Some thoughts on Graffin's "You've Got a Chance."  This song primarily plays on three core meanings of the word chance.  Meaning 1: odds (i.e. a 33% chance of winning).  Meaning 2: opportunity (Brian Baker had a chance to try out for BR).  Meaning 3:  Random, the equivalent of luck or good/bad fortune. 

The title repeated multiple times in the song alternates between meaning #2 and #3.  The verses allude to aspects of popular culture in a variety of forms-most explicitly in the 2nd verse ("common life depicted on afternoon TV").  Pop culture itself is full of appeals to chance (meaning #3).  For example, consider a lotto ticket or a prize won by pulling a sticker off of a McD's cup.  Of course, the irony is the more we get seduced by the myth that "success," however defined, is primarily a result of a chance the less we have a realistic chance (meaning #1) of succeeding...because most meaningful forms of success derive from effort (btw this not to deny that we all experience varying levels of privilege).  To me the moral of the song is: don't put your faith in (or hold beliefs in the power of) chance (meaning #3), rather have faith in effort. 

The song also seems to criticize excessive media (pop culture) consumption, which of course can help seduce the consumer into more magical thinking (i.e. chance meaning #3): "you've got a noon appointment, you've gotta hit the (internet?) links."  I wonder how much of this song was facilitated by Pasteur's famous, and also somewhat ironic, statement: "chance favors the prepared?"

Also, one line I have absolutely no idea about is "i'm tired of all this Shakespearian misinformation, I want to win the game."  Does anyone here have an opinion about what that line means?  Shakespeare seems more tragedy than mere chance...but i'm no expert.  It took me 22 years to think of this btw

I believe that "You've Got A Chance" is commenting on the class structure of high school. Popularity rules over all else and that life is harsh in that sense.(What good is skill if you don't make it to the dance?) The line "Desperate romance is the curse of castaways" personally refers to the people caring only about silly boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and not about important global issues. When this song speaks to me, it tells me that teenagers should care about the world as a whole instead of their own little worlds. "You've got a chance" to make your life more fulfilling if you stop blowing up your problems to a tremendous size.

Songs from the New America are just loaded with affirmations and preaching, aren't they? This song can actually be interpreted in two ways. 1) it is a composite list of affirmations and preaching to an indivdual who is having a rough time with relationships, I think. At least the chorus can give us information on that subject. "Desperate romance is the curse of castaways" and "despite circumstance, you've got a chance" are lines that insinuate that finding love is a big risk and that rejection is a circumstance that we all deal with. 2) It is about the MTV show "The Real World." The second verse kind of explains this if read carefully, especially the last line. I see a lot of "Real Worlders" on TV, and I think they have issues (see Trishelle, Puck). The first verse says essentially the same thing, but puts a Road Rules twist on it.

I recall something Greg said in an interview about how the New America album was supposed to be more "positive" than other BR works. A song called "You've got a chance" seems to reflect this impulse, however misguided I may think it was and however forced the end product sounds. The theme would appear to be "No, it's not hopeless. Things can be better." You know, like the song every other band writes when they decide they have to "make a positive contribution" with their music. (Then they end up with a singer running laps around a heart-shaped stage at halftime of the Super Bowl.)

You've Got A Chance is basically a wake up call to the youth of America. The lyrics face the fact that most of the kids today in into punk rock have their lives wrapped around simple suburbian life problems (girls, popularity, and all the things that the new wave of pop-punk and so called emo that has rushed in the past decade). 'Desperate romance is the curse of castaways' and 'I'm tired of all this Shakespearean misinformation' - What Greg is saying is wake up! Quit wasting all your time on all this high school drama and why she won't go out with you. All this is so little and pointless compared to the real problems outside your bubble, so take a good look and do something. I love how the lyrics shift in between the two worlds of the real world and it's issues, then our own little problems and how we turn our backs on the outside with excuses ('You've got the right intentions, but who's got time to think? You've got a noon appointment, you've got to hit the links'). One thing that still escapes me is the line 'But who will win the prize?' This 'prize' seems to be a re-curring theme in The New America appearing in more than a couple songs. Does anyone have any clue to what exactly this is?

Okay this is a little strange but I am really sure I know what this tune is about... It's about Survivor, the Reality TV show. The second line 'contestants in disguise' implies a contest of some kind. The line about castaways in the chorus implies the whole concept of survivor. The second verse makes direct reference to all this being on TV and this verse is also full of all the crap that is shown on survivor. That's my theory hope you enjoy it.