Young Offender Lyrics
Call you delinquent or leave you ignored
You'll get what you want
Watch your reaction, wait 'til you say
You'll get what you want
It hurts if you can't
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, why the pretense?
You don't agree, I know, I know
I'll put down my book and start falling in love
Or isn't that done?
I've been a teenager since before you were born
And I'm younger than some
I've only begun
You're younger than me, obviously
Who will give whom the bigger surprise?
Watch how your fingers thumb over the keys
So sure what you do
I haven't a clue
You're younger than me, obviously
Young offender, how you resent
The lovers you need, it hurts when they bleed
Young offender, why the pretense?
You don't agree, I know, I know
Definitley about an older individual loving someone much younger.
I absolutely love it! "How graceful your movements, how bitter your scorn I've been a teenager since before you were born" -Best lines of the whole song. =]
To me, this is the deepest song that PSB ever produced. I can relate to this song as I am now a middle aged man who doesn't feel older than 20, but I no longer turn young men's heads.
It's about a middle aged or older gay man in a bar or restaurant watching a handsome young man as he plays a video game (listen to the background noises to hear the video games being played).
The older man carries on a conversation in his head with the younger man. He says the young man doesn't need money or depth to get what he "wants", whereas if the older man "wants" something, he would likely have to pay for it. In his mind's eye he's telling the young man that he imagines the young man can have any man he wants and yet he treats them with contempt and discards them when he's done. He speaks about the young man's "attitude" - his superior attitude because he's young and handsome. He remembers when he so foolishly did the same.
He remembers what it was like to be young and be able to turn men down. He thinks that even though the young man has contempt for him or doesn't even know he exists, he would "do what you want if you want me enough". The older man would like to have a young man just so much as notice him now. He knows he could easily "put down my book and start falling in love" but acknowledges that young people today sleep around a lot more than he did because he says "or isn't that done?".
He says, "I've been a teenager since before you were born" meaning he is at the very least 13 years older than the young man in question and probably older, but he reminds the young man that he's "younger than some", meaning he isn't as old as a lot of other men and he is defending himself, as he doesn't feel as old as he is.
He yearns to not just "get in your way" but to "open [the boy's] eyes" to him, even though the boy doesn't notice him. He thinks the boy would be pleasantly surprised.
Alas, he acknowledges that this conversation is all in his head, as the young man continues to play the video games and the man doesn't even know how to play them.
The chorus reminds us that this is a conversation in the man's head and that he knows that this young man (and all young men) seem to look right through him and are completely unaware of his existence.
It's a very sad song, all in all. Of course it's a very sad state of affairs just getting older if you're gay.