Bobby Schayer

Parched, cracked mouths, empty swollen guts
Sun baked pavement encroaches on us
Haves and have nots together at last
Brutally engaged in mortal combat

[Chorus]
10 in 2010
10 in 2010

What kind of God orchestrates such a thing? 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
Ten billion people all suffering 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
Truth is not an issue just hungry mouths to feed 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
Forget what you want, scrounge the things you need 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!

[Chorus]

Happy and content it can't happen to you 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
Fifteen years we'll think of a solution 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
It won't just appear in one day 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!
For 10 in 2010 we're well on our way 10 in 2010! 10 in 2010!

[Chorus]

Like piercing ear darts, I heard the news today
10 billion people, coming your way

[Chorus]

10 in 2010

You were the one,
You were my everything
Never apart,
No one in-between
Then one day,
When you went your own way
You felt justified,
And I was mortified
But today...
You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
'Cuz your smile
Is just too much to see
You're just a thousand memories
Fantasies, broken dreams
Reveries, sordid histories
Following my heart,
Laden with reaction,
Without calibration or design
Committed to a trial,
A life of understanding
Can't somebody show a sign to you
For me to see if you only knew
That you were the one
You were my everything
Never apart,
No one in-between
Then one day,
When you went your own way
You felt justified,
And I was mortified
But today...
You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
'Cuz a picture is worth
one thousand memories

Parched, cracked mouths emty swollen guts
Sun baked pavement encroaches on us
Haves and have-nots together at last
Brutally engaged in mortal combat
10 in 2010

What kind of God orchestrates such a thing?
10 in 2010
Ten million people all suffering
10 in 2010
Truth is not an issue just hungry mouths to feed
10 in 2010
Forget what you want, scrounge the things you need

Happy and content it can happen to you
10 in 2010
Fifteen years well think of a solution
10 in 2010
It wont just appear in one day
10 in 2010
For ten and twenty-ten were well on our way
10 in 2010

Like piercing ear darts, I heard the news today
10 in 2010
10 million people...coming your way

I can't believe it, the way you look sometimes
Like a trampled flag on a city street, oh yeah
And I don't want it, the things you're offering me
Symbolized bar code, quick I.D., oh yeah

'Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to live, but I've got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?

I can't explain it
The things they're saying to me
It's going "yah yah yah yah yah yah yah"
Oh yeah

'Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?

Tried to tell you about No Control
But now I really don't know
And then you told me how bad you had to Suffer
Is that really all you had to offer?

See I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to read, but I've got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual

Cat's foot, iron claw
Neuro-surgeons scream for more
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Everything I want, I really need

Ain't life a mystery, yeah?

Well, it was punk-fifteen in the morning
And it was time to stand my ground
And as the gawks and stares bombarded me
You know, I didn't even hear a sound
No one gave a damn
If I was there or away
If I died and went to hell,
They'd throw a party on my grave
And they'd all say
"this kid is just a fool, he'll never be cool
They might as well just ship him off
to some other school"
Plain destitute
Just a little too guilty, just a little too soon
That day was just like any other day
No work, and no pay
I knew that paradise was some other place
And I'd get there another day
I will find it before I expire
'Cuz I've got the desire
Well, it was punk-fifteen in the evening
And it was time to set the town on fire
I saw my boots and my hair
As reflected in the mirror
Reveal a streetkid named desire
I didn't give a damn
Because I was just dying to be
And as the Hollywood street scene
Left its mark on me
I changed from a boy into a man
I said "never again!"
I stuck out my chin when I should have ran
Shit in the fan
I was driven so hard
By the sound of my heart
But that day was just like any other day
No work, and no pay
I knew that paradise was some other place
And I'd get there another day
I will find it before I expire
'Cuz I've got the desire
When the walls surround
In deeper shades of blue
And there's no voice of reason inside you
And you search for meaning
On an empty shelf
Then you're always dreaming
Of somewhere else
Today is just like any other day
No fear, no restraint
I know that paradise is some other place
And I will get there another day
You can come with me,
No conditions or fares
Somehow, somewhere,
I will find it before I expire,
'Cuz I've got the desire

I'm going for a walk
Not the after dinner kind
I'm gonna use my hands
And I'm gonna use my mind

And who the hell are you to tell me what to do?
You can't even tie your own haggard shoes
Your closest is a mess, your backyard's falling down
And I have no grand ideas or intentions of sticking around

So I'm going for a walk
Not the after dinner kind
I'm gonna use my hands
And I'm gonna use my mind

And I'm gonna build a world
Independent and exempt
All alone I'll be an empire
With no mortgage and no rent

And I don't need to live in your stinking zoo
You can't even feed the animals donated to you
Your storage sheds are ramshackled, flies decorate the walls
And you expect me to die here in this shit-filled, tiny stall?

I'm going for a walk!

And I know you're watching everything I do
Call me threat to your children, call me socially unglued
Call me master of insanity, unable to relate
Call me lazy, bane and filthy, call me monstrous reprobate

I'm going for a walk
And there's nothing you can do
'Cause I don't have to
Live like you

I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk
I'm going for a walk

I don't want to live
In a world without melody
Sometimes the rhythmic din
Of society is too much for me
But purpose is prioritized
These days the goal is win the prize
There's a sleeping resonance we hold,
Through which we're unified
So let it out! don't just get lost in the crowd
No one can deter you from your own path
There's no trip too remote
From which you can't come back
And I've got this hunch about you and me
None of us are ready
For a world without melody
Melody is the key,
It's the surest way
To unlock your individuality
Melody is the key,
It will set you free!
Don't disrelish harmony,
Community will make you whole
Work and understanding are the chords
Way deep within your soul
They only need to be struck once,
And the vibrations swell and spread
But if we mute them they decay,
Our sensibilities are dead
So let it out! don't just be one of the crowd
Hesitance and diffidence will do you in
And your soul doesn't care
For social medicine
And I've got this hunch
About you and me
None of us are ready
For a world without melody
Melody is the key,
It's the surest way
To unlock your individuality
Melody is the key,
It will set you free!
And I know together we could change the world
Just you and me
But I won't live without melody

England seemed like such a beautiful place from afar
until one day I saw how miserable things really are

all fantastic images they only are apparent
propagated just by hope
and desire to share it

beauty was the allure that brought me close to you
loneliness was the bond that made me stick like glue

all fantastic images they only are apparent
promoted by desperate hope
that things are somewhere better

I don't have a thing against fantasy
but to chase it down just doesn't make sense to me
if your only hope is simply peace and love
you end up discarding most of what you're made of
what you're made of...

all fantastic images they only are apparent
promoted by desperate hope
that things are somewhere better

All Good Soldiers
all good soldiers crack like boulders,
the sun climbs up to a razor,
violins, new boots, and numbers on a chain,
all good soldiers
all good soldiers fall in line,
when they march and shout
are a spectacle,
marching and singing
will go anywhere the president says,
because the president believes in god,
like all good soldiers should
all good soldiers wait like warheads,
when the fighting starts,
who will be accountable,
a cannibal, a cannonball,
six a.m. I can see my breath
and the clay dirt
is laughing at he weakling boy,
today is the day
that I'll write my friends
something I've been trying to remember,
I had a dream of a wall
that was twenty-one stories tall...
all good soldiers fall in line,
marching and singing,
will go anywhere the president says,
because the president believes in god,
like all good soldiers should.

