hopeless Housewife" is that it correlates with the rest of 'The New America' album. The theme to this album seems to be about a social and political reform, leading to a better and new america. Graffin uses the 1950's housewife to paint a picture of modern day americans. "Nothing shaines through misery transparently" Graffin says to say that on the outside, the 1950's housewives were all smiling and h…

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My take on "The Hopeless Housewife" is that it correlates with the rest of 'The New America' album. The theme to this album seems to be about a social and political reform, leading to a better and new america. Graffin uses the 1950's housewife to paint a picture of modern day americans. "Nothing shaines through misery transparently" Graffin says to say that on the outside, the 1950's housewives were all smiling and happy where in reality they were deeply depressed. Yet, they chose to do little about it for quite sometime. We are facing similar problems today with our adminitrations that anyone whio pays attention can tell. Graffin says are just mute and fawn and waiting to die, but we can change while we're alive. We have the power as american voters to take back our nation to the way our founders set it up. The entire albums speaks of the same issues and is very optomismic in saying that there will abe a way and that we do have a chance, but it's a long way to the promise land. Late.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

Femenists are commonly looked down upon as radicals and man-haters and a variety of other terrible titles. However, they stand for issues that many women actually support or cry out for in their minds, and that is what BR is trying to relate. Every woman who has found herself huddled behind her husband, donning yellow dish-washing gloves, stifles her own views to some extent and BR is desperately trying to coax their…

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Femenists are commonly looked down upon as radicals and man-haters and a variety of other terrible titles. However, they stand for issues that many women actually support or cry out for in their minds, and that is what BR is trying to relate. Every woman who has found herself huddled behind her husband, donning yellow dish-washing gloves, stifles her own views to some extent and BR is desperately trying to coax their secret hopes and beliefs into the open. "But you can change while you're alive!" he calls to all the women who are repressed under the weight of peer pressure and the old cult of domesticity that has never faded from American culture. Like the title of the album suggests, he is calling for a new America, and it is time, I believe he is saying, for the voiceless women who live in "1950's fantasies" to erupt and even support feminists (God forbid).
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

This song is about standing up and defending your opinions, no matter how you think people will react to them. It is important to change things that you feel are unjust, and even if you don't succeed, at least you'll have tried and the decent people will respect your efforts. But if you do nothing, you might as well just sit down and wait to die because you're not helping the cause. Also, you should never abandon a g…

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This song is about standing up and defending your opinions, no matter how you think people will react to them. It is important to change things that you feel are unjust, and even if you don't succeed, at least you'll have tried and the decent people will respect your efforts. But if you do nothing, you might as well just sit down and wait to die because you're not helping the cause. Also, you should never abandon a goal because the fear that you might lose something along the way. 'You've got to proceed no matter how bad you want to stay.' No one should be silenced because someone tells them they're wrong, that is something I'm sure many of us have had to deal with.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown
Not necessarily about the empowerment of women, but about the need for a person to stand up for how the feel and make a lasting difference to the world- your history was never read, instead your mute and fawn, just waiting to die... clearly a message to change the world as much as you can- a reoccurring theme in Bad Religion songs.