Know-it-all
LapTop Lyrics

Listen up to your mother, brother, sister
Pay attention to the people in your life who care about you

Listen up to your father
Respect your father and the wisdom he has gained from his life experiences

Listen up to the Lord
Follow the teachings of your faith and be receptive to the guidance of a higher power

They apparently know
People in authority or who claim to have all the answers are often seen as infallible

Every single answer,
The belief that anyone can know everything is flawed

Every fact and figure
Knowing facts and figures does not equate to experiencing life or being a good person

In the whole damn world
There is an overwhelming amount of information in the world, and it is impossible for anyone to know it all

But there's something
Despite being told to listen to authority figures, there is a feeling that they may not always have the best advice

Different today
This feeling is becoming more pronounced and harder to ignore

You just want to say
You want to express your own opinions and ideas without being talked down to or dismissed

Hey, don't look down on me
Do not treat me as inferior or not as knowledgeable as you are

I'm not a big baby
I am capable of understanding complex ideas and forming my own opinions

I'm not your mirror anymore
I am not simply a reflection of your own beliefs and values

With your philosophies
Do not force your own beliefs and perspectives onto me

Hey, save your dogma
Do not try to impose strict rules or principles on me

I've had enough
I am tired of being talked down to or dismissed because of my own thoughts and opinions

Do you know it all? Don't you
A rhetorical question that challenges the idea that anyone can know everything

Is your life only what you read today
Questioning the belief that life experiences can be gained solely from reading

In The New York Times?
Referencing a well-known newspaper to challenge the idea that mainstream media is the only source of knowledge

Is what you read in your magazines?
Challenging the idea that magazines hold all the answers to life's questions

Is what you read in your books?
Expressing the idea that knowledge gained from books is not a substitute for lived experience

Whatever happened to good
Questioning how society has changed to the point where lived experience no longer holds value

Old-fashioned experience?
The experience of living life and learning from it, rather than simply reading about it, is what truly matters

Whatever happened to living?
Challenging the idea that people today are simply existing rather than truly experiencing life

Whatever happened to you?
Wondering how someone could become so disconnected from the value of lived experience

That you need to condescend
Expressing disappointment that authority figures feel the need to talk down to those who have not had the exact same experiences as them

No longer my good friend
Expressing a disconnection from someone who is unable to show respect for others' perspectives

No, you don't
Asserting that no one person can know everything, and challenging the belief that they do