Good and Bad



Good and Bad is the second song in the album I Was So Unpopular In School and Now They're Giving Me This Beautiful Bicycle, which is in turn the band's first album. It was written and composed by Lars Lindquist.

Lyrics
Lyrics according to the official website.


 * They said I nearly lost my mother today. They said something 'bout a heart attack. The charity organisation she started - she's gonna quit it now, it almost took her life you know. So I asked her what to do instead she told me. 'The casino business is the future my cute son. I'll make a fortune and I bought some stocks for you as well. Plenty of stocks for all of my children.'


 * I am a good mother. Yes I am a good mother.
 * I am a good mother. Yes I am a good mother.


 * I heard that Jimmy and Joanne just separated. Despite the baby, the poor little baby. 'I didn't leave one single day too soon' she told me. 'He took me for granted so I could not stay, I could not stay.' They day you count on me no matter what I leave you' I said to him but he just laughed at me, he laughed at me and answered: 'You don't have the guts Baby, you don't have the guts Baby. Besides what do you think our neighbours would say?'


 * You are a bad mother. Yes you are a bad mother.
 * You are a bad mother. Yes you are a bad mother.


 * 'What are you waiting for? I know you like children. It's time for you to spread our genes now my cute son. Don't you want to celebrate Christmas with us no more? Our special family the one and only Lindquists.'


 * We are a good family. Yes we are a good family.
 * We are a good family. Yes we are a good family.


 * Normalization is a ticking bomb inside of me. The University. I started drinking. I learned some swearwords and I learned to use them. And I stopped thinking that things can be both black and white.


 * I am good person now that I am normalized.
 * I am a good person I can tell wrong from right.
 * I am good person now that I am normalized.
 * I am a good person I can tell black from white.
 * I am good person now that I am normalized.
 * I am a good person I can tell good from bad.
 * Now that I am normalized.

Alternative Lyrics
Lars sings the song in a pretty much standard way, only if ommitting one or two pronouns. The only thing the official lyrics do not get right is the fact that "he laughed at me" is not repeated in "he laughed at me, he laughed at me and answered".

Meaning
The song deals with normalization and moral judgement, as the moral standards of a society may prevail over individual principles. This is the case of the main character, whose mother wants him to take part in family life. She displays features of normalization and understanding of moral habits, as she does what is necessary to provide for her children as a means to establish herself as a good mother. She, then, sees her the way others do; she incorporates society's views on her attitudes as hers. The main character, on the other hand, is still in the beginning of this process, mainly carried out through his college life.

On the other hand, the song also talks about defiance and standing by one's principles, as the characer Joanne leaves Jimmy even though she knows she is going to be labeled as a "bad mother".

The World of Pablo
This appears to be the very beginning of the story of The World of Pablo, as it is implied that Pablo (the main character) does not want to "celebrate Christmas" with "the one and only Lindquists" anymore. This ignites an argument which leads Pablo out of his mother's city and into the city, scenario for most of the story throughout the six first albums.

It should be noted, however, that the feeble presence of Pablo's mother as a character in the story arc together with the fact that the song is not needed to understand the story of the first album in a satisfying way makes up for the theory that the mother depicted is not, in fact, Pablo's mother, and only Lars Lindquist's mother (or not even that), and that this song shouldn't be accounted as part of The World of Pablo.

Cross-references
The song Do You Remember also mentions Pablo's mother.

Media
Click here to download the song from Billie the Vision's official website.

Click here for chords to the song.