All good soldiers crack like boulders
The sun climbs up to a razon, violins
New boots and numbers on a chain
All good soldiers

All good soldiers fall in line when they march and shout
All good soldiers are a spectacle, marching and singing
They'll go anywhere the president says
Because the president believes in God like all good soldiers should

All good soldiers wait like warheads
When the fighting starts, who will be accountable?
A cannibal, a cannonball
All good soldiers, all soldiers

All good soldiers fall in line when they march and shout
All good soldiers are a spectacle, marching and singing
They'll go anywhere the president says
Because the president believes in God like all good soldiers should

It's six AM, I can see my breath
And the clay dirt is laughing at the weakling boy
Today is the day that I'll write my friends
It's something I've been trying to remember

I had a dream of a wall
That was twenty-one stories tall

All good soldiers fall in line when they march and shout
All good soldiers are a spectacle, marching and singing
They'll go anywhere the president says
Because the president believes in God like all good soldiers should

I refuse to abuse what is kind to the muse
But it's there and it's happening to me along the way
As we go through the snow, we cannot forget our foes
But the dinner's always waiting at the table along the way, yeah

What you see, not for me, isn't what you planned to be
But you'll have what you wanted in the end along the way
And we'll cry as we try and our brothers pass us by
To be strong through the ages of our tears along the way, yeah

Now we grow as we show that the morals we must know
Will be shapen and mistaken by the falls along the way
But forget, don't regret, to find love and happiness
Unless you're willing to be strong when they are gone along the way
Like Tommy, you are free, and you will not follow me
Until we see each other once more on the path along the way

American Jesus
I don't need to be a global citizen,
because I'm blessed by nationality,
I'm a member of a growing populace,
we enforced our popularity
there are things that seem to pull us under
and there are things that drag us down,
but there's a power and a vital presence
that's lurking all around
we've got the american jesus
see him on the interstate,
we've got the american jesus
he helped build the president's estate
I feel sorry for the earth's population
'cuz so few live in the U.S.A,
at least the foreigners can copy our morality,
they can visit but they cannot stay,
only precious few can garner our prosperity,
it makes us walkwith renewed confidence,
we've got a place to go when we die
and the architect resides right here
we've got the american jesus
overwhelming millions every day
(exercising his authority)
he's the farmer barren fields,
the force the army wields,
the expression in the faces
of the starving children,
the power of the man.
he's the fuel that drives the clan,
he's the motive and the conscience
of the murderer
he's the preacher on TV,
the false sincerity,
the form letters that written by
the big computers,
he's the nuclear bombs,
and the kids with no moms
and I'm fearful that
he's inside me.

I don't need to be a global citizen
'Cause I'm blessed by nationality
I'm a member of a growing populace
We enforce our popularity

There are things that seem to pull us under and
There are things that drag us down
But there's a power and a vital presence
It's lurking all around

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
He helped build the president's estate

I feel sorry for the earth's population
'Cause so few live in the USA
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay

Only precious few can garner our prosperity
It makes us walk with renewed confidence
We got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here

We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

He's the farmer's barren fields, the force the army wields
Expressions on the faces of the starving millions
The power of the man, the fuel that drives the klan
He's the motive and the conscience of the murderer

He's the preacher on TV, the false sincerity
The form letter that's written by the big computers
The nuclear bombs, the kids with no moms
And I'm fearful that he's inside me

(In god we trust
Because he's one of us
Break down, cave in
He can redeem your sin

Strong heart, clear mind
And infinitely kind
You lose, we win
He is our champion)

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority

We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

One nation, under God
One nation, under God
One nation, under God
One nation, under God

I don't need to be a global citizen
'Cause I'm blessed by nationality
I'm a member of a growing populace
We enforce our popularity

There are things that seem to pull us under and
There are things that drag us down
But there's a power and a vital presence
It's lurking all around

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
He helped build the president's estate

I feel sorry for the earth's population
'Cause so few live in the USA
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay

Only precious few can garner our prosperity
It makes us walk with renewed confidence
We got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here

We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

He's the farmer's barren fields, the force the army wields
Expressions on the faces of the starving millions
The power of the man, the fuel that drives the klan
He's the motive and the conscience of the murderer

He's the preacher on TV, the false sincerity
The form letter that's written by the big computers
The nuclear bombs, the kids with no moms
And I'm fearful that he's inside me

(In god we trust
Because he's one of us
Break down, cave in
He can redeem your sin

Strong heart, clear mind
And infinitely kind
You lose, we win
He is our champion)

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority

We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

One nation, under God
One nation, under God
One nation, under God
One nation, under God

what you do is what you are
and wishing upon distant stars
won't improve the hole you're in
and won't absolve your deepest sin

but action is no gift from some covert and lofty god
it's dependent and weighty all the same
and it's oh so easy just to keep to yourself
then you're at the mercy of imbeciles

now I didn't make up the rules
but clearly we are led by fools
it is wise to know their ways
so you know how not to behave

but sometimes we find ourselves in desperate need
and we look to those of privilege and power
it's then we learn compassion sits inert upon their shelves
and we're at the mercy of imbeciles

no action is no gift from some masked spirit in the sky
it's reducible to flesh, mind and bone
and it's oh so easy just to keep to yourself
but then you're at the mercy of imbeciles
imbeciles (3x)

Everybody wants to dance in a playpen
But nobody wants to play in my garden
I see the hippies on an angry line
Guess they don't get my meaning

I'm enchanted by the birds and the blossoms
I'm enamored by young lovers on the weekend
I like the Fourth of July
When the bombs start flashing

And I wish I had a shiny red top
A bugle with a big brass bell would cheer me up
Or maybe something bigger that could really go pop
So I could make the gardening stop

Come out to play
Come out to play
And we'll pretend it's Christmas day
In my atomic garden

All my scientists are working on a deadline
So my psychologist is working day and nighttime
They say they know what's best for me
But they don't know what they're doing

And I'm glad I'm not Gorbachev
'Cause I'd wiggle all night like jelly in a pot
At least he's got a garden with a fertile plot
And a party that will never stop

Come out to play
Come out to play
And we'll pretend it's Christmas day
In my atomic garden

I hope there's nothing wrong out there
I'm watching from my room inside my room

It could happen to you,
a defect from the wasted outskirts of los angeles
with a crumpled-up pass for the RTD
And no authority or trajectory
on the brink of insanity
You'd better believe it
because it's written all over your face
just a neighborhood reject,
out of step and out of place
You'd better believe it
Would you ever have thought
persistence could prevail
against the almost
unbearable weight of the system?
With nothing better to do,
and no one else who you can look up to
You'd better believe it
because it's written all over your face
A political defect,
out of step and out of place
You'd better believe it
And the future is bright
when ideas run astray
So turn out the light,
A punk can't have a say
Sometimes desire is all that's there
Who said life was fair?

I'm sorry about the sun
How could I know that you would burn?
And I'm sorry about the moon
How could I know that you'd disapprove?

