There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall.
He's proud of the scars and the battles he's lost
He struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.
Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good
He sits in a room with a lock on the door
With his maps and his medals laid out of the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.
I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage,
I've found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too, had my pointless point of view
Life went on no matter who was right or wrong.
And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
He's never been able to learn from mistakes
He can't understand why his heart always breaks
His honor is pure, and his courage as well
He's fair and he's true, and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to his grave as an angry old man.
There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall.
He's proud of the scars and the battles he's lost
He struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man
The song is describing the typical young, idealistic person who is always protesting social and political injustice. The angry young man, believing that he knows how the world should be run, spends his days making up radical plans to root out these injustices.
However, as can be seen from history, these changes are rarely implemented, if at all. As a result, life goes on no matter who is wrong or right. The angry young man stays inside concocting his plans to change the world, and only gets angrier when nothing happens. As a result, he spends his days being angry at the world for not being idealistic and perfect, and ends up only torturing himself in the end.
Basically, Billy Joel is trying to tell young, idealistic people that the world is never going to be perfect and you shouldn't obsess over trying to make it that way. Instead, just learn to live with it and don't get angry because the world isn't how you like it.
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