+ 41

nikeh 2009-08-01 10:32:40

For me its more like: we (our generation, I guess) dream about living fast 'n dyin young, s** drugs & rock'n'roll, about being seen as happy and succesfull, having money, marrying models coz they'are beautiful and not for love - we dream of it coz it looks so glamorous and careless. Everyone wants to be famous, rich, 'party like a rockstar'. But once you manage to do that you can only pretend it's great, becouse this doesn't make you happy. They do drugs and drink too much because they actually depressed, and even if they're never alone, they're terribly lonely. This song is quite pessimistic, but also makes you think: maybe having the office job, one true love and a happy family is not actually a failure, as one could imagine after watching mtv and reading about his idol's lifestyle. Plus, it's real - and not pretending.

a

+ 27

araanes 2010-02-25 10:37:47

This song is an emotional and narrative representation of the modern, prosperous, famous lifestyle. As musicians, mgmt either experience or watched an experience or are at least aware of the way today's famed rock stars live. Time to Pretend both glorifies and demeans this lifestyle. While the introverse connotates excitement and freedom and fantastic living, the song closes with a nostalgic, retrospective look at childhood. I love the way this song demonstrates confusion between which path in life to take. On one hand, there's the pretentious, desirable journey resulting in ultimate lonliness and early death, and on the other is the mundane, spirit-sucking routine of the commuting, 9-5 worker. This song personifies decision-making, and short-lived joy in young adulthood. Tragically, though, it also gives a sad look into future deaths of rockstars, even using examples of choking on vomit from past musicians such Jimi Hendrix, Bon Scott, and Kieth Moon. It is genius, anthemic, and inspiring in the way that it makes you want to life your life as fun and as best as possible. All this can be said before even going into the musicianship, which is incredible and mind-blowing. The way this music makes you feel is indescribable. It puts you on cloud nine and makes you feel like a god before you even realize what they're singing about. Forgive me for rambling. I'm simply a big fan of this song who likes to give credit where credit is due is good music. It's rare these days that I find songwriting of this quality. Anyway, absolutely love this song, and from this, I have become and overnight fan of mgmt.

t

+ 13

truckymacucky 2008-05-17 03:39:13

Guys. This song is about how nothing in this world lasts.
Not people, but obviously they've always died. Not fun. Not things we buy or marriages. But the problem is that we have to pretend like, "oh that's normal, that they divorced, or it's natural that i should spend 8-10 hours a day sitting in my office without any feeling of what I've achieved."
Life changes so fast, nothing in it lasts, and the song is of the anger that everything's temporary, we can't hold on to any feeling (even from drugs), and we're supposed to pretend that's normal and should be that way.

g

+ 5

glamqueen84 2008-04-04 12:43:00

This song is about choices. On one hand you can live free and be a free spirit with no attachments to things that are important in life. You can either live in the fast lane and party like a rockstar, but then sooner or later you will miss the normalcy of life. Or maybe they are saying all good things must come to an end and it's okay to pretend like things are okay. This song can have many meanings. : D

m

+ 4

MeB85 2009-10-25 01:12:11

I like this song, it seems to be very much like a satire on rock stardom or whatever, dosen't really matter though. Its just great music and for some reason there is a part of keyboards that make me feel like I'm in a video game and that is always a plus. Oh and I like how it has, to me anyways, this nostalgic feeling to it, which makes up all of my favevorit music, oh nostalgia how I live for thee and thy feeling of blissfulness you bring: p

U

+ 3

Unregistered 2012-08-22 05:20:02

Friends believing there is nothing for them in life but to live the illusory concept of zero responsibility, where they have absolute freedom, and have no purpose but live lavishly and decadently in their very own delusion of heaven on earth until they burn out and die young. They are abandoning reality completely and embracing fantasy, forsaking all cares, all rules, all restrictions and all morals and living a fairy tale.

U

+ 3

Unregistered 2012-07-25 05:25:30

I believe the meaning if this song, is that everyone has their own life they are supposed to live. And as most children, often play dress-up, or "mommy and daddy" or just play pretend, whatever you called it, and they'll miss they're life growing up, by they are moving on playing their own pretend, doing what they want to do, only in real life, to an extended andore dramatic level.