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure we communicate at length
Oh yeah

But until then, better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head
Better off dead, yeah, better than this
Take it away, 'cause there's nothing to miss

I'm sorry about the world
How could I know you'd take it so bad?

And I'll never make the same mistake
So if you're looking for a patsy, why not try the entire human race?
Just to play it safe

But until then, better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head
Better off dead, yeah, better than this
Take it away, 'cause there's nothing to miss

Better off dead, yeah, better off dead
Why don't you try pushing daisies instead?
Better off dead, yeah better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure you participate
Oh yeah

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure you participate
Just in case

I'm sorry about the sun
How could I know that you would burn?
And I'm sorry about the moon
How could I know that you'd disapprove?

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure we communicate at length
Oh yeah

But until then, better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head
Better off dead, yeah, better than this
Take it away, 'cause there's nothing to miss

I'm sorry about the world
How could I know you'd take it so bad?

And I'll never make the same mistake
So if you're looking for a patsy, why not try the entire human race?
Just to play it safe

But until then, better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head
Better off dead, yeah, better than this
Take it away, 'cause there's nothing to miss

Better off dead, yeah, better off dead
Why don't you try pushing daisies instead?
Better off dead, yeah better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure you participate
Oh yeah

And I'll never make the same mistake
The next time I create the universe I'll make sure you participate
Just in case

Cease
blacktop pavement cover me
like a chemical reaction or a steam roller
spreading randomly
there's a distant and a low frequency
it tickles my ear, it rumbles under my feet
and it shakes the leaves off of every tree (violently)
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease
institution on the Hill
like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor
to ignite a people's will
there's a shadowed stain on the west facade
it has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
and the descendants find oh so odd
(oh so odd)
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease
grave memorial hewn white stone
like the comforting caress of a mother
or a friend you've always known
it evokes such pain and significance
and the generations pass without recompense
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease.

Well, the sheaves have all been brought
But the fields have washed away
And the palaces now stand
Where the coffins all were laid

And the times we see ahead
We must glaze with rosy hues
For we don't wish to admit
What it is we have to lose

Millennia incoming
The modern age is here
It sanctifies the future
Yet renders us with fear

So many theories, so many prophecies
What we do need is a change of ideas
When we are scared we can hide in our reveries
But what we need is a change of ideas

Change of ideas, change of ideas
What we need now is a change of ideas

You took a time bomb and a case of crackers
And you made a maelstrom of organic debris
Then you took a workbench and a rusty anvil
And you polished them for everyone to see

You have created an unhealthy monster
But you're nowhere but nowhere to be found
So I guess I'll just cope with my provisions
From now until the day they lay me down

You took a baboon and made him perfect
You took a lion and stripped him of his pride
Then you took a million more varities, a scalpel and a sartory
And you stitched up a horrible surprise

You have created an unsocial monster
And you're searched for all over the globe
And most believe that things would sure be better
If you'd come down here and tell us what you know

Who is to blame for this, someone tell me please
His handiwork is flawed and it's there for everyone to see
Mutations, aberrations and blatant anomalies
They multiply and give rise to this monstrosity

You took the most abundant, smallest bits of matter
And you instilled them with affinity
And then you stratified accumulations, weeded out bad variations
And blended up your unique recipe

You have created a powerful monster
With direction and purpose all its own
And if you were here, would things be any different?
Or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?

Come Join Us
so you say you gotta know why the world goes round
and you can't find the truth in the things you've found
and you're scared shitless cuz evil abounds
come and join us
well I heard you were looking for a place to fit in
full of adherent people with the same objective
a family to cling to and call brethren
come and join us
all we want to do is change your mind
all you need to do is close your eyes
so come and join us
come and join us
come and join us
don't you see the trouble that most people are in
and that they just want you for their own advantage
but I swear to you we're different from all of them
come and join us
I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live
where truth is determined by consensus
full of codified arbitrary directives
come and join us
all we want to have is your small mind

turn it into one of our own kind
you can go through life adrift and alone
desperate, desolate, on your own
but we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones
so come and join us
come and join us
come and join us
we've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew
the world hates us, well we hate them too
but you're exempted of course if you
come and join us
independent, self-contented, revolutionary
intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly
if you're not one of them, you're us already so
come and join us.

Hey, do what you want, but don't do it around me
Idleness and dissipation breed apathy
I sit on my ass all goddamn day
A misanthropic anthropoid with nothing to

Say what you must, do all you can
Break all the fucking rules and
Go to hell with Superman and
Die like a champion, yeah hey!

Hey, I don't know if the billions will survive
But I'll believe in God when 1 and 1 are 5
My moniker is man and I'm rotten to the core
I'll tear down the building just to pass through the door

So do what you must, do all you can
Break all the fucking rules and
Go to hell with Superman and
Die like a champion, yeah hey!

a grizzly scene on my electron beam
told a story about human rights
so all of Kings horses
and all of Kings men
had a riot
for two days and nights
Well, the city exploded
but the gates wouldn't open
so the company asked him to quit
Now everybody's equal
Just don't measure it
Well Hanson did it hester
and Mark David did it to John
and maybe Jack dit it to Marilyn
but he did it to South Vietnam
for beauty and glory
for money, love and country
Everybody's doing it,
Don't do that to me
I don't know what stopped
Jesus Christ from turning
every hungry stone into bread
and i don't remember hearing
how Moses reacted
when the innocent first born sons
lay dead
Well I guess
God was a lot more demonstrative
back when he
flamboyantly parted the sea
now everybody's praying
Don't prey on me

A grizzly scene on my electron beam told a story about human rights
So all the king's horses and all the king's men had a riot for two days and nights
Well the city exploded but the gates wouldn't open so the company asked him to quit
Now everybody's equal, just don't measure it

Well Hanson did it to Hester and Mark David did it to John
And maybe Jack did it to Marilyn, but he did it to South Vietnam
For beauty and glory, for money, love and country
Now everybody's doing it, don't do that to me

A bitter debate and a feminine fate lie in tandem like two precious babes
While the former gets warmer, it's the latter that matters, except on the nation's airwaves
And custodians of public opinion state facts after vainly discussing her rights
Lay hands off her body, it's not your fucking life

Now I don't know what stopped Jesus Christ from turning every hungry stone into bread
And I don't remember hearing how Moses reacted when the innocent firstborn sons lay dead
Well I guess God was a lot more demonstrative back when he flamboyantly parted the sea
Now everybody's praying, don't prey on me

Said everybody's praying, don't prey on me

we don't need any more mountains
Because the trail builders
failed to give us passage there
so we can't reach the sky
We don't need any more failure
There is human tragedy
that's written everywhere
And we are all too young to die
Like a mystery that's here to stay
Some people never go away
cuz they've got something to say
Don't sell me short!
You've been wrong too long
Don't brush me off
just because I don't belong
Like it or not I'm all you've got,
Dispose when I'm shot
Just don't sell me short,
I might not be who you thought
We don't need any more fables
because the writers have passed
and left us lessonless
And we must find our own way
We don't need any more privilege
There is vivid desperation
that is powerless
That no surplus can repay
Like the fix of rapture in a trance
Oh, fates are sealed by circumstance
So you've got to take a chance
Don't sell me short!
You've been wrong too long
Don't brush me off
Just because I don't belong
Pass me on by, ignore my cry,
forget me when I die
Just don't sell me short,
Not while I'm still alive
Everybody's talking about heaven on earth,
I'm still trying to figure out
just what I'm worth
I'm full of emotion
and stuff you can't contain
And you just want to
flush me down the drain
But you can't make me go away

