Not every punk song has heavy guitar and a thumping drum. Not every punk song actively denounces some cause. Sometimes punk is subtle. Sometimes we protest the world in the quieter parts of our hearts. Anthems and marches are powerful. I understand completely the desire to shout “screw you” (I don’t swear) to the rest of the world. But we can protest in our daily life.

For me, that’s what “Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash a fantastic song. You have to listen to it and pay attention to the lyrics to totally get it. The sound won’t tip you off to what’s going on. The song is airy; quiet compared to the rest of their songs. It seems to harken back to hits from the 60s. Remarkably simply in it composition, but when you take the lyrics into account, everything makes sense.

“Lost in the Supermarket” is about life. The ordinary, suburban life that is so familiar to many people. The daily life: you see a ton of commercials, make a list of everything you need, and go to the store to buy it. I don’t know how many times I have gotten a coupon and it becomes the reason I need that thing, the reason I go to the store. In the song, the narrator is desperate for something exciting. Mundane and monotonous, all while searching for some fulfillment.

“I came in here for that special offer

A guaranteed personality”

Most of the song details everyday life for this man. He explains how he was born into suburbia, largely unnoticed and ordinary. The people around him constantly fight, perhaps influencing how he grew up. The screaming was “his first ever feeling,” which seems to explain his searching. The people in his youth were not satisfied.

“I heard the people who lived on the ceiling

Scream and fight most scarily

Hearing that noise was my first ever feeling

That’s how it’s been all around me”

The song also details the interconnected man, collecting “coupons from packets of tea.” He listens to records, tossing back some alcohol and trying to feel better about himself. The repeated part of the song shows him searching for a personality. For me, this shows how modern life has dulled many people. They are so inundated with television and pop culture, that they do not know what (or how) to think. It is difficult to have solid opinions when we are bombarded by new ones on a daily basis.

The punk attitude lives in the undercurrent of this song. It shows how we can be so dulled by daily life, that we should realize what’s happening. While this man lives a life that many people do, we are not meant to replicate this. The Clash call out this behavior and want people to be better. Perhaps I am interpreting this as more altruistic than it really is, but I firmly believe that there is merit to “carpe diem.” There is a time and place for monotony. But not for mundaneness.

Songs like this point out our complacency. And that is something kinder than most songs.

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