U

+ 3

Unregistered 2011-12-12 02:23:16

As we grow up we fall into chasing things that won't bring us happiness when we become famous. The lyrics talk about how much they'll miss the world they've grown up in because the only world they have to venture on in involves marrying for beauty, not love, doing drugs, and dying. In the end, if anyone wants to live a happy life, it has to be done through pretending, because reality often destroys us when we chase the things that we think will bring us happiness.

s

+ 3

savanuhh 2010-09-04 00:37:34

Actually it isn't really about trading your life for drugs. This song is about wanting to have fun and live life on the edge instead of following the same daily routine as everyone else and pretending that we are a part of society. I think it gives a more positive outlook on life and tells us not to waste our lives working, but to instead go out and have some fun, make our lives interesting, have s**, and experiment with drugs, which isn't always a bad thing ;)

m

+ 3

monito 2009-01-08 19:52:45

I don't think is about being a celebrity. In that case would be the way how a celebrity can feel and how we common people feel about our lives, the songs uses a lot of metaphors and analogies just to say how you feel about being young and living your life so fast because the world is a mess, and everything is so the same. And that there is nothing we could do. Ok its a little bit pesimistic, at least it's real, but it also represents the way of living of our generation. I would express myself like that being a young person., I love the part that says "This is our decision, to live fast and die young" maybe this is our decission when we have some excesses, we get drunk, we get stupid and do stuff we feel able to do because we think they are ok, or at least not wrong. Se then yes, we do pretend, to be alright, to feel alright, we pretend nothing happens. When sometimes everything is falling down around us. When I heard this song the first time. I thought it was an anthem for the ones who wants to scape, to stop thinking to much and just feel, express, sing and dance. And let everything go! Let go.

t

+ 3

TrentfromPunchy 2008-07-01 04:43:13

As Lingy89 alluded to in his initial post, before going off a ridiculous tangent concerning his most beloved keith richards, 'Time to Pretend' could be viewed as a 'tongue in cheek' description of the stereotypical pretentious lifestyle rock stars and celebrities tend to lead once famous. Stars such as Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix and even Elvis led the lives described by mgmt. It is almost their vision of the lives they could lead once famous, a dream. But they also believe, despite choosing this vision, they inevitably had they no other choice. They were "fated to Pretend". One of my mates the other day naively said it was a song about "overdosing". It is much more than that. "We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end" depicts the stereotypical demise of this pretentious behaviour and in fact the end of the lives of these rock stars. It is merely a facetious prediction of how their lives could become and ultimately end, choking on their own vomit. Whether or not mgmt will lead lives like this remains to be seen. Bring on the cocaine and heroin I say!

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-08-30 20:51:54

The song starts with a young individual, "at the prime" of their life. It speaks in the present tense, setting the stage of what "reality" is. The rest of the song represents this individuals vision of the "live fast and die young" lifestyle that must be lived out of default, as the other option is "get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute. " while the first few verses highlight exciting elements, the next few underline the negative aspects of the rockstar lifestyle and growing up, I. E, missing your family, friends and childhood. The song finishes with the artist choking on his vomit and that will be the end, perhaps suggesting a drug overdose, which is how many famous artists go. Overall, the song is quite depressing and continually reinforces the idea that such an outcome in life is unavoidable: "there's really nothing, nothing we can do. " the sentence is finished with "love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew" which suggests the perpetual cycle of birth, suffering, death. Awesome song!

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-05-09 02:20:21

I believe this song is about the phenomenon that occurs whenever humans have aquired so much success that they miss simplicity of childhood. Their lives are so comfortable, they turn completely to a lifestyle of hedonism. They have so much money, they blow it on drugs in order to feel the way they once did in their younger years. The world is literally at their finger tips. Working for nothing.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-05-05 17:31:32

A satirical look at making it big in the entertainment "industry"and a painful juxtaposition of the joy of creating art and the difficulty of leaving family, time to pretend asks us to consider how we measure success in america today. We are celebrity-obsessed, drama-driven, and strife-enjoying consumers of media. If we all really dream of being famous, then we are just as complicit in pretending within reality as celebrities are pretending they have any semblance of a normal life. Do you measure yourself by your accomplishments, your relationships, your notoriety, or some combination?

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-04-23 06:27:28

I believe it is about life as someone in the public domain. Famous people give up their privacy and always have to put on a facade and carry themselves as if they're always on camera, because it is not uncommon that they are. It also brings to mind the saying, "fake it 'til you make it". They've chosen the lifestyle and with it (in the author's mind) one must 'play the part' of a famous star. (perhaps).
The world is a stage and all the people merely players. - W. S.
Great song. Thanks!

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-04-21 22:08:47

This song is about how they are incapable of living any life other than a fast carefree life. However, it points out that even a life seeming as great as this requires them to sacrifice (e. G. : they must forget their mothers, forget their friends). Its almost like they are slaves to their drug filled carefree lifestyle (e. G. : they could never have office jobs with the standard "morning commute") whether they want to be or not, and living this way requires sacrficing many relationships.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-04-08 18:16:35

The new sand feels unfamiliar, feels coarse. A slimy moisture. With d essence of blood. Its the new me. A ressurection. Its a moment to be lived. Yeah there's not much I can do about what I have lost. N found. I know there were memories now forgotten. I know there was love now forgotten. A home now forgotten the way back. It seems so perfect now. So accomplished. So complete. They say perfection is a myth. But they might not be right. I believe that today is the right day. Everything that has be done.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-04-07 03:33:21