I had a dream...of unity
Where we could walk side by side
But today I see that it's only me
Just trying to get by

Sometimes we stride...undetoured
To walk as one... Toward our goal
But as people stray towards more selfish ways
We see we have no control

I had a dream... of unity
Where we would walk side by side
But today i see that it's only me
Just tryin' to get by just tryin' to get by

Drunk Sincerity
the smell of virgin pages wafted through the swinging doors
and the croaking speech he'd heard from countries counselors before
they said "we all care for you, we know how you suffer
but I know you can succed, I used to have it so much rougher"
there's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
it's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
and like fools we trust the delivery
but it's all just drunk sincerity
in maternal family assembly poised regarding the blue tube
the numbers crept up higher and the hawks stayed out of view
then the generals said "we dont want our boys dead
your sons and your husbands will be coming back heroes soon"
with steam, heat, and rhythm in the back seat of the car
and adolescent perspective projecting life's forecast to the stars
you heard love from the lips and you were rapt by the hips
and the promise was eternal but you couldn't see that far.

The smell of virgin pages wafted through the swinging doors
And the croaking speech he'd heard from countless counselors before
They said we all care for you, we know how you suffer
But I know you can succeed, I used to have it so much rougher

There's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
It's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
And like fools we trust the delivery
But it's all just drunk sincerity, it's all just drunk sincerity

In maternal family assembly, poised regarding the blue tube
The numbers crept up higher and the hawks stayed out of view
Then the generals said "We don't want our boys dead
Your sons and your husbands will be coming back heroes soon"

There's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
It's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
And like fools we trust the delivery
But it's all just drunk sincerity, it's all just drunk sincerity

With steam, heat and rhythm in the backseat of the car
An adolescent perspective projecting life's forecast to the stars
You heard love from the lips, you were rapt by the hips
And the promise was eternal but you couldn't see that far

There's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
It's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
And like fools we trust the delivery
But it's all just drunk sincerity, it's all just drunk sincerity

It's all just drunk sincerity
It is all just drunk sincerity

Empty Causes
everwhere you looked there was confusion, violence, drama and drugs
so many righteous revolutionaries spouting utopian love
everyone shrouded in purple haze
then one day they woke up from their dream state
they found themselves no more at peace than before
older, meek, and conformed
empty causes
a bluster for the soul, a fix for their mind
empty causes
cling to everything you find
well, the shots rang out like popcorn and the Chief was hit and rushed out of sight
the mohawk-chain, leather brigade rejoiced maliciously on that night
someone cried out "fuck the government"
his mates couldn't define what he meant
so no one gave him the time of day
and the scene died away
empty causes
a war for the body, an army in the mind
empty causes
losing steam as time goes by
could it be that everybody selfishly desires their own personal retinue
and that causes are just manifestations of too much time and far to little to do
empty causes
direction for the soul, conviction for the mind
empty causes
cling to everything you find
empty causes
you've got yours and I've got mine.

Come and see the brilliant light
Don't let your emotions mask your sight
It's the manifestation of a deeper fight
That affects me and you

My optimism was running high
A new world order was on my mind
But I couldn't believe it when I heard them say
They're throwing it away

The fertile crescent is burning today and baby, my emotions are too
The cradle of humanity has led us all astray
And we're all in this together, don't you know
'Cause our species has nowhere else to go

Aggression rears its ugly head
Retaliation brings further dread
The two are linked by unseen threads
That wind back through time

I don't agree with this outdated trend
Nationalism is an evil friend
But hatred is instilled by invisible lines
Drawn in our minds

And the fertile crescent is haunting us today, and baby, our instincts are too
The ghost of humanity is warning us this way
And I think we all should heed it, don't you know
'Cause we don't know where else to go

there's people out there that say I'm no good,
'cause I don't believe the things that I should,
and when the final conflict comes, I'll be so sorry I did wrong,
and hope and pray that our lord god will think I'm good.

countries manufacture bombs and guns
to kill your brother for something that he hasn't even done.
smog is ruining my lungs, but they aren't sorry they've done wrong,
they hide behind their lies that they're helping everyone.

in the end the good will go to heaven up above,
the bad will perish in the depths of hell.
how can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?

fuck Armageddon, this is hell

we're living in the denoument of the battle's gripping awe,
so what's the use of being good to satisfy them all?

how could hell be any worse?
life alone is such a curse!
fuck Armageddon, this is hell

Generator - Bad Religion

Like a rock, like a planet
Like a fucking atom bomb
I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness
that I encounter everywhere I turn,
I've seen it all before,
in books and magazines,
like a twitch before dying,
like a pornographic sea,
there's a flower behind the window,
there's an ugly laughing man,
like a hummingbird in silence,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door,
wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore,
I've known it all along like the bone under my skin,
like actors in a photograph,
like paper in the wind,
there's a hammer by the window,
there's a knife on the floor,
like turbines in darkness,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

Generator - Bad Religion

Like a rock, like a planet
Like a fucking atom bomb
I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness
that I encounter everywhere I turn,
I've seen it all before,
in books and magazines,
like a twitch before dying,
like a pornographic sea,
there's a flower behind the window,
there's an ugly laughing man,
like a hummingbird in silence,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door,
wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore,
I've known it all along like the bone under my skin,
like actors in a photograph,
like paper in the wind,
there's a hammer by the window,
there's a knife on the floor,
like turbines in darkness,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

And did those feet in ancient times
Trod on America's pastures of green?
And did that anthropocentric God
Wane with their thoughts and beliefs all unseen?

I don't think so
He's up there with the others laying low
Vying with those
Who you've traded your life to to bless your soul

And have they told you how to think
Cleansed your mind of sepsis and autonomy?
Or have you escaped from scrutiny
And regaled yourself with depravity?

Now we all see
Religion is just synthetic frippery
Unnecessary
In our expanding global culture of efficiency

Now we all fear
This impasse we have built to our future
Ever so near, ever so near
And oh so austere

The Gray Race
the framework of the world
is black and white
the infrastructure builders
flex their might
turning true emotion
into digital expression
one by one we all fall down
the gray race shrivels
trapped inside the world it creates
it's black and white
the perputual destructive
motion machine
began to chart a course
never before seen
turning raw compassion
into fields of plus and minus
one by one we all give in
the gray race shrivels
trapped inside the world it creates
it's black and white
I'd swear there were times when I was someone else
a person with determination and knowledge of the self
but you flattened me to rubble and now I can see that I'm
just faded negative of the image I used to be
and that's our dilemma.

like a morning crow and his unwelcome song
or a worn-out broken record that keeps skipping along
mountains of instructions you keep piling on me
resound like a cacophonous symphony
but I don't wanna hear it anymore
no, I don't wanna hear it anymore
let's go!

priests and politicians pretend they're your friend
and police speak to you like you're children again
blanket statements cover you like a rug
and they tell me maybe I'm acting a little too smug
but I don't wanna hear it anymore
no, I don't wanna hear it anymore
no more!

