Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
Inspiration Behind Don’t You Forget About Me:
Keith Forsey and guitarist Steve Schiff wrote Don’t You Forget About Me for the film The Breakfast Club. This film features five high school students, punished for an entire Saturday. Each of these 5 teenagers representing a distinct social group: the brain, athlete, rebel, princess, and basket case. After this motley crew experiences a unifying moment before departing for home, Don’t You Forget About Me serves as an anthem for students to never forget the special ties that were formed during a Saturday in-school suspension.
Biblical Application:
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:3-5.
Exegesis of Don’t You Forget About Me:
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh-ooh-hoo, woah
An attention getter.
Won’t you come see about me
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Givin’ me everything inside and out, and
Breaking down the walls that separate the social classes. A call to open up, share and become vulnerable.
Love’s strange, surreal in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby
Perhaps a reference that teenagers place too much emphasis on physical appearances rather than what is deep inside of human beings. When your flaws are exposed or verbalized, love can be scary, unsure if the one you love will accept you for who you are as a person.
Don’t you forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you forget about me
A reference to the friendship made on this Saturday. Being willing to cross social boundaries.
Will you stand above me
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps fallin’, rain keeps fallin’
Down, down, down
A call to stand up and be willing to look beyond differences. The rain suggests cleansing and purifying, erasing the stereotypes that minds have grown up believing.
Will you recognize me
Call my name or walk on by?
Rain keeps fallin’, rain keeps fallin’
Down, down, down, down
When Monday comes and you fall back into line, within your social group, will you be changed or will you forget the new friends that you just made.
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh-ooh-hoo, woah
How will you respond to peer pressure.
Don’t you try and pretend
It’s my feeling, we’ll win in the end
I won’t harm you or touch your defences
Vanity, insecurity, ah
The difficulties to truly change. A gentle approach, not wanting to harm this new relationship.
Don’t you forget about me
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Going to take us apart
I’ll put us back together at heart, baby
Not part of the movie, but a call to remember what we shared.
Don’t you forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you forget about me
Be open to change, going outside your social circle.
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name
When you walk away?
What is going to happen on Monday when these 5 people see each other in the hallway with their friends.
Or will you walk away?
When you walk on by
Will you take a chance or succumb to peer pressure.
Come on, call my name
Won’t you call my name?
Do you have the guts to go beyond the social norms of your friends.
I sing, “La, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”
When you walk on by (walk on by)
And you call my name
A fun ending with one last rhetorical question, will you call out my name.
Final Thoughts:
As a former high school athlete, my friends would vary from season to season. In the fall, my cross-country team would take up 1-2 tables in the lunchroom. This team was like my second family, having monthly social functions outside of school as well. Each winter, swimming was a smaller team so that my lunches were a mix of classmates and swimmers. In the spring, I hung out with Chris and Steve, often getting out of school early for away golf matches. While I was never popular in high school, I wasn;t afraid to sit with someone sitting by themselves. In my final year of high school, I saw lunch as a ministry opportunity to encourage students who were having a bad day, week or month. Don’t You Forget About Me serves as a call to look beyond social circles to meet other people that you never gave a thought about until watching the Breakfast Club.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 