idiomsmeaningmeaning-in-contextsentence-meaning
I know that the song is kind of poetic, but I fail to interpret this part. What do you think it means?
009SoundSystem Born To Be Wasted
Oh, the rock's not gonna stop, so let's rip it up
The beats are gonna
drop, you can trip em' upYour mind is on fire but it's not enough
We
were born to be wasted
I think in this context "a rip" is simply a euphemism, a more socially acceptable version of a stronger swear word. One can, after all, give or not give:
-a damn
-a darn
-a good goddamn
-a fuck (possibly even a flying fuck)
-a shit (or two shits)
-a hoot (or even a hoot in hell)
-a tinker's damn/dam
-a pair of dingo's kidneys
or many, many other things. Many of them would probably not be said by a pastor giving a sermon! So to give the same sense, but in a less offensive manner, you can choose another word, and "a rip" happens to be one of the idiomatic choices that appears to stem from a general association of "rip" with worthlessness.
Here's an example of the type of computer this is probably talking about:
As you can see, the computer inputs are a series of toggle switches.
So, while we now "type in" information, at that point, you'd have to "toggle in" information.
Best Answer
The short song is about being on drugs, getting wasted
The refrain
is reflected in the last two lines
kicks = have fun and often means taking a recreational drug of choice
The song is referring to many things happening in the world and around the listener
Mind on fire means having one's mind in an altered state of consciousness, possibly thinking too fast, or having too many thoughts at once. These states are usually drug induced
It may be an allusion to Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf where there is a similar listing of things happening around the listener.