every day we hear the secrets of life
reduced to cheap jokes, poetry, and friendly advice
they'd rather see us all pusillanimous
absorbent in their chorus of correctness
but I don't wanna hear it anymore
no, I don't wanna hear it anymore
I said, I don't wanna hear it anymore
No, I don't wanna hear it anymore

As I walk beneath the valley
I shall fear no evil
'Cause thanks to King George and his rainbow cabinet
Today murder is legal

God, I know that it's wrong
To kill my brother for what he hasn't done
And as the planes blacken the sky
It sounds like heaven is falling

It sounds like heaven is falling
You promise me a new day a-dawning
I see a thousand points of light
Like so many points of hatred, shame, and horror

God, I want to be a man
But I don't want to die with a rifle in my hand
And as the planes blacken the sky
It sounds like heaven is falling

It sounds like heaven is falling
You promise me a new day a-dawning
Well, nothing here looks new to me
But a score of mothers' sons caught between the devil and the deep blue sea

Well, I can see my teenage father standing straight on a desolate corner
In the shadow of tentacled towers by the red light of America
I imagine how his mother felt
When she heard that her husband was dying

And the underground heroes of the tarmac shooting smack
Were blowing up worlds and damned out loud
Hey, can you tell me, how does it feel?
Yeah, tell me

Can you imagine for a second
Doing anything that you don't have to?
Well, that's what I'm accustomed to
So hooray for me and fuck you!

When I slept with stony faces on the riverbank
My angel-devil reveller shook me desperately in dying
I don't exactly want to apologize for anything

And now we're all mad and tangled
In secret rooms with roman candles
On an endless graveyard train
Yeah, tell me

Can you imagine for a second
Doing anything just 'cause you want to?
Well, that's just what I do
So hooray for me and fuck you!

Yeah, I was dreaming through the "how's life," yawning, car black in that night
When she told me "mad and meaningless as ever"
And a song came on my radio like a cemetery rhyme
For a million crying voices in their tragedy of respectable existence

Tell me, can you imagine for a second
Trying half the things you ever wanted to?
Well, that's just what I do
So hooray for me

Oh yeah, I'm not respectable, never sensible
Maybe incredible, so damned irascible
I like the things I do
So hooray for me and fuck you!

Well, I can see my teenage father standing straight on a desolate corner
In the shadow of tentacled towers by the red light of America
I imagine how his mother felt
When she heard that her husband was dying

And the underground heroes of the tarmac shooting smack
Were blowing up worlds and damned out loud
Hey, can you tell me, how does it feel?
Yeah, tell me

Can you imagine for a second
Doing anything that you don't have to?
Well, that's what I'm accustomed to
So hooray for me and fuck you!

When I slept with stony faces on the riverbank
My angel-devil reveller shook me desperately in dying
I don't exactly want to apologize for anything

And now we're all mad and tangled
In secret rooms with roman candles
On an endless graveyard train
Yeah, tell me

Can you imagine for a second
Doing anything just 'cause you want to?
Well, that's just what I do
So hooray for me and fuck you!

Yeah, I was dreaming through the "how's life," yawning, car black in that night
When she told me "mad and meaningless as ever"
And a song came on my radio like a cemetery rhyme
For a million crying voices in their tragedy of respectable existence

Tell me, can you imagine for a second
Trying half the things you ever wanted to?
Well, that's just what I do
So hooray for me

Oh yeah, I'm not respectable, never sensible
Maybe incredible, so damned irascible
I like the things I do
So hooray for me and fuck you!

I love my computer
You make me feel alright
Every waking hour
and every lonely night
I love my computer
for all you give to me:
predictable errors and no identity
And it's never been quite so easy
I've never been quite so happy
All I need to do is click on you
and we'll be joined
in the most soul-less way
And we'll never ruin each other's day
'cuz when I'm through I just click
and you just go away
I love my computer
you're always in the mood
I get so turned on
when I turn on you
I love my computer
you never ask for more
You can be a princess
or you can be my whore
And it's never been quite so easy
I've never been quite so happy
The world outside is so big
but it's safe in my domain
Because to you
I'm just a number
and a clever screen name
All I need to do is click on you
and we'll be together for eternity
And no one is ever gonna take my love
from me because I've got security
her password and a key

I can see the shadows on the wall
drifting as the leaves start to fall
unfazed by rugosity, the objects yield to gravity
and depict the destiny of us all

no one really knows why we die
no one gets a break so we try
ignoring mortality, we worship mediocrity
and wait to see what happens up on high

in so many ways we live to follow the sun
in so many ways we exalt and fail as one
in so many ways we want so bad to be done
in so many ways we show our pain in unison
unison (2x)

something in you is busy counting days
catapulting you through the haze
blind to virtuosity, ignorant of your sanctity
revealing you in so many ways

in so many ways we live to follow the sun
in so many ways we tend to rise and fall as one
in so many ways we want so bad to be done
in so many ways we show our pain in unison
unison (2x)

in so many ways we live to follow the sun
in so many ways we exalt and fail as one
in so many ways we want so bad to be done
in so many ways we show our pain in unison
unison (2x)

Mother, father
Look at your little monster
I'm a hero, I'm a zero
I'm the butt of the worst joke in history

I'm a lock without a key, a city with no door
A prayer without faith, a show without a score
I'm a bad word, a wink, a nod, a shiver
An untold story, sex without purity, a creeping gray memory

I am incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete

Doctor, cure me
What is the cause of my condition?
This madness shoots me
Like bullets smashing glass in a silent movie

I'm a trap without a spring, a temple with no god
A jack without an ace, the tip of your tongue
I'm a promise in an unmailed letter
An unbuilt motor, deck without a joker, a creeping gray memory

I am incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete

Tell Saint Peter not to bet on me
I've got a naked obsession
A good intention gone bad

I am incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete

Individuals run for cover for the multitudes of thoughtless clones
Have reached a critical mass, have reached a critical mass
Individuals hide in fear undercover, sheltered by the wafer
Thin veil of intelligence, thin veil of intelligence

Individuals, nowhere to be seen

Urbana is oozing like a bloated carcass with maggots
Cooking in the desert heat, cooking in the desert heat
Oozing with progeny writhing and desperate for input from
Someone more determined, someone more determined

Congregated in invisible circles
Half apart and half apart
All too aware of the insignificance
Pushing on with soul and heart

Individuals don't pray for forgiveness when pinned up against the wall
Under siege of persecution, under siege of persecution
Individuals command exception and accept dichotomy
Maybe you can't choose anymore, maybe you can't choose anymore

Procreation without gain or purpose
Languid wills and torpid minds
Catapulted ever faster by the arrow of time
You take yours and I'll keep mine

Individuals run for cover for the multitudes of thoughtless clones
Have reached a critical mass, have reached a critical mass
Individuals hide in fear undercover, sheltered by the wafer
Thin veil of intelligence, thin veil of intelligence

Individuals, nowhere to be seen

Urbana is oozing like a bloated carcass with maggots
Cooking in the desert heat, cooking in the desert heat
Oozing with progeny writhing and desperate for input from
Someone more determined, someone more determined