Is it just me or does a little mix of the two sound like a better alternative. I agree finding my soulmate, working a real job, and partying more moderately is the happier lifestyle but I don't party because I'm depressed. Maybe my issue is about the partying part. I don't mean to get all religious here but there's a difference between christian culture and jewish culture for example. Christians are all about sobriety (like no one has self control) and ice cream while jewish people enjoy wine responsibly. Christian culture promotes wanting to die to be happy while jewish culture looks to be happy here on earth. While doing so responsibly. Lol, I get the song. Don't get me wrong. I just don't like the idea, the push, that I should stop "living it up" (even if I'm responsible, even if I'm moderate) because that's what our christian parents accept. And I should just get down on my knees and tebow whenever I want to have fun, that I should laugh at sarah palin's jokes in a condescending tone. That I should hate life because I should want to die to live in some space world where I can't enjoy food, life, s**, anything physical. I'll stop. Lol.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-03-28 02:19:23

Sad day. I agree with the first comment, that though, yeah, it's fun for a while, the party-like-there's-no-tomorrow lifestyle sometimes (perhaps often) leads to just that: no tomorrow. I know very little about mgmt as a band, what they stand for, etc, but I'd call this a revealing look into the painful reality of a warped dream- rock, roll, s**, drink, end. "maybe having an office job, one true love and happy family is not actually a failure. " good on ya, nikeh!

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-03-15 16:54:54

I think this song is written from the perspective of a true rockstar feeling himself giving into the hollow expectations and pressures society has for him. He knows he is not an average 9-5 worker, and he has clearly already made the brave decision to not give into that and follow his dreams. However, now that he has made this decision he fears that it was a lifestyle choice, not just a career choice. As if this career path (which allows his gifts to shine) means choosing a superficial personal life, which will inevitably result in him dying a sad, pathetic death; just like many rockers have before him. This fact clearly makes him feel that him and his bandmate are imprisoned by their own gifts. As if, even as a rockstars they still have to live a life that is not true to their souls. He can already see himself sacrificing the smaller moments and comforts in life that really capture what it is all about, such as the ones a curious child experiences without any knowledge or care about the outside world and what that world thinks about them. As well as the joy that comes from committed family relationships that are based on true love rather than trying to find it in superficialities like marrying someone just for their looks and fame, driving fast cars and doing drugs. It seems he is giving in and has once again told himself he has no choice but fail. I personally wish he'd quit being such a downer and be brave again.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-03-15 04:14:58

I think the song is more about trying to stay out of the mainstream of society. I think people in mainstream society with office jobs pretend to enjoy their mundane lives of getting up every day to do the same old crap. At the same time, they pretend, or imagine themselves without a care in a world, doing something different and breaking out of the norm. Its not worth it to live long only to work all your life so that some fat cat can get rich off of your hard work. In essence, time to pretend is about wishing to live for themselves and follow their own dreams of being musicians, without having to answer to a boss.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-02-14 08:35:13

Well. When I first heard it in the movie "21" I had a feeling that, the song was more to do with the category of those people who are so brilliant that the stuff they can do in general, would make the "less brilliant" seem very ordinary. Therefore, the brilliant ones are "fated" to pretend because even if they act normally, general audience would seem to pick on them.
Yes, but now that I have heard the whole song. I think other meanings make a lot more sense.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2012-01-21 13:15:49

The two best comments nail it, i'll just add that this has nothing to do with this generation, it is for all generations of young adults who must choose between paths of adventure vs. The "boring" norm of the time (adapted to the details of the time of course) ; also, this feeling doesn't go away as one gets older and examplifies itself again in mid life crisis, retired people getting divorces and new partners, etc.

U

+ 2

Unregistered 2011-12-21 15:39:03

Time to pretend talks about the lives people choose, especially the famous. They made music. What does it mean? Drugs, wealth, beauty, travel. A whirling experience; a life that never slows down. But creative people aren't made to dance the nine to five shuffle. What other choice was there? Fate chose for them a fast life of drugs and neon lights to which this song is both a criticism and a tribute.

t

+ 2

Toffy91 2010-12-01 12:22:51

All good definitions of a great song. But it really is much more simple than that. It's about their dream of being rock stars. They wrote the song when they were in yr 12. So basically it's an in depth, inside joke, as look at what they've become now.
Oh and the song is thus titled due to a praying mantis they stumbled upon, that gave birth then died. Symbolic to a tee.

a

+ 2

awkardazn 2010-04-26 22:29:31

Okay the song is good along with every other mgmt song. Personally I like kids and 4th dimensional transition better but with all mgmt songs the best way to listen to their songs are to not think of meanings and try to figure out the meanings but instead to relax and absorb the music. Feel the music don't hear it. And when you do this mgmt songs will be so much better and trippy. Friends >_

t

+ 2

trashdmp 2010-02-23 19:00:59

Its seems clear from the title "Time to Pretend" and the major line of the Chorus "We were fated to pretend" that mgmt is condemning the lifestyle described in this songs as escapism. The intro verse glamorizes the idea of eschewing life in favor or only having fun in your prime. This is shown by the contrast of the later verses talking about leaving behind family and freedom and dieing vomiting. Although this appears to be the main theme of the song there is a secondary theme that sympathizes with the careless pleasure seeking lifestyle. In Time To Pretend mgmt is saying that they understand why this lifestyle is so appealing- the alternatives appear to be an office job, a commute and boredom - even so those who succumb to that lifestyle are "fated to pretend".

