The Replacements Songs - Bastards of Young Lyrics

The Replacements - Bastards of Young

The Replacements - Bastards of Young Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Tim
Released: 1985

Bastards of Young Lyrics

God, what a mess, on the ladder of success
Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled
It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten

We are the sons of no one, Bastards of Young
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young
The daughters and the sons

Clean your baby womb, trash that baby boom
Elvis in the ground, there'll ain't no beer tonight
Income tax deduction, what a hell of a function
It beats pickin' cotton and waitin' to be forgotten

We are the sons of no one, bastards of young
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young
The daughters and the sons

Unwillingness to claim us, ya got no word (war?) to name us

The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please
If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them

We are the sons of no one, bastards of young
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young
The daughters and the sons

Young...take it, it's yours...

Writer/s: WESTERBERG, PAUL
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Bastards of Young

Fitting with the rebellious nature of The Replacements, this song is about a lost generation. The references to "Elvis" and the "Baby Boom" imply their parents, who see them as nothing more than tax deductions. "Bastard" is a derogatory term for a child born out of wedlock.

Some have speculated that the chorus is actually, "We are the sons of Norway" (somewhat fitting, given the Minnesota birthplace of all members) but, (famously) as no lyric sheet was ever provided by the band, it remains speculation.

The video is a black-and-white, single shot of a stereo system playing the song. He see a guy enter the frame, lie on the couch and smoke a cigarette, but we never see his face. At the end of the clip, he kicks over a speaker and leaves.