Congregated in invisible circles
Half apart and half apart
All too aware of the insignificance
Pushing on with soul and heart

Individuals don't pray for forgiveness when pinned up against the wall
Under siege of persecution, under siege of persecution
Individuals command exception and accept dichotomy
Maybe you can't choose anymore, maybe you can't choose anymore

Procreation without gain or purpose
Languid wills and torpid minds
Catapulted ever faster by the arrow of time
You take yours and I'll keep mine

Now here I go, hope I don't break down
I won't take anything, I don't need anything
Don't want to exist, I can't persist
Please stop before I do it again

Just talk about nothing
Let's talk about nothing
Let's talk about no one
Please talk about no one, someone, anyone

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

I'm on the edge, get against the wall
I'm so distracted, I'd like to strike you
Here's my confession, you learned your lesson
Stop me before I do it again

Just talk about nothing
Let's talk about nothing
Let's talk about no one
Please talk about no one, someone, anyone

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

You're clear as a heavy lead curtain
Want to drill you like an ocean
We can work it out, I've been running out
Now I'm running out, don't be mad about it, baby

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

I want to tie you, crucify you
Kneel before you, revile your body
You and me, we're made in heaven
I want to take you, I want to break you
Supplicate you with thorny roses

You and me are incurable
I want to bathe you in holy water
I want to kill you upon the altar
You and me, you and me

Now here I go, hope I don't break down
I won't take anything, I don't need anything
Don't want to exist, I can't persist
Please stop before I do it again

Just talk about nothing
Let's talk about nothing
Let's talk about no one
Please talk about no one, someone, anyone

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

I'm on the edge, get against the wall
I'm so distracted, I'd like to strike you
Here's my confession, you learned your lesson
Stop me before I do it again

Just talk about nothing
Let's talk about nothing
Let's talk about no one
Please talk about no one, someone, anyone

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

You're clear as a heavy lead curtain
Want to drill you like an ocean
We can work it out, I've been running out
Now I'm running out, don't be mad about it, baby

You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
I'm afflicted, you're addicted
You and me, you and me

I want to tie you, crucify you
Kneel before you, revile your body
You and me, we're made in heaven
I want to take you, I want to break you
Supplicate you with thorny roses

You and me are incurable
I want to bathe you in holy water
I want to kill you upon the altar
You and me, you and me

Automatons with business suits, swinging black boxes
Sequestering the blueprints of daily life
Contented, free of care, they rejoice in morning ritual
As they file like drone ant colonies to their office in the sky

I don't ask questions, don't promote demonstrations
Don't look for new consensus, don't stray from constitution
If I pierce the complexity I won't find salvation
Just the bald and overt truth of the evil and deception

There is an inner logic and we're taught to stay far from it
And it's simple and elegant
But it's cruel and antithetic
And there's no effort to reveal it

Graduated mentors stroll in marbled brick porticos
In sagacious dialog they despise their average ways
Betraying pomp and discipline, they mold their institution
Where they practice exclusion on the masses every day

I don't ask questions, don't promote demonstrations
Don't look for new consensus, don't stray from constitution
If I pierce the complexity I won't find salvation
Just the bald and overt truth of the evil and deception

There is an inner logic and we're taught to stay far from it
And it's simple and elegant
But it's cruel and antithetic
And there's no effort to reveal it

Decorated warriors drill harmless kids on pavement
Simulating tyranny under red alert
Protecting the opulent and staging moral standard
They expect redemption of character and self-worth

Decorated warriors drill harmless kids on pavement
Simulating tyranny under red alert
Protecting the opulent and staging moral standard
They expect redemption of character and self-growth

No equality, no opportunity
No tolerance for the progressive alternative

Automatons with business suits, swinging black boxes
Sequestering the blueprints of daily life
Contented, free of care, they rejoice in morning ritual
As they file like drone ant colonies to their office in the sky

I don't ask questions, don't promote demonstrations
Don't look for new consensus, don't stray from constitution
If I pierce the complexity I won't find salvation
Just the bald and overt truth of the evil and deception

There is an inner logic and we're taught to stay far from it
And it's simple and elegant
But it's cruel and antithetic
And there's no effort to reveal it

Graduated mentors stroll in marbled brick porticos
In sagacious dialog they despise their average ways
Betraying pomp and discipline, they mold their institution
Where they practice exclusion on the masses every day

I don't ask questions, don't promote demonstrations
Don't look for new consensus, don't stray from constitution
If I pierce the complexity I won't find salvation
Just the bald and overt truth of the evil and deception

There is an inner logic and we're taught to stay far from it
And it's simple and elegant
But it's cruel and antithetic
And there's no effort to reveal it

Decorated warriors drill harmless kids on pavement
Simulating tyranny under red alert
Protecting the opulent and staging moral standard
They expect redemption of character and self-worth

Decorated warriors drill harmless kids on pavement
Simulating tyranny under red alert
Protecting the opulent and staging moral standard
They expect redemption of character and self-growth

No equality, no opportunity
No tolerance for the progressive alternative

It's a long way to the promise land
So you'd better well know your way
There's a ship on the ocean
And an albatross who is trying to lead you astray
Leaders, politicians, and power whores
Are in line to receive your choice
And you bet your ass, if you give it to them,
They will gladly take your voice
And it's a long way to the promise land
Wo-oh Oh oh oh oh
It's a long way to the promise land,
If we work we might find it here
There's no substitute for enlightenment,
There's no reason for bridled fear
When you join the people who've joined the club
You gotta clench and play your hand
'Cuz if you fall in line you're gonna fall in time
And you'll never make a stand
It's a long way to the promise land
Wo-oh Oh oh oh oh
What are you going to do?
When they come for you?
Bend and capitulate?
Or keep your head on straight?
easy answers bought without experience,
Is gonna lead you to certain doom
Because the truth is just what you make of it,
It begins and ends with you!
And it's a long way to the promise land
Wo-oh oh oh oh oh

Hoarding turns allure to discontent
Altruism's a grind all it's own
Morning makes you know your in a cell
But love is just as pure as you both

Because it's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,

When true love is metaphysical
Venal desires we learn to beset
You and me we've got a special thing
But i want you to never forget

It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal

Each bedtime I
Stir with regret
Guilty and vain,
Hoping for retribution

Charity's immune from my demands
I don't expect a thing from the weak
But you my love are measured and compared
Predisposed to my profane decree

It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal,
It's reciprocal

It's reciprocal!

Kerosene
everywhere I look I see exclusive huddled
uninviting shelter is privilege,
of the sane and competent,
kerosene keeps me warm,
I'm alone to watch it burn,
kerosene
exposure, is a pitiful
and pointless way of dying
before it gets me,
I'll set a funeral pyre
kerosene keeps me warm,
I'm alone to watch it burn,
kerosene
I'm a man and my dignity
won't wave,
tonight buildings rage,
kerosene keeps me warm,
it feels so good
to watch it burn,
kerosene keeps me warm,
feels so good to watch it burn,
kerosene.

