Lyrics
True North
<div>Unrepentant vagabond</div>
<div>Plot the new coordinates and cast the map aside</div>
<div>Now I gotta ramble on</div>
<div>Navigate the pitfalls and cross the great divide</div>
<div>The mapmaker's legend gave direction and a key</div>
<div>He set the declination but what good is it to me?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I can't see the rationality</div>
<div>The world's not my responsibility</div>
<div>And happiness isn't there for me</div>
<div>But maybe I'll inch closer to the source</div>
<div>When I find true north</div>
<div>(with or without a friend. Keep searching 'til the end.)</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Tempting fate and cheating death</div>
<div>No one ever told me it was going to be like this</div>
<div>Contemplate the randomness</div>
<div>When the mind is willing it gets downright perilous</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Overburdened, underwhelmed, their ethical decree</div>
<div>That's your moral compass but what good is it to me?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I can't see the rationality</div>
<div>The world's not my responsibility</div>
<div>And happiness isn't there for me</div>
<div>But maybe I'll inch closer to the source</div>
<div>When I find true north</div>
<div>(with or without a friend. Keep searching 'til the end).</div>
<div>When I find true north.</div>
Versions & recordings
Grouped by recording
First released on True North · 2013
Song Interpretations
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According to an interview with Brett Gurewitz in Rolling Stone: "I think is a longing to be accepted by his eldest son. The song is about a young punk seeking his own truth, but that young punk is somebody". A bit of internet research shows a lot of message board postings by Graffin's son on sites about squatting. In his posts, he talks asks for places to squat and people to hop trains with him, et. There are also…
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With this knowledge, the song makes perfect sense. The song is from the perspective of the son, the "unrepentant vagabond" and Greg Graffin is the "mapmaker" the song is being sung too. The younger Graffin is rebelling against the moral compass set by his father and living a wild life, "tempting fate and cheating death", eventually the author of the song hopes he finds True North.
[small]Edited by kirkvanhouten[/small]
Greg already stated the song was about a kid who ran away, but even that description to me is metaphorical, as its hardly about a runaway living on the streets - it's more about distancing oneself from moral expectations and finding your own values and code (or, to use that word again for once, creed). You can pretty much divide the sections as follows: The verses are about the struggle to arrange yourself with the…
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You can pretty much divide the sections as follows: The verses are about the struggle to arrange yourself with the world and come to terms with yourself, most likely after having faced problems ("no one ever told me it was gonna be like this"). The pre-chorus is about the non-absolute nature of ethics and morals ("you've got your moral compass but what good is it to me?" - great line, by the way).
I'm still not sure what the "the world's not my responsibility" line is getting at (it could mean a number of things - from a dig at hyper-moralistic people to a sarcastic dig at nihilism, but both seem unlikely given the rest of the lyrics), but as a whole, the chorus to me seems to be about the personal need to find one's - well, not one's "place", or one's "something to believe in", but one's "true north" on the moral compass. It won't make you completely happy, but happier.
This analysis contains way too many "moral"s.