j

+ 2

jrock58 2010-01-18 03:18:16

I think the song is a wake up call to not stop doing the things that are fun (most of which are learned in childhood). Don't spend you 20's and 30's thinking you are grown up, have to gain the 6 figure salary, 50k sports car, model wife, act mature and stop doing the simple fun stuff. True success is obtaining your material goals, but also continuing to "dig up worms"

p

+ 2

Pedro02 2009-12-01 11:34:54

Funky, strange and melodic. The lyrics seem to flow from an acid trip or the thoughts thereafter. Not short changing the emotion or power behind them, just an observation. I found myself grooving, but more than that I found myself jealous of times gone by: youth and carelessness, and that wondrous and painful probing that lsd takes you through. In the end, however, one either comes out of that or they end up a Keith Richards or Ozzy. Life can be enjoyed without the chems. Otherwise it is a mindtrip where you ignore your own selfishness while pointing it out in everyone else.

m

+ 2

MGMTistheTimeToPretend 2009-11-29 01:46:25

I love this song. I really like how they based the song's lyrics on something that everyone can relate to, which would be imagining being a rockstar. I think that's what it's all about. You can take any profession you want, but at the end of the day everyone's the same, and no one is greater then their peers.
Oh, and I also love how in the video, all the animal's start killing/attacking each other right around "I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms", until the end of the song.
Congratulations only 4 short months away! :)

k

+ 2

kthune 2009-10-30 00:38:06

Nikeh- I like what you had to say and totally agree with almost all. But maybe, they aren't saying the office job etc is the way to go either. I think to me they are showing two opposite sides of the spectrum, but both can be filled with complacency and lying to yourself. Instead I think they say, don't think, its either this or that, but maybe use our imaginations to dream of the things we could do instead. Maybe that's not explicit in the song, but that's what I get from that little section. But right on with everything else. Just wanted to take it a step further:-)

j

+ 2

JGil 2009-09-20 11:55:46

 "We wrote [Time to Pretend] our senior year of college, and the music was inspired by a praying mantis we had in our house. She laid eggs and it died, and we laid the egg case on this kinda model pirate ship on the mantle piece, and the eggs hatched and all these baby praying mantises were climbing up the rigging of the ship, and it was pretty crazy...uhm so the music was inspired by our praying mantis that liked to dance to the Clash {laugh} and the lyrics are just about us imagining being rock stars...and yea fantasy rock star life. "

d

+ 2

dmessano 2009-09-08 18:14:03

Its perfect. Best lyrics I ever heard. So many people live the pretend life, always living to impress others and in the end it dosn't matter. You were just always "fated to pretend." People are always looking to change-get a new "model wife." Then they realize it is no better than before! Nobody really ever cared, except maybe your own family, and those you forgot. Btw, this song was perfect for the movie: "21."

s

+ 2

stoneycharacter 2009-05-08 14:48:51

This song is about them growing up and living a perfect life. They get jobs in offices and marry a beautiful woman and have kids. But then regret what has happened to them. They regret ever even growing up and having to put up with all of it. They miss being kids and teens and partying and not having a care in the world. So they divorce there wifes and leave everything behind and just live life. Do drugs have fun and one day choke on there vomit and die. Live fast and die young.

b

+ 2

bdbilyctl 2009-01-20 15:59:12

I think this song means that we all can just pretend about doing these things without actually doing them. It's not saying go out and drugs and have s**. I think it's just sayin have fun with your imagination. What's ife if you don't live it? No fun, no purpose. I believe that's why it's called "Time to Pretend", not telling you to actually get out there and do it. I love this song, I love this band. They are amazing. This is just what I think of them, you think whatever you want but don't judge my opinion, please and thank you :)

r

+ 2

rebekatomic 2009-01-20 09:06:59

It's a satire.
It's mocking the supposed tendencies of our generation.
It's taking the ideal "good life" and poking fun at how widely accepted we are of it.
That's not real life. It's not reality. But "reality" television would tell us otherwise, right, The Hills?
It's saying, "Hey guys, let's go fuck ourselves up and do absolutely nothing of purpose, and then die young so we won't have to live with the consequences."
And you're supposed to go, "Haha, that's funny, but oh my God I know people who actually think they can follow those standards."

