✕
The quest
Nothing can bring me further back
Than the distinctive Play-Doh smell
Mommy works in kindergarden
She actually teaches next door1
I'm five, I jump through the window
To hide myself in her classroom
She tells me "You shouldn't be here"2
"I belong near you" I reply3
Books's all I like, and alone time4
So I'm happier on rainy days
I try going to Sunday school
But I'm unsure about my faith5
I'm seven and life is easy
I can always ask Mom for help6
After her "I don't know it all"
I lost all my trust in the World7
At five I so wanted to be seven8
At seven I couldn't wait to see more
These days I would prefer for time to stop9
Oh, what matters is the journey, not the end10
As I sweep dead leaves from the court11
The cold is blistering my hands
At ten I'm a basketball fan
So I dress up like in the States12
My dad, my hero, gifted me
A pair of velcro-ed Jordan 8
So I do all I can to make
Him proud when he comes to the games13
Called upper-class in middle school14
No wonder: my shoes are pricey
Stop wearing them, my dad gets mad
"We had nothing, you have it all!"
I'm twelve and a troublemaker
To try finding some friends at school
Our music teacher kills himself
He's now in teachers' Paradise
At eleven I dreamed of bein' thirteen15
At thirteen I couldn't wait to see more
These days I would prefer for time to stop9
Oh, what matters is the journey, not the end10
Often I had fallen in love
But for once it's reciprocal
I cowardly neglect my friends16
Spend time with my girl smoking cigs17
At fourteen I've become a ghost
At least that's what my parents claim18
My babe wants me all to herself19
Though she is always in a huff20
I have to move, we're pulled apart21
I tell myself love ain't that great22
I choose to give up basketball
Since my brother now kicks my ass23
I'm fifteen and I binge-watch Kids
I hang out with guys like Casper24
Since my father is hard on me
In turn I'm strict with my brother25
At fifteen I wanted to be sixteen26
At sixteen I couldn't wait to see more
These days I would prefer for time to stop9
Oh, what matters is the journey, not the end10
Gripped by fear, I'm racing downstairs
To get a hold of my reports27
Home has become a cold war zone
We don't communicate no more28
I'm sixteen, jump over the wall
To meet my dudes at the skatepark
We drink some beers, we smoke some joints
And I describe that in my raps
So quickly do the years fly by
I can't sing my age anymore29
My two siblings do my wedding:
one organizes, one records30
Those things that I keep to myself
Are the ones filling up venues31
My Mom is here, my Dad is proud
And the World is nice afterall32
(The World is quite nice afterall)
At sixteen I dreamed of bein' seventeen33
Seventeen, I couldn't wait to see more
These days I would prefer for time to stop9
Oh, what matters is the journey, not the end10
At five I so wanted to be seven34
At seven I couldn't wait to see more
These days I would prefer for time to stop9
Oh, what matters is the journey, not the end10
- 1. lit. "Mum is a kindergarden teacher / She's even the one teaching next door"
- 2. lit. "She tells me: You aren't supposed to be here"
- 3. lit. "I tell her: Near you, that's where my 'spot' is" (where I belong)
- 4. lit. "All I like is books, I prefer to be alone"
- 5. lit. "I take some catechism classes / But I'm not sure to believe in God"
- 6. lit. "When I don't know (something), I ask my mother"
- 7. lit. "One day, she told me 'I don't know everything' / I lost my faith in the universe"
- 8. lit. "At five years old, I just wanted to be seven (already)"
- 9. a. b. c. d. e. lit. "Today I would like it better if time could stop"
- 10. a. b. c. d. e. lit. "What matters isn't the arrival, but the quest"
- 11. lit. "I sweep the dead leaves on the field." here, "field" is probably a basketball court
- 12. lit. "I dress up like a lil' American"
- 13. lit. "So I do everything to make him proud / When he comes to every single one of my games" (to see him play)
- 14. lit. "I start middle school, I'm called an 'upper-class' (kid)." note that this phrasing is derogatory in the original
- 15. lit. "At eleven years old, I just wanted to be thirteen (already)"
- 16. lit. "I abandon all my friends cowardly"
- 17. lit. "I see only my girl(friend), we smoke cigs (together)"
- 18. lit. "Fourteen years old, nothing but a ghost / At least that's what say my parents"
- 19. lit. "Babe wants me to only hang out with her"
- 20. lit. "Even though she is in a huff all the time" (when he's around)
- 21. lit. "Since I move (out), that separates us"
- 22. lit. "I think to myself that love is wrongly highly-rated"
- 23. lit. "My bro(ther) beats me (easily) at basketball / So I prefer to give up on it"
- 24. probably a reference to Casper, one of the main characters from the 1995 'Kids' movie. see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113540/ AND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_(film)
- 25. lit. "My father is strict with me / So I apply (the same treatment) on my brother"
- 26. lit. "At fifteen years old, I just wanted to be sixteen (already)"
- 27. lit. "I go down the stairs, gripped by fear / to intercept my report card"
- 28. lit. "At home, it's a Cold War zone / We can't understand (communicate with) each other so I don't say anything anymore" - At home we don't understand each / Other so I've just stopped talking
- 29. lit. "The years pass by, maybe a bit too much (too quickly) / To the extent where I'm ashamed to sing how old I am"
- 30. lit. "My bro(ther) records when I give (my wife) the ring / my sis(ter) livens up the wedding"
- 31. lit. "The things that I dare not say to anyone / Are the ones filling up concert halls"
- 32. lit. "And the universe is not that bad (afterall)"
- 33. lit. "At sixteen years old, I just wanted to be seventeen (already)"
- 34. lit. "At five years old, I just wanted to be seven already"
Torpedo23✕
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