The Modern Age
The Strokes Lyrics


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Up on a hill, here's where we begin
This little story, a long time ago
Stop to pretend, stop pretendin'
It seems this game is simply never-endin'

Oh, in the sun, sun, havin' fun, it's in my blood
I just can't help it, don't want you here right now, let me go
Oh, let me a-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-go

Leaving just in time, stay there for a while
Rolling in the ocean, tryna catch her eye
Work hard and say it's easy, do it just to please me
Tomorrow will be different, so I'll pretend I'm leaving

I feel so different now, we trained at A-V-A
I wish you hadn't stayed, my vision's clearer now but I'm unafraid
Flying overseas, no time to feel the breeze
I took too many varieties

Oh, in the sun, sun, havin' fun, it's in my blood
I just can't help it, don't want you here right now, let me go
Woo, darlin' let me a-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-go

Leaving just in time, stay there for a while
Rolling in the ocean, tryna catch her eye




Work hard and say it's easy, do it just to please me
Tomorrow will be different, so this is why I'm leaving

Overall Meaning

The Strokes's The Modern Age starts with the singer reminiscing about the beginning of a long story while standing on a hill. However, the need to stop pretending and playing games is evident as the story progresses. The singer seems to be expressing a desire to break free and have fun, to chase the sun and enjoy life. They want to be let go and do their own thing, without anyone holding them back.


The second verse shows a shift from nostalgia to a more present-day experience. The singer talks about leaving just in time, trying to catch someone's eye while rolling in the ocean. There is a sense of urgency and a desire to escape the monotony of daily life. The line "work hard and say it's easy, do it just to please me" implies that the expectations of others are burdening the singer, and they dream of a life with less pressure. The ending lines again reiterate the desire to escape and start anew, promising that tomorrow will be different because the singer is leaving.


Overall, The Modern Age seems to be a commentary on the pressures of conformity and the longing for individuality and freedom. The lyrics express a longing for escape and an innate desire to live life on one's terms.


Line by Line Meaning

Up on a hill, here's where we begin
We started this journey from atop a hill


This little story, a long time ago
This story began a long time ago


Stop to pretend, stop pretendin'
Let's stop pretending


It seems this game is simply never-endin'
We can't seem to escape this endless game


Oh, in the sun, sun, havin' fun, it's in my blood
I'm naturally inclined to enjoy sunny and fun moments


I just can't help it, don't want you here right now, let me go
I can't control my desire to be free from you right now


Oh, let me a-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-go
Please let me go


Leaving just in time, stay there for a while
I'm leaving at the right moment, but you should stay a while


Rolling in the ocean, tryna catch her eye
I'm rolling in the ocean, hoping to get her attention


Work hard and say it's easy, do it just to please me
You work hard to make things seem easy just to keep me happy


Tomorrow will be different, so I'll pretend I'm leaving
Things will be different tomorrow, so I'll pretend to leave for now


I feel so different now, we trained at A-V-A
I feel changed now, after training at A-V-A


I wish you hadn't stayed, my vision's clearer now but I'm unafraid
I wish you had left because now I see things more clearly, but I'm not afraid


Flying overseas, no time to feel the breeze
I'm flying overseas and don't have time to enjoy the scenery


I took too many varieties
I took too many drugs


Woo, darlin' let me a-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-go
Please, my dear, let me go


Leaving just in time, stay there for a while
I'm leaving at the right moment, but you should stay a while


Rolling in the ocean, tryna catch her eye
I'm rolling in the ocean, hoping to get her attention


Work hard and say it's easy, do it just to please me
You work hard to make things seem easy just to keep me happy


Tomorrow will be different, so this is why I'm leaving
Things will be different tomorrow, so this is why I'm leaving




Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Julian Casablancas

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@victorleonel2857

Letra/Lyrics
The Strokes - The modern age

Up on a hill is where we begin
This little story a long time ago
Stop to pretend, stop pretending
It seems this game is simply never-ending
Oh, in the sun, sun having fun
It's in my blood
I just can't help it
Don't want you here right now
Let me go, oh, let me g-g-g-g-g-g-go

Leavin' just in time
Stay there for a while
Rolling in the ocean
Trying to catch her eye
Work hard and say it's easy
Do it just to please me
Tomorrow will be different
So I'll pretend I'm leaving