l

+ 2

lijevo 2009-01-17 01:54:37

I think this song is about all of us, generation between 20 and 30. Don't you ever wish to live a similar life? Fast, strong, intense. Short. Don't you ever want to go away from home, get addicted to everything you meet along your way, take all you can without guilt-feelings. And sure, you'll miss everything you left behind you, your innocence and adolescence, your love and your room, but you have made a choice. And then you find the time is passed in the meantime, life has already run its course, and you're not so cool as you thought. You have only spent your life pretending. I think there's no need to be a rockstar to do this way.

p

+ 2

ParanoidAndrewoid 2009-01-11 21:18:19

The song is perhaps bleak but I don't think it's Nihilistic and definitely not hedonistic. Case in point, the last line: "We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end. We were fated to pretend."
He's saying that excess and hedonism will catch up to you. Same goes with the lines about models having babies, then divorcing them to marry new models. I think they meant the lyrics to be as over-the-top and absurd as possible. I take it to mean you shouldn't be reckless and rampant like some rockstars but conversely, you shouldn't just sell-out to a boring 9-5 job because you're afraid to pursue your dreams either.

m

+ 2

MusicalPunker 2008-12-31 00:09:04

I think this song is about how a celebrity lives and how they feel during the time spent as a celebrity. I think that the song means exactly what it says. Their lives are overwhelming but they'd rather be doing what they're doing than be stuck behind a desk all day. I think that when the song says they're 'fated to pretend', they mean that they live their lives like it's just a game, pretend. They don't care about what happens to them or what might happen to them.
I think this song is actually kind of funny because it says 'i'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone' and you know he's talking about being a celebrity and how there's never a dull moment or any privacy and you can never just go to the store without anyone coming up to you. It actually makes me glad I'm not going to get into the music business: p

g

+ 2

goatstone 2008-12-29 20:59:41

This is great art, it can be read in different ways depending on the audience, I love the lyric 'i'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms/i'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world/. ' to me, these things are so beautiful, I could never leave them, they are what gives my life meaning. So, the song becomes ironic to me, why would you leave these things if you would miss them? That's it, there is no rational arguement against if love is abandoned, life will always start up anew, there is only this feeling, this love, and this is the curse of the nihilist, the abandonment of love. Of course, it works, why not? Go ahead, choke on your vomit, i'll keep an eye out and learn from your experimental life, and i'll love the weight of the world.

m

+ 2

mickmack 2008-12-27 01:26:48

This song describes 2 ways of life. Neither look very attractive as they progress towards stony cold meanings and lifeless endings. This is the monism/duality philosophy at work, it creates a perfect paradox. For only when humans see limitations will they strive to change this by creating new meanings. When we create new meanings (which happens inside ourselves), a new outer world is born for us to enjoy. So this song is all about looking outside in the physical world to remind us to look inside in the inner (spiritual world) to remember that we don't in fact have any limitations.

j

+ 2

Jubyjus808 2008-12-11 04:41:10

The childhood life is a important memory to cherish. It shows the passion and joy of being young. You could do anything you wanted, even if your ways became corrupt with drugs, s**, and violence. But when your growing up you tend to lose the drive you once had: to succeed, to be famous, and the best. When your older, you get to look back on your youth and how amazing it was. Mixed with emotions, you will be happy to remember the good times you once had. Although you will be happy, its sad to know that you will never get to relive the times you had. "Chee Hee, Lee"

j

+ 2

Jubyjus808 2008-12-10 10:09:17

The childhood life is a important memory to cherish. It shows the passion and joy of being young. You could do anything you wanted, even if your ways became corrupt with drugs, s**, and violence. But when your growing up you tend to lose the drive you once had: to succeed, to be famous, and the best. When your older, you get to look back on your youth and how amazing it was. "Chee Hee, Lee"

c

+ 2

crazyguy27 2008-10-31 16:15:36

It's cool in someway's that talented people can use drugs to open doorways inside themselves. That's acceptable in society it's been going on since the 60's. So what I'm trying to say is we can have a certain % of drug users singing songs and making music but we need a majority of the people to wake up for the mornings Commute to earn money to buy their album lol.

b

+ 2

blondeno21 2008-09-28 21:08:30

The video and the subject matter remind me alot of taking acid when I was in my early 20s. Such a farce, this life. We aren't here, it seems, to live, but to die to ourselves; departing from our dreams with each morning wake-up call. We resent being told we're "fated" to do anything--we'd like to think we make our own choices. This song illustrates that plight of common adulthood, while making the point that it doesn't need to happen that way.

b

+ 2

Bioniclyrics 2008-09-24 03:43:40

This song satirizes some very famous rock stars' lives. (Jim Morrison died & buried in Paris, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis to name a few).
This view of "life in the fast lane" is very cliche and this is the point. Mgmt demonstrates how living such a life is so common for stars that it's become almost mundane, definitely empty and seen as a life wasted by people with such talent and potential.

