I have written about this line at the end of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who before.
But now I realize that there are more layers to this line.
This line is usually taken as meaning that at the end of the revolution, things will be just the same as before, that the idealistic young revolutionaries will end up being tyrants just like those who they overthrew.
But this is also a song in a wider story. A rock opera called Lifehouse.
The song Behind Blue Eyes is part of it too. In it the tired leader of the establishment tells us how he has been hired to be the oppressor, but he is really a good guy who has feelings like everyone else.
And when they sing 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' at the end of Won't Get Fooled Again, they are saying that the young nidealistic revolutionaries have hired the old leader whose character sings 'Behind Blue Eyes' to be the new leader, where he will get to be the good guy he always wanted to be.
But now I realize that the line 'Meet the new boss- same as the old boss' really means both.
Which is to say, that if you do your revolution in a superficial way, the first meaning is true, that the leader of the revolutionaries will end up becoming another oppressor just like the ones they overthrew.
And that to avoid this, to do the revolution right, you must make the second interpretation of this line become true.
To do it right, you must let the people from the old guard be part of the new order, not changing leaders, but changing the ideas and ideals that the order follows to better ideals, but letting the leaders of the old establishment be part of the leadership of the new order.
In other words, take your pick. Either way, your new boss will be same as the old boss.
In a bad way. Or in a very good way.
An interpretation, for your consideration!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson