The Academy is - Paper Chase

Lyric Analysis

the academy is - Paper Chase

Please stand by, we've come so far

These years, we survived the ride that turned us inside out

Repeat after me, just scream and shout

"It was the best of times from broken homes and battle scars

to where we are."

Graduate, paper chase,

We'll get out of this place

Don't turn around

Hit the highway, pour some liquor out for this town

Now that’s all for us, its last call drink up

Roll it out, its over now

We're the cast-outs with messed up friends who never did fit in

Don't care where it ends

It doesn't matter now,

As long as we're as one, we'll take the next bus

Destination: Setting sun

This is an open invite for all to attend

Don't ask too many questions now

Don't tell us how it ends,

Because we're the ones who wrote the end

            This song is taken from the third album of a band called The Academy is....The Album title is Fast Times at Barrington High. From the title, the meaning of Paper Chase can be connected to term of "Paper" in academic term. According to oxford dictionary online, paper is "an essay or dissertation, especially one read at an academic lecture or seminar or published in an academic journal". The word "Chase" in title "Paper Chase" means that the song is about the students who are doing their paper in order to finish their study.

            This song has connection with one of the member of the academy is life. According to an article in sing365.com, "The Academy Is…shoots from the hip and aims for the heart. An extreme magnified reflection of who we are as individuals and try to capture experiences we all have, and genuinely try to portray the ways we respond to them.”(par.4)

             When i read the lyric, I feel somehow motivated to keep finishing my study. When i listen to the song, the personal reaction is not too different compared to when i read the lyric. the arrangement of the song also makes the listeners feel in spirit. Fast beat, good vocal, cheerful guitar play, combination of them makes easy listening song which can be listened every time you want in any mood (consider you are a person who like to listen different genre in different mood).this song represent who i am as last year as a student in a polytechnic.

Based on my interpretation, the lyrics give me motivation to keep me struggle in this circumstance. I’ve noted some of my favorite parts in the lyric such as :

- "Please stand by, we've come so far these years, we survived the ride that turned us inside out".

- "Graduate, paper chase, we’ll get out of this place don’t turn around"

- "As long as we're as one, we'll take the next bus Destination: Setting sun"

Anything that we have done during these years in school and all of its dramatic stories will make memorable stories when we are all graduated. in the end, i close my analysis with a meaningful verse from the lyric "Don't tell us how it ends, Because we're the ones who wrote the end".