+ 2

lossiter 2008-09-09 19:53:13

Its like someone slipped Arcade Fire a mickey finn, but they were able to play through the effects of the drink, emerging as something completely different. Not sure bout the rest of their stuff, but this songs got somethin going for it definitely. Good find. Heard on radio station I normally don't listen to b/c of the amount of today's "groaner rock" (i. E. All songs sound the same using distortion-chord-change reverby-chorus-whining, like hinder (at least their newer stuff)) they affront on one's listening experience. But I'm not bitter.

a

+ 2

anon 2008-09-04 18:58:05

This song is about transcendence, about leaving behind all of the things that you associate with this world. Thinking and doing something completely new from what you know, that isn't laid out with all the answers of how it works. I think the whole pretend thing is just a way of saying expeirencing the things that don't make any sense to logic. That they have to forget the love they had, because that's the only way to make room for something new. You can't fight the things that are going to happen, because everything runs it's course anyways.

c

+ 2

chel1 2008-09-01 22:59:35

Fuckin great song. Hit the nail on the head. Something we can all relate to. We all want to live life and do most with life but when were young don't know the consequences and even if we did, chances are we would do it anyway. I'm feeling rough I'm feeling raw I'm in the prime of my life. Seems to me there is no better time to do drugs init.

a

+ 2

aardbeienvlaai 2008-08-21 21:34:29

I think this song is about, losing ourselves in our strive to live the life we're made to believe is perfect. We all know we'll get caught in this game, called growing up, sometime because it's the way we're supposed to end up. It's sad to do because with furfilling this purpose we'll lose our early principals and needs and way of life. You win something, you lose something, but we're all destend to believe this is the way it's supposed to go. With reaching this point we'll follow those gone before us, simply because we are destend and used to.
We'll pretend in such a way pretending becomes living. We'll live several lifes because one life, in it's own fake existance, can easily be started anew. We'll build up a new life when the other one is trough. Simply because we're able and expected to.

j

+ 2

jayharmony23 2008-07-25 19:51:16

This is a really dope song, but people can argue about the meaning all day. The truth is real music I meant to make you think and analyze the meaning or if there is any meaning at all. It all depends on how you are as an individual and how you interpret the lyrics and rythm/flow. Now I'm a hip hop lover all the way but I can still appreciate this kind of music. Rock is still pretty cool for me. And I totally agree with the guy down there. This song is all about escaping from all the petty problems of the world and just having fun with the simple things in life.
Regardless, dope song =D

b

+ 2

benpalmer661 2008-06-25 04:29:16

No sorry lingy but your wrong again wrong lingy! They don't talk to me at all, instead they admire from a distance. So lingy who thinks hes got it sussed, who just wrote about a steriotypical view of the guy who sits on the computer. I don't think you use the half of your brain that we do use. Unlike they guy in mgmt who is straight A student and probly could be a ceo not unlike keith richards who couldn't be either a ceo or a good singer song writer and I don't see you with any good music out or alot of money otherwise I wouldnt be typing write now all you have is just some typing done on a site that I just came to look a some lyrics on so not to be hypocritical I will not be posting anymore comments here and instead will be putting my talent towards something better so you can read about me in the paper in a few years. So selamat berpisah which is in Indonesian for good bye.

b

+ 2

benpalmer661 2008-06-23 09:41:19

Lingy 89 is a fag they wont stop when they have money because then money becomes nothing for instince when your full food is nothing sleeping isn't good unless your tired and putting a jumper on in the 40 degree weather why, and kieth richards no ones ever said listen to this by keith richards, I think its always time to pretend for you pal, time to pretend that you where mgmt or sucking off kieth richards.

l

+ 2

lingy89 2008-06-18 12:43:45

They think they've got it sussed. They just wrote about steriotypical view of the fame game. They don't wanna be in the place their in cos the place theyre in is all pretend. The writers got half a brain doesn't mean he's a die hard smack head lovin every minute of bein in the public eye. These days people write songs cos they know they'll get rich. You think keith richards wouldve put his guitar down for a ceo job at a major corp. No fuckin way, that old cunts still goin even tho he's got everythin and could drop dead any minute. Say goodbye to mgmt once they get their first paycheck. These days to its creators, music's money. Nothin else. (keith richards is the biggest champ alive I don't mean he's a cunt).

p

+ 2

purplehaze 2008-06-16 09:13:14

It means once they make theyre music and become famous then theyll make money, find models for wives, move to paris, do drugs, f*k with famous people, buy some elegant cars, have some children with they're model wives, then divorce them and find some new model wives. They will miss the slow life and childhood innocence, but they've chosen to live in the fast lane and destroy theyre bodies. In the end they will choke on they're vomit (like elvis) and they will die. Well, that's my meaning for it anyway, maybe someone elses? Maybe theres people out there going "WTF?!!! thats not what the song's about!!!" then again there might also be people going "NAH DUH!" whatever.

