This song mainly displays Holden's view on everyone else around him, mostly the adults. It describes, in Holden's case, how all the adults are phonies, and how he attempts to resist being one of them.
Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began
Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones come marching in... again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole... defense
Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
In time or so I'm told
I'm just another soul for sale... oh, well
The page is out of print
We are not permanent
We're temporary, temporary
Same old story
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
I'm the voice inside your head
You refuse to hear
I'm the face that you have to face
Mirrored in your stare
I'm what's left, I'm what's right
I'm the enemy
I'm the hand that will take you down
Bring you to your knees
So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Holden throughout the novel faces many challenges, which come from the fact that he separates himself from the rest of the world, or more importantly, the children from the rest of the world. "What if I say I'm not like the others" expresses how Holden feels that he, and the children, are different from the rest of the world, from the fact that they still have their innocence, unlike every other phony. When it says, "You're the pretender" it can be seen that Holden is stereotyping the adult world as phony, and "What if I say I will never surrender?" connects to Holden in the midst of the novel who thinks that it is his duty to be the catcher in the rye and to save all the children from the adult world. Then finally, Holden's desire to save the children brings him to his ultimate low point, which connects to "I'm the hand that will take you down, Bring you to your knees."
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