Everywhere I look I see
Exclusive huddled uninviting
Shelter is a privilege
Of the sane and competent

Kerosene keeps me warm
I'm alone to watch it burn
Kerosene

Exposure
Is a pitiful and pointless way of dying
Before it gets me
I'll build a funeral pyre

Kerosene keeps me warm
I'm alone to watch it burn
Kerosene

I'm a man and my dignity won't wave
Tonight buildings rage

Kerosene keeps me warm
Feels so good to watch it burn
Kerosene

Kerosene keeps me warm
I'm alone to watch it burn
Kerosene

Kerosene keeps me warm
Feels so good to watch it burn
Kerosene

Kerosene keeps me warm
Feels so good to watch it burn
Kerosene

There are desperate times upon us, there are codes of white and black
Political resentment and people start to crack
There's hate and opposition, there's fumbling dialog
Yet you sit there and judge me and you think it makes a difference

If you think I'm all alone you are foolishly wrong
There's an entire army who blindly follow along
And you happen to be one of them, believe it or not
Even though you try not to be, we are of the same plague

The other ways we're taught to fear
Don't even scratch the surface of the problem here
But I'm not blind and I'm not scared
So many crucial factors exist out there
And we're but one and they're but two
And how we come to terms will help us pull through

Things cannot change too fast, it took us this much time
To reach our current platform and walk this fragile line
If I thought I'd make a difference, I'd kill myself today
But so many are like me, lost in the fray

You create your own reality
And leave mine to me, leave mine to me
Leave mine to me, leave mine to me

There are desperate times upon us, there are codes of white and black
Political resentment and people start to crack
There's hate and opposition, there's fumbling dialog
Yet you sit there and judge me and you think it makes a difference

If you think I'm all alone you are foolishly wrong
There's an entire army who blindly follow along
And you happen to be one of them, believe it or not
Even though you try not to be, we are of the same plague

The other ways we're taught to fear
Don't even scratch the surface of the problem here
But I'm not blind and I'm not scared
So many crucial factors exist out there
And we're but one and they're but two
And how we come to terms will help us pull through

Things cannot change too fast, it took us this much time
To reach our current platform and walk this fragile line
If I thought I'd make a difference, I'd kill myself today
But so many are like me, lost in the fray

You create your own reality
And leave mine to me, leave mine to me
Leave mine to me, leave mine to me

There are desperate times upon us, there are codes of white and black
Political resentment and people start to crack
There's hate and opposition, there's fumbling dialog
Yet you sit there and judge me and you think it makes a difference

If you think I'm all alone you are foolishly wrong
There's an entire army who blindly follow along
And you happen to be one of them, believe it or not
Even though you try not to be, we are of the same plague

The other ways we're taught to fear
Don't even scratch the surface of the problem here
But I'm not blind and I'm not scared
So many crucial factors exist out there
And we're but one and they're but two
And how we come to terms will help us pull through

Things cannot change too fast, it took us this much time
To reach our current platform and walk this fragile line
If I thought I'd make a difference, I'd kill myself today
But so many are like me, lost in the fray

You create your own reality
And leave mine to me, leave mine to me
Leave mine to me, leave mine to me

Let your mind wander
Look beyond the shadows
Focus on the skyline,
Read the silhouettes
Your deepest desires
are a picture of tomorrow
All your darkest fears
are just a vestige of regret
And it's wo-oh oh oh
It seems like such a long way to go
As obstacles get bigger,
prevailing winds blow stronger
and the fire continues to grow
Don't let shallow water limit your perception
Heed the new horizon
Muster to it fast
The moments of your yesterdays
are in the wake behind you
You can't assess the future
if you're living in the past
Keep it stoked!
If you are committed
to a life of understanding
then there's no agenda
for vengeance in your life
Sharpen all your senses,
face the opposition
You can overcome
with fortitude and mental might
And it's wo-oh oh oh
It seems like such a long way to go
As obstacles get bigger,
prevailing winds blow stronger
and the fire continues to grow
in your soul
So be bold, let it grow
Don't let it die
Let it burn!

suddenly, it came to me
a potent dosage of reality
i saw myself in the broad daylight
and it made me think
about life
im not the kinda guy
who nods his head
with closed eyes
i scoff at labels
i defy censuses
and despise group mentality
all along i through
that this was only human
but i know now that
i'm in the minority
i'm lookin' in
now i think in relation to
my fellow man
and what strives to do we fail to see
theres no compromise
our evolution
is our demise
one day you may find
that you are also one of me
a micrososm
of the human race
observing those around us
desiring to belong
behing the guise of salvation
we suffer along the way
we're lookin' in

Suddenly it came to me
A potent dosage of reality
I saw myself in the broad daylight
And it made me think about life

I am not the kind of guy
Who nods his head with closed eyes
I scoff at labels, defy censuses
And despise group mentality

All along I thought that this was only human
But I know now that I'm in the minority
I'm lookin' in, lookin' in
Lookin' in, I'm lookin' in

Now I think in relation to
My fellow man and what he strives to do
We fail to see there's no compromise
Our evolution is our demise

One day you mind you're also one of me
A complex microcosm of the human race
Observing those around us, desiring to belong
Behind the guise of salvation we suffer all along the way

We're lookin' in, lookin' in
Lookin' in, we're lookin' in
Lookin' in, lookin' in
Lookin' in, we're lookin' in

Man With a Mission
rescue me when I get to deep,
talk to me there's nothing to tell,
everyone, is a hypocrite, look to me,
I'll save your soul,
now somebody out there must be reading my mail,
cuz everybody knows,
I'm a man with a mission,
coming to your town today,
I can damn you to fiery prodititon,
cuz I'm a man with a mission,
follow me, when you give up,
work for me, it'll serve you well,
everyone's a hypocrite,
come to me, I'll save your soul
now somebody out there must be tapping my phone,
'cuz everybody knows,
I'm a man with a mission,
I'm gonna fly you away,
high above the noise and competition,
yeah, I'm a man with a mission,
I'm a man with a mission,
passing through your town today,
I condemn you to fiery prodition,
yeah, I'm a man with a mission.

Rescue me when I get too deep
Talk to me, there's nothing to tell
Everyone is a hypocrite
Look to me, I'll save your soul

Now somebody out there must be reading my mail
'Cause everybody knows

Follow me when you give up
Work for me, it'll serve you well
Everyone is a hypocrite
Come to me, I'll save your soul

Now somebody out there must be tapping my phone
'Cause everybody knows

I'm a man with a mission
I'm gonna fly you away
High above the noise and competition
I'm a man with a mission

Somebody out there must be reading my mail
'Cause everybody knows

I'm a man with a mission
Passing through your town today
I'll condemn you to fiery perdition
I'm a man with a mission

If I'm a monster, I am a willing one
This roller coaster ride is an enticing one
On the tip of a continuum flowing wavelike through disorder
Carrying me like a vessel through water

And everything you see leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you feel leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you touch leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you make leaves a mark on your soul

If I can touch it, I can destroy it
If it's imaginable to some degree I can become it
Like a hungry turning cortex that just flickers to existence
Consuming bits and pieces 'til I'm finally extinguished

And everyone you see leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you bear leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you touch leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you love leaves a mark on your soul

And everything you take leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you give leaves a mark on your soul
And all the fear and loneliness that's impossible to control
And every tear you cry leaves a mark on your soul

If I'm a monster, I am a willing one
This roller coaster ride is an enticing one
On the tip of a continuum flowing wavelike through disorder
Carrying me like a vessel through water