p

+ 2

pohutukawa 2008-06-14 04:38:36

I guess what we end up doing depends in if we want the "choke on our vomits to be the end". It is a song that goes straight to our feelings I must say, cause I also miss my mum specially cause they tend to die at some point and I also miss many friends, but there is not much "I" can do, everything must run its course, sometimes it is a choice to forget love and "to pretend" cause if not we choke on our own emotions. I must say its a clever song, and life "can" always start up new, so I agree its time to pretend!. But I will never forget love. I'll always appreciate it and keep on loving, cause I don't want to end choked up in my own vomit.

s

+ 2

SMOKEY 2008-06-05 20:11:41

Live fast and die young, because when you're dead, you wont even be around to realize it, for your existence will be one of the spiritual realm where there is no pain of dealing with the day to day struggle of carrying around the weight that modern society hangs on our fragile souls that were not designed to live in A world so full of sin and angish. The true of heart and mind desire the garden of eden where earth was perfect before sin banged into the world like the tip of A needle into the virgin's vein who was seeking for the peace that the garden once offered, but was destroyed by man's own desire to be god.

a

+ 2

allyfo 2008-05-27 16:05:45

Peoples perception to the lyrics will always be different because certain lyrics in the song may mean different things to different people or to remind people of events or memories - so really if you disagree with how other people interpret these lyrics they are not 'idiots' etc but just understanding it their own way, but to me this song is all about choosing a life style and about how in the end we will always wish we'd chosen something else or wish we still had what we used to have: perhaps our childhood where for most people its easy and the worst thing you could imagine was being shouted at by your parents, as the song sort of refers to being a child with the lines 'digging up worms' etc which is defiantly a thing I remember doing when I was younger. Or even about how everything in this 'life' of ours really means nothing as the song writer takes such a low view on doing drugs as if no one really should care because its not a sin.
And finally the lines 'fated to pretend' sort of express the thoughts that we always imagine what ours lives would be like it they had taken another path and that you would live a very different life.
:) so basically that's how I see this song and I don't know if anyone will agree but I think that my interpretation of this song makes alot of sense!

d

+ 2

davkerr 2008-05-27 12:52:31

The video adds another dimension to the lyrics in this case. Besides the 60's acid flashback moments, there is a classic surfing the Azzure moment. Could there be some Mayan end of world (or passing into a new realm) scenario in the lyrics?. Is the song about entering into this ethereal realm and letting go of the body or physical realm. The singer is then saying all the day to day things one might miss just being an ethereal being after we pass through into this new dimension.

m

+ 2

musiclover81 2008-05-25 05:18:46

Trucky. You are awesome. You summed it up just like that. I was in virgin music store when I heard this song over the loud speakers. I walked out with the melody in my head but never asked who the artist was. It took me almost 2 months to hear the song again in Target on one of their projector screens. I was elated to find out their name and the name of the song. I honestly just liked the beat, I don't care too much for the drug stuff but when you think of it in the way you put it, it makes me just love and appreciate this song that much more. Gold star!

l

+ 2

LeCoqMelodique 2008-05-23 04:52:18

Though I can see the multilevel analysis from slinky87, this being pop music, I very much believe that this lyric is much more about the desperate nature of living life with fear of never achieving the dreams and ambitions that we so desperately harbor in our youth and the ultimate sacrifices we accept to take, being in pursuing said dreams or in taking on life in it's bluntest, and sometimes dullest, edge.
So basically this is about dreaming and fearing the journey that pursuing that dream entails.

m

+ 2

mitch219 2008-05-11 16:49:40

You are all so silly, rchaseio thanks for giving some sense to the song because you are the only one who has reading comprehension. I think this song is about drugs and the path that they lead to. Some say it is the wrong path but in a fake deceitful world who can really say what is right or wrong, what does a full time job really lead to? Sure you lose plenty from drugs, you house, your family, your parents, they change who you are but so does everything else. "This is our decision, to live fast and die young. We've got the vision, now let's have some fun." refers to how they know their life will end because to them they will get the most fulfillment out of a life of fun then a life of work. Everyone dies so who can say they are wrong?

m

+ 2

MortyMortyMorty 2008-04-27 14:49:02

The song is about dreaming of a rockstar lifestyle. The first two verses before the chorus basically talk about what they want their lives to be like, and then the whole "fated to pretend" part is saying that it's just a dream, or a wish, and they spend their time having to pretend that's what life is like. Then the second two verses are again talking about the rockstar lifestyle. That's how I see it.

r

+ 2

rchaseio 2008-04-12 16:00:07

Read the lyrics, they are in future tense. The song is simple (and brilliant): two guys who are starting up a band write a song about starting up a band. They write about what would happen if their fates are pre-determined by the choice to start a band. References to Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and others lend poignancy.
Ironically, mgmt are becoming stars and this is actually now happening to them. Funny and sad, and ultimately life-affirming. My favorite song of the year by far.

