Lulu already sang it, but you can't dance to it, I guess
Rebecca Black's “Friday” is a song about the various anxieties of aging. It begins with a run-down of a typical, bourgeois girl in her early teens. Actually, this could be a boy in his early teens; there aren't that many differences between the sexes and their concerns at that age: go to school, don't look skanky (like one of the poor kids), I don't have time to relax, I'm still taking the fucking bus...
7:00 AM, waking up in the morning.
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs,
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal;
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’,
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’.
Gotta get down to the bus stop,
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (my friends)
It is here that “Rebecca” goes into a fugue where she imagines her friends are picking her up in their car (well, a car). It is when she no longer has to take the bus (like one of the poor kids) when Rebecca can finally be what she considers to be “cool”. She can do as the boys and girls in their later teens do. This may or may not involve going to school; the only thing that matters is we are in this car and partying.
Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
This question shows us that even in her fantasy, Rebecca is just a bit awkward. I might be reaching here, but the choice between the front and back seats is critical. Perhaps the front seat is for the girls “taken” by the boys (because they're easy?), or will she take a back seat and be essentially cargo (but free). Chorus:
It’s Friday, Friday;
Gotta get down on Friday.
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend (weekend).
Friday, Friday,
Gettin’ down on Friday.
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend.
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun.
Lookin’ forward to the weekend.
We're just going to be in this car all night (never mind who can afford the gas) looking forward to the weekend which, Rebecca has just figured out, is more than just a break from school. However, Rebecca and her friends aren't quite sure what that is.
7:45, we’re drivin’ on the highway;
Cruisin’ so fast, I want time to fly.
Fun, fun, think about fun.
You know what it is:
“I got this; you got this?”
My friend is by my right:
“I got this; you got this?”
Now you know it.
Rebecca realizes her friends are just as awkward as she is. They all dance strangely and give a vague stare at the camera that asks “Am I doing this right?” forever. Nobody “got this”.
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes afterwards
I don’t want this weekend to end.
Rebecca stutters through (a mockery of ) an attempt at “Urban” speech (i.e. how the cool older teens speak). Until then, she'd played it safe with just droppin' gs. She fumbles again by trying to throw around SAT wards. They see a black man drive by. He does a rap like all us black guys can do.
R.B.: Rebecca Black
So chillin’ in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I’m drivin’, cruisin’ (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin’ lanes
Wit’ a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C’mon) Passin’ by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend
We gonna have fun, c’mon, c’mon, y’all
He has a nostalgic fugue from seeing the school bus but returns quickly to reality and feels time passing: a theme we've heard since the beginning. “Seein’ everything, the time is goin’, / Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’.” The feeling of time passing makes him want to scream until he realizes: TGIF; fuck that!
Chorus twice. In the video, Rebecca and her friends pretend to have fun at a fake party. Finis.
7:00 AM, waking up in the morning.
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs,
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal;
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’,
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’.
Gotta get down to the bus stop,
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (my friends)
It is here that “Rebecca” goes into a fugue where she imagines her friends are picking her up in their car (well, a car). It is when she no longer has to take the bus (like one of the poor kids) when Rebecca can finally be what she considers to be “cool”. She can do as the boys and girls in their later teens do. This may or may not involve going to school; the only thing that matters is we are in this car and partying.
Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
This question shows us that even in her fantasy, Rebecca is just a bit awkward. I might be reaching here, but the choice between the front and back seats is critical. Perhaps the front seat is for the girls “taken” by the boys (because they're easy?), or will she take a back seat and be essentially cargo (but free). Chorus:
It’s Friday, Friday;
Gotta get down on Friday.
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend (weekend).
Friday, Friday,
Gettin’ down on Friday.
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend.
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun.
Lookin’ forward to the weekend.
We're just going to be in this car all night (never mind who can afford the gas) looking forward to the weekend which, Rebecca has just figured out, is more than just a break from school. However, Rebecca and her friends aren't quite sure what that is.
7:45, we’re drivin’ on the highway;
Cruisin’ so fast, I want time to fly.
Fun, fun, think about fun.
You know what it is:
“I got this; you got this?”
My friend is by my right:
“I got this; you got this?”
Now you know it.
Rebecca realizes her friends are just as awkward as she is. They all dance strangely and give a vague stare at the camera that asks “Am I doing this right?” forever. Nobody “got this”.
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes afterwards
I don’t want this weekend to end.
Rebecca stutters through (a mockery of ) an attempt at “Urban” speech (i.e. how the cool older teens speak). Until then, she'd played it safe with just droppin' gs. She fumbles again by trying to throw around SAT wards. They see a black man drive by. He does a rap like all us black guys can do.
R.B.: Rebecca Black
So chillin’ in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I’m drivin’, cruisin’ (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin’ lanes
Wit’ a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C’mon) Passin’ by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend
We gonna have fun, c’mon, c’mon, y’all
He has a nostalgic fugue from seeing the school bus but returns quickly to reality and feels time passing: a theme we've heard since the beginning. “Seein’ everything, the time is goin’, / Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’.” The feeling of time passing makes him want to scream until he realizes: TGIF; fuck that!
Chorus twice. In the video, Rebecca and her friends pretend to have fun at a fake party. Finis.