Not For You


Restless soul, enjoy your youth
Like Muhammad, hits the truth
Can't escape from the common rule
If you hate something, don't you do it too...

Small my table, sits just two
Got so crowded, I can't make room
Oh, where did they come from? Stormed my room!
And you dare say it belongs to you...to you...

This is not for you
This is not for you
This is not for you...

...Scream...my friends...don't call me...
...Friends, no they don't scream...
...My friends don't call...my friends don't...

All that's sacred, comes from youth
Dedication, naive and true
With no power, nothing to do
I still remember, why don't you...don't you...

This is not for you
This is not for you
This is not for you
Oh, never was for you...fuck you...
This is not for you...



The stuff below is taken from my 'tour of vitalogy' thread. I'm not going to have much to add here that I didn't say in there about what the song means. Some stuff I can add that didn't really fit in there

I love the music--one of my favorite riffs they've ever come up with. It's so deceptively ominious--almost lazy, but sort of lazy like the growling of a half asleep tiger. You don't want to be around when it wakes up. Ed's vocals are great--they've got the unhinged quality of most of vitalogy without sacrificing the beauty and melody that drops out on songs like lukin or habit

This is always great live, and especially given the insane crowd responses they've gotten before this needs to be played more often. I would have loved to have been in the garden and hear everyone belt out "restless soul..."

Three things keep the song from 5 star territory for me though. I still can't really figure out the 'like Muhammad' lyric, and other than the excellent third verse this is really not that special lyrically. I am NOT a fan of the bridge lyrics at all. I get the sentiment behind it but think the writing is lazy. And finally I think the outro goes on a little bit too long. It lets too much tension disapate and I would have liked a stronger transition into not for you

Anyway, here is what I had previously written about Not For You, if you missed it the first time and care enough to read

The slow burn of Not For You’s riff puts the listener in mind of a powder keg about to go off—the deceptive calm and the mild crackling right before the big explosion. There is an undercurrent of barely contained rage running through the entire song, released during the chorus but quickly bottled back up during the verses, and ultimately fizzling out during the outro. There is a temporary relief found in catharsis, but there is not resolution. But resolution is not necessarily what the song searches for either. The reference to the myth of Sisyphus in the linter notes(a greek myth about a guy who is punished in Hades by having to roll a rock up a hill only to have it fall back down when it reaches the top) is telling here. He is almost certainly referring to the Albert Camus essay that interprets it. Camus argues in it that the only proper orientation to the absurdity of life is to revolt against it. Even if the revolt can never be successful, it is the act of revolting, of rejecting absurdity, that gives life meaning. And Not For You is directed in part against the people who forgot that, who abandon their youthful ideals once they become difficult—once the payoff is not immediately forthcoming.

Not For You continues with the sacredness of music theme begun in STBC, in particular what it means to the young—the way in which music helps us realize that regardless of how big and impersonal the world may get, there are others who have experienced what we’ve experienced, and we find solidarity in the music we share. In particular music is supposed to be the voice of optimism and hope, representing a purer vision of a world with more justice than the one we live in.

This, at the very least, is the importance with which Eddie has invested music, and is why the ‘corruption’ of music, the commodification of art and artist, is so damning. Rather than a source of authenticity and transcendence, it becomes something to be exploited—to put songs about rebellion and change into the service of selling products, to turn music away from solidarity and towards trends and fads. Music moves away from life and towards, if not death, then a type of marketed unlife. It rejects the position of revolt and moves towards an empty acceptance.

This plays itself out throughout the verses. The warning to youth not to lose the restless energy and optimism that is the hallmark of what is best in the young. The plea to the old to not forget where they came from and what they left behind. Sandwiched in between are the shots at fame (the chanting in the bridge, the ‘small my table’ lyrics). Much of that is obviously reflecting the personal claustrophobia Eddie was feeling at this time, the burden of being an icon, the ‘voice of a generation.’ But this should not be understood solely as an anti-fame rant. What is at the root of it is the way in which the position he has is unearned, a fabrication of the media and the culture industry. Eddie is a symbol, not a human being, and the deeper solidarity he envisions calls for a more intimate relationship than this—knowledge of one another as human beings, not as things. *

And so not for you is an accusation—a shot targeted directly at the people who not only forgot what music once meant to them, but forget what it meant to have hope not only in some kind of transcendence, but some kind of immediate transformation of this world. It accuses them of surrender, acceptance, and in many cases collaboration. Not only have they forgotten this feeling, they now actively work to undermine the possibilities of realizing it. They pervert the shared vocabulary of revolution, change, and meaning. And this is who the music is not for. It is not for the people who look to music for style, rather than substance. It is not for people who look to music for money, rather than meaning. It is not for people who accept the world the way it is, rather than working to change it. If you are one of those people then this is not for you.


*as a footnote of sorts, Eddie may just be wrong on this. Any kind of movement, even one as abstractly formulated as the one he is striving for, requires its symbols, and he clearly had a similar symbolic relationship with his musical heroes (see Pry, To). Reacting to people cheering you as a marker of what is currently popular is one thing, but it is never clear on Vitalogy whether or not Eddie is willing to assume the mantle of leadership for the people willing to look deeper. This is something he makes his peace with on the later records, but not here.

All that's sacred, comes from youth
Dedication, naive and true

That was the quote I used in my high school year book. I know, it's pretty lame.

They need to pair this with Lukin more!

The 'My friends..' bridge is one of my favourites in all of PJ's music, the way it builds and then leads to some Mike goodness is definitely the number one element of this song for me. I usually don't froth over a meandering outro but I don't mind it on the album, especially because it slows the pace down for Tremor Christ.

3 stars.

Top 5 PJ song for me. 5 STARS.

5!! Very personal and epic at the same time.

Ironically,

This was a so-so song for me since Vitalogy came out. I would have given it two-three stars. But after seeing it live for the first time at Hartford, woo wee they ripped through it. IT was wickedly awesome. 4 stars

I dunno much about the intricacies of pj's songs, but I'm 99% sure that Stone plays the lead in this.

I have mixed feelings about the song. Studio does nothing for me but I do like the music live and the "my friends" bridge is fun. Good song but not great. One of those that depends how "on" the guys are that day.
In person the first few notes remind me of Light Years and more than once I thought the one was being played when it was the other.
***

Yes!!!

i love the bridge in this song
yes they do, its a hell of a punch live

this is probably their best live song

4 stars overall

5 Stars. This is one of their defining songs to me.

I agree with the people that said Lukin->Not For You combo should be played more.

I've done before too. I think it hurts Light Years more than anything.

I really like the "My Friends" line...I think "my friends don't scream" really sums up the whole attitude and problems Ed had on this record. good stuff

love the raw guitar on this one
kickass song

great song, glad i heard it live in 06 but slightly disappointed as Eddie was in too good a mood and not angry enough for an awesome version as in 1995 (from the bootlegs)

I love this song, 5 stars.

Has been pretty much just a set filler since 1998, it's sounded like a shell of its former self ever since.

Ed used to growl these lyrics out, now he just warbles his way meekly through it - it sounds horrific.

I gave it a 4 star earlier thinking of it as overall PJ catalog...but now I think it's a 5 star song b/c it's an wesome standout song from Vitalogy. Probably third best off that album.

4.4 stars...round down to 4. Awesome song...love the lead-in with drums & soft/subtle guitar riff.

Sorry "Not For You," but a rating higher than "Even Flow" is not for you.

easily one of their very best songs. Studio version will never be matched.