U

+ 1

Unregistered 2012-02-13 03:55:15

Its a sad comentary on the helplesness that many folks feel. Unable to achive any change in this world that desperately needs to change- for the sake of humanity -for the sake of all natural life. So we are taught, placated to attempt superficiality, to pretend everthing is fine, focus on capitalism, excess, on anything but the true nature of things. And why not. Its a big job to shift conciousness and there seem to be a strong force opposing any opportinity for true growth or attempts for transformations. The interconnectedness of which runs deep. Truely overwhelming.

p

+ 1

poopintheturd777 2009-01-08 03:16:27

No this song is definatly about being a music icon or "celebrity". When they sing about getting a 9-5 job its them saying hey it either this or we are gonna have to work behind a desk. When he speaks of stuff he will miss its kinda him talking about the freedoms and non-responsibilitys he had before becoming a celebrity. That is pretty clear in the last line of that verse when he says "i'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone" because as a celebrity it seems you get none of that (I'm not a celeb and really wouldnt know but I'm just guessing)
When he sings of getting divorced from the models and finding another its pointing out how with fame you lose the ability to find true love almost. And then finally the death of a rockstar. To me the title "time to pretend" kinda means that as a celeb or rockstar you just gotta pretend that you have lived a incredible life when in reality you just haven't. You have the girls money and the drugs but are you really happy, like you were when you were a kid and didn't have a worry in the world.
Sure many others have said what I have just said but had to explain to the person below me right quick.

j

+ 1

jacattack666 2008-12-30 21:22:33

I don't think that this song manages to transmit any firm or definate message, and so is rather flawed (though it's an excellent piece of music). I have considered a few possible interpretations, but, as I'm not in the head of either Ben Goldwasser or Andrew Vanwyngarden, it would be presumtious to claim any proper conclusion, and, as such, this theory can only serve as hopeful speculation.
I think that this song is about how one should chose the preferable lifestyle of living fast and with excitement, rather than being tied down to working a monotonous desk job. This preferable life is besmurched by the tag of "pretend" by those who would have us believe in things like "soul" and "greater meaning". The song's title "Time to Pretend" is an ironic joke, reflecting on the pretentiousness of these "spiritualists", and their uninvited intrusion into the lives of others.
In the verse where the protaganist pines for his previous life, it is showed as being just that: previous. How could he possibly go back to "digging up worms" as an adult? He cannot revert to this life, irrespective of his current occupation. If he did not lead a fast and exciting life, he still wouldn't be able to return to his old home and self, so he might as well have fun. This would suggest that the meaning of the song is nihilistic, and also therefore hedonistic.
These subtle clues left for us in the song show that a short, hedonistic lifestyle is preferable to a monotonous and dull existence.

s

+ 1

sylissjuno 2008-12-27 13:34:44

This song is about the realizing the meaningless of life and the facade of drugs. As a kid you have big dreams of what you wanna be. When you get there the reality of the doldrums of life is depressing. The life of pretend is the life of an addict. They turn to drugs for glamor, excitement and escape. Escape from the reality of the American life. The American life will always disappoint a person approaching adulthood. There is no American Dream left for us regular folk. The only frontier is the life of drugs s** and rock n' roll. Which is also a soulless, self-destructive and painfully blind journey. While drugs can create the illusion of better lives and other aspects of reality, at the same time it immobilizes one to the point of slavery. This is the artists emphasis- drugs and disillusioned coming of age, regret for the fast-paced path and a yearning for a simpler past. I can connect with this song. The reality of this world is the ultimate hell and I only wish society could revert to a more simpler and wholistic living. The only peace sometimes I can find is the shifting of my own outlook through "various methods" of escape.

b

0

bladiblah 2009-01-07 01:21:50

I don't think it's about celebrities at all actually. In fact, I think really it's talking about letting go. Either you do what you want or you conform to society - "Yeah, it's overwhelming but was else can we do: Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute." It's the cliche of the 9 to 5 work day.
Then when they say. "The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run it's course. " It means that no matter how much we try to be different we are exactly the same as everyone else. Either were fated to pretend by doing the socially acceptable or we pretend to enjoy to be an outcast. No one is truly happy.

f

0

Fergusen 2008-12-03 02:52:00

This is a pretty sad song.
It says that the most fulfilling part of our lives is in childhood, before any potentials are fulfilled, but when everything still seems possible. As we grow up, our ideals become corrupted, and to fulfill those ideals by living them out would in fact be a disaster.
At best, our actual lives will fall far short of the dreams we had as children. The most fulfilling thing we can experience as adults is to allow a new generation to feel the joy we had when we were young, when we dreamt that anything was possible. To break this cycle is a tragedy.

i

- 2

ilovemysissy 2010-04-16 13:34:55

I have to say, I think this song is incredibly infectious, I love the music and Andrew's vocals are quirky and expressive, which gives a huge oomph to the 'feel good' vibes you get from the song. My interpretation about the meaning of the song is based on the idea of a generation of people in society today who are willing to sacrifice a long healthy life in order to experiment with drugs, alcohol, and anything else that is bad for them.

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