Our fears are different here
We train in A-V-A
I wish you hadn't stayed
My vision's clearer now, but I'm unafraid
Flying overseas, no time to feel the breeze
I took too many varieties
Oh, in the sun, sun having fun
It's in my blood
I just can't help it
Don't want you here right now
Let me go
Darling let me g-g-g-g-g-g-go

Leaving just in time
Staying for a while
Rolling in the ocean
Trying to catch her eye
Work hard and say it's easy
Do it just to please me
Tomorrow will be different
So this is why I'm leaving



@stevieray56

“Up on a hill, here’s where we begin/This little story, a long time ago” Maybe New York City isn’t technically a hill and maybe 14 years isn’t so long ago, but, excepting that, the opening line from “The Modern Age” could serve double-duty as the first words in the story of The Strokes. After all, the song was the title track and one of three songs included on the EP the band released in 2001 that set off a bidding war for their services and cranked up the hype machine to deafening levels.


It also is one of the most memorable tracks on the band’s debut album Is This It, an album that somehow managed to exceed that hype. The Strokes’ sound, which combined the ramshackle attitude of garage rock with the arched-eyebrow posturing of art rock in striking fashion, receives a lot of that credit for the band’s success. But that sound wouldn’t have meant quite as much if it weren’t attached to memorable songs courtesy of lead singer Julian Casablancas.


“The Modern Age” is a fine example of this alchemy. Chunky staccato guitars in the intro eventually open up into a buoyant bass line from Nikolai Fraiture and stomping drums from Fabrizio Moretti. Nick Valensi takes off on a searing guitar solo in the middle portion of the song, yet the melody in the chorus balances that out with its melancholic chord changes.


Casablancas’ vocals contain that same kind of variety, as he trades off between dejected monotone and animated braying, like some unholy cross between Ian Curtis and Jim Morrison. The lyrics also can’t decide whether they want rhapsodize about some idealized afternoon in the sun or moan about the peripatetic nature of 21st-century life.


Along the way, Casablancas’ lines, seemingly tossed off and nonchalant, start to draw blood. “Stop to pretend, stop pretending/It seems this game is simply never-ending,” he sings, seeming to reference the chasm between childhood playfulness and adult seriousness that the young-at-heart futilely try to bridge. When he sings, “Work hard and say it’s easy,” it’s an interesting theory for this at-the-time budding rock star to put forth: that the appearance of nonchalance may be crucial to success, but the practice of it is career suicide.
Through the song a loose story about the narrator trying to shake free from a clinging suitor runs, but “The Modern Age” is after bigger fish than that, as evidenced by the song’s title. The pleasures are ephemeral (“No time to feel the breeze”), the coping mechanisms are numbing (“I took too many varieties”), and, when you can’t make it work, it’s best just to bail and try again another day (“Tomorrow may be different/So this Is why I’m leaving.”)


Speaking about his band’s enduring popularity in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview, Casablancas shook off the plaudits. “It feels humbling and validating that you’re doing some things right,” he said. “But it’s the same thing with an actor: If a movie does really well at the box office, they make 10 of those afterward because that’s what they think people like. . . . If something has commercial value, it doesn’t mean it’s good.” False modesty and indifferent cool is all well and good, but many have tried to copy The Strokes formula in the wake of Is This It and have fallen well short. And the story the band started with “The Modern Age” still enthralls.



All comments from YouTube:

@icedlemonade101

A few things:
1. Julian is cooler than ice.
2. I'm never going to get tired of that solo.
3. This song is timeless.

@Martymac1973

Brilliant comm. 👍 👍 👍

@harrisonlaws4866

*this album is timeless
*Julian is timeless

@rmotta_taggesell

I'm never going to get tired of that solo too!

@hexis23

4. Smoking tobacco is shit

@hexis23

@poiuytdxcvbn I loooove weed :D

27 More Replies...

@FJose95

This is that album that you inadvertently come across when something is changing in your life . Someway, somehow, you find it . You listen to it over and over again, and from that point on, it becomes the music you're familiar with when your whole life became something you didn't recognize .

@xxcatfishxx1

I was trying to explain this album to someone and you've done it perfectly thank you

@startervisions

wow

@holdingsand

yep. i haven't felt this way towards a band since Tool a couple years ago, which was a very transitive time for me and i think things are changing now too

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