I believe this song is about a much bigger picture than a single family or group. It seems to me that it's about the human race in general. The common folk are the children, and the father is whatever system of power they happen to be living under at the time.

The powerful countries are always parading their military and economic might, and blowing through resources, but like the song says, it's a "weekenders charade" and will eventually lead to a sad and pathetic story of the human race. Our pride and arrogance is growing at the same time that we are showing signs of our demise. The matron could mean mother earth.

In the second verse, I believe he is refering to those of us who don't accept the traditional behavior of humans. A person who doesn't like what he sees happening around him and tries to change things, but is viewed with suspicion when he rejects the dogma.

"the children are reminded to do it for daddy's sake" ... " ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"

" It's just a sick calamity that fatherhood made " I think is a tongue in cheek reference to a God creating this mess.

I would expect one of Greg's songs like this to be about a broader theme and not about a specific family. But like Jonathan said it is interesting how well this song seems to fit Phelps & co. People often talk about WBC like they're some kind of radical political organization, but they're more notable to me as a really screwed up extended family that basically turned into a cult.

It fits with "Junior" running away, but also with "always on parade" since they get so much (way too much, imo) media attention. And also "passing through the turnstiles, a weekender's charade" since they travel all over the country doing their protests (last year they were at my school, UPenn, in Philly protesting Penn's Jewish community). Plus, if you look at a picture of Fred Phelps, tell me if "pallor" isn't an excellent descriptor.

It seems like a family struggle through hard times. The father had pride and pallor kind of reminds of me of 'Grapes of Wrath' novel by John Steinbeck.

This song is likely not about any specific family but perhaps the stereotypical "perfect family" idealized in American culture breaking apart, keeping in line with the dissent/descent theme.

Could this be about the Bush family? Seems like all the elements are there? Especially referring to the boy as Junior.

In my opinion, this song is about the habit of fathers forcing their children to do what they don't want, commonly practiced in the Middle Ages. There's a powerful traditions' influence amongst these families, which are mostly arbitrary.

Along the catchy melody, smooth singing and the 4/4 rythm, the whole lyrics are based on patriarchy and family pride.

In my humble opinion, this song is the most powerful in the Dissent of Man, in terms of lyrics, immersed in a 4/4 BR Standard. It's a pillar of the record, because the whole album talks about descent (The Dissent of Man, as you may have noticed, refers to Charles Darwin's book.).

Descent of the dogma (Meeting of the Minds song), descent of the pride, descent of the perennial human ambition to avoid the uncomfortable truth, and obvious complexity in order to build eternity, by all means necessary. So family, as an institution, appears to be the best tool to perpetuate tradition, the ecume of our very basic hormonal instincts.

Hence, The Pride and the Pallor is the finding of our paradox. The Pride means the honour to belong to a descent, a family, which can rise to the status of a dynasty, while the Pallor means the anger to remain silent in front of the institution, and watch indifferently injustice and violence grow on.

Each family has its own secrets. Each family has its own ghosts every member must learn to deal with. The fact is, dealing with these secrets seems to be painful, due to the obvious love and parade we like to show and the heavy, overwhelming silence

This song is quite universal and is very emotional. Since we know BR members are currently experiencing fatherhood (especially Brett & Greg, I guess), we should have known that this song would show up !

According to me, Pride and the Pallor means a lot, because it finds my own deepest family wounds I have to deal with. According to me, Pride and the Pallor is the best song of The DIssent of Man, and its paroxysm.

Thanks to Bad Religion for another great moment, full of both analytical an emotional thoughts.

Seems like, if it's not deliberate, it's a pretty good song about the Phelps family. You know, the 'God hates fags' crowd who have a vocal patriarch, silent matriarch, and a son who rebelled and left (and is now a prominent atheist).

I think it's about Michael Jackson (seriously!). The title is probably a play on words of the book "Pride and Prejudice".

Jackson's father constantly beat his children and drove them incredibly hard to that they would succeed. Pallor is of course refering to his skin.

I think Greg is hinting that the song is about a famous person, with his "You know the rest" in the end.

Both Hopeless housewife and this song share a great deal in common. In both cases, the songwriter’s focus is with the matriarch figure who, by her own ‘silence’ is trapped within her family, doomed to crumble to hell.

Putting both songs side-by-side, they indeed share common themes of interest and criticism - but Pride and Pallor offers a lot more meat in its verse to chew on. Religion falls under scrutiny in two ways, one more positive; the other more sobering and tragic. Every chorus reminds us that, through it all, the ‘matron silently prays’. On one hand, religion is something she can cling to – to ‘kill the demons inside’ in such a way; on the other hand, in its poignant closing bridge, we find the matron’s prayers are never really answered. “Get me out of here, someone’s got to save the day,” points her prayer not to god now – but to someone; anyone. But all ‘silent’ prayer is futile, never heard – ‘hopeless’. It is only by her own mortal admission to run away somewhere ‘far, far away’ that she can be free.

The matriarchal figure is also the object of criticism, as the ruthless domineering family man. ‘He bid them all to do his every deed [...] The children are reminded to do it for Daddy’s sake.’ This is where the song deviates from its literal meaning, and works as a synecdoche for religion as a whole. ‘Papa’ in this song, I interpret as a figure of God. ‘What they created was a family story no one will tell’ evokes echoes of the inquisition, much like sinister rouge, Pride and Pallor attacks the concept of buried and concealed history which reverberates still even to this day! Just as with religion, the family’s history plays out again and again.

‘Junior’ in this song represents both the boy who rebels against the suffering, emotionally stifled family, and the greater oppressive religion. ‘Silence was golden’ – once again, the key issue of silence and concealment plays out. Just as the matron ‘silently prays’, the father ‘hid his feelings’, and the family as a whole ‘parades’ a ‘weekender’s charade’, the Junior’s individuality is concealed. In turn, his decision to run away puts a positive spin on the whole situation – that religion, and the prideful family are today now being rejected by our youth. ‘So bewildered when he finally ran away’ epitomises the generation gap of today; the older generation incapable of understanding or empathising with their children in any meaningful way. In much the same way, the religious generation itself faces rapidly declining popularity, but its ‘pride and pallor’ unfortunately for us all ‘continues to swell.’

The song’s fundamental message, as with hopeless housewife, in one sense points to the silent matron. ‘Get out of your 1950s fantasy!’ is one notion both songs share, but on the other hand Pride and Pallor tells a story in which the matron’s powerlessness is wholly empathised with– overshadowed by the domineering father figure. ‘Papa’ is the key focus of this song’s attack. It his his concealment which brings together this entire chain reaction – and only by his power, to learn compassion and understanding, can he bring his family back together. The same tenet reaches out, in this underlying metaphor, to religion and the responsibility of religious power.