And everything you see leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you feel leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you touch leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you make leaves a mark on your soul

If I can touch it, I can destroy it
If it's imaginable to some degree I can become it
Like a hungry turning cortex that just flickers to existence
Consuming bits and pieces 'til I'm finally extinguished

And everyone you see leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you bear leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you touch leaves a mark on your soul
Everyone you love leaves a mark on your soul

And everything you take leaves a mark on your soul
Everything you give leaves a mark on your soul
And all the fear and loneliness that's impossible to control
And every tear you cry leaves a mark on your soul

look around the country, an abundance you'll find
of mediocre minds
sift through the fodder as sane justice declines
because of mediocre minds
shrouded under cover, the most flamboyant guise
hides a mediocre mind
you got yours but you can never bend mine
with your mediocre minds

when they cry foul you had better watch out
because you never know which aptitude they're griping about
don't act too smart for their stenoscopic ways
you'll be discarded away

reason's not to be what the privileged define
with their mediocre minds
so many sighted people are so helplessly blind
from their mediocre minds

if you want attention then you'll be asked to bend
but the surest insurrection is enlightenment
then you can live outside inharmoniously
without friends and enemy

they wanna keep me locked away
cuz I've an overactive brain

leaders, presidents and the nightly news guys
cater to mediocre minds
reason's not to be what the privileged define
with their mediocre minds
you got yours but you can never bend mine
with your mediocre minds
the only natural thing that I really despise
are the mediocre minds
mediocre minds! (2x)

Take those potatoes out of your ears
Listen to the warnings, verify all your fears
There's a world outside that's ready to blow
And we're all to blame when it finally explodes

You gotta listen up
Gotta listen to what they're saying to you
Gotta listen up
And think about what they're telling you

Temperature is rising but the odorous way
Will bury us alive in what we throw away
If we don't reuse most of our debris
Our kids can't go with a carbon copy

You gotta listen up
Gotta listen to what I'm telling you
Gotta listen up
And think about what I'm saying to you

They're the modern day catastrophists
They've got practical solutions
They're the self-appointed righteous pragmatists
And they know fifty ways to save the world

What makes you think you can cure our disease?
Maybe it's just our biology
Maybe it's time to make room for another species
This is the 21st century

You gotta listen up
Gotta think about what they're saying to you
Gotta listen up
And think about what they're telling you

They're the modern day catastrophists
They've know all the right equations
They're the self-appointed righteous pragmatists
And you too can be one of the few to save the world

But you gotta listen up
Gotta think about what they're telling you
Gotta listen up
And do exactly what they tell you to

They're the modern day catastrophists
Modern day catastrophists
Modern day catastrophists
Modern day catastrophists

listen to the warnings
verify all your fears
there's a world outside
that's ready to blow
and we're all to blame
when it finally explodes
you gotta listen up
gotta listen to what
they're telling you
gotta listen up and think
about what they're saying to you
they're the modern day catastrophists
they've got practical solutions
(know all the right equations)
they're the self-appointed
righteous pragmatists
and they know 50 ways
to save the world
what makes you think
you can cure our disease?
maybe its just our biology
maybe its time to make room
for another species
this is the 21st Century

My Poor Friend Me
I know a man who doesn't have many friends,
I know a place where he lives where trouble never ends,
I know it's hard for him to read 'tween the lines,
and his day are getting so much shorter,
he simply turns away instead of bearing down,
his ship is crumbling,
his crew is one of the clowns,
he doesn't care as long as he can wear the crown,
I know this man all too well,
it's my poor friend me,
a portrayal of the great dichotomy
(a reminder of a tragic history),
it's my poor friend me
and I'm running out of steam
I know there are people who are cynical and vane,
they point their finger cuz they can't accept the blame,
they live their lives under a blanket of shame and their
progeny crawl from underneath it,
lately I've come to see the solution,
and it begins with me,
but I'm so fallibly human,
I've picked the lot.

I know a man who doesn't have many friends
I know a place he lives where trouble never ends
I know it's hard for him to read between the lines
And his days are getting so much shorter

He simply turns away and dons a bitter frown
His world is crumbling, his ship is waited down
He doesn't care as long as he can wear the crown
I know this man all too well

It's my poor friend me
A portrayal of the great dichotomy
It's my poor friend me
And I'm running out of steam

I know there are people who are cynical and vain
They point their finger 'cause they can't accept the blame
They live their lives under a blanket of shame
And their progeny crawl from underneath it

Lately I've come to see the solution
And it begins with me
But I'm so fallibly human
I'll pick the lock but will not turn the key

All people running scared, we live, breathe, and die
All too aware that time is slipping on by
We have solutions but don't even try
And I feel I know just who to blame

It's my poor friend me
A reminder of a tragic history
It's my poor friend me
And I'm running out of steam

Do you know the cost of future misery?
Have you lost your sense of sustainability?
We are just a step away
From realizing what we strive to be
But we've got to break out
From this insulated, blind and lame senility
Wake up the new america wo-oh!
Transcend the mass hysteria wo-oh!
Change is the thing you're wary of wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
Laurels, human triumph
Bestowments from the past
Victories don't mean a thing
If they don't last
We are just marching toward extinction
With blinders on our eyes
Jeopardizing everything
We've learned and come to realize
You call that wise?
Open your eyes america wo-oh!
See through the lies they tell to us wo-oh!
Confront the fears that worry us wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
We don't have to be afraid to re-invent
We've got to start to build
Progress and implement
For when we take our fill
And never pay the price
We only build ourselves
A fleeting, false paradise
You can live in staunch denial
And mark me as your enemy
But I'm just a voice among the throng
Who want a brighter destiny
They say with me
We are the new america wo-oh!
This is the new america? Wo-oh

Culture was the seed of proliferation but it's gotten melded
Into an inharmonic whole, to an inharmonic whole
Consciousness has plagued us and we cannot shake it
Though we think we're in control, though we think we're in control

Questions that besiege us in life
Are testament of our helplessness
There's no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again

Time is so rock solid in the minds of the hordes but they can't
Explain why it should slip away, explain why it should slip away
History and future are the comforts of our curiosity but here we are
Rooted in the present day, rooted in the present day

Questions that besiege us in life
Are testament of our helplessness
There's no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again

If you came to conquer, you'll be king for a day
But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away
And believe these words you hear
When you think your path is clear

We have no control, we have no control
We have no control, we do not understand
You have no control, you are not in command
You have no control, we have no control

No control
No control
You have no control

A sullen figure walks along a dusty road
His life was holy and he couldn't bear the load
He left his people and a simple life behind
He raised his torso and he looked into the sky

Shouting his questions
Looking for direction
What do I do now?

Now a confused schoolgirl stares at the TV tray
The stresses of maturing compound every day
She glances up to see her favorite video
And gets ideas from Madonna's nasty clothes

In need of affection
She craves the direction
Her heroes offer her

Everyone is looking for something
And they all assume somebody else knows what it is
No one can live with the decisions of their own
It seems, so they look to someone else

To tell 'em what to be
Tell 'em what to wear, tell 'em what to say
Tell 'em how to act and think, compel others compulsively
Until the world is all like them

A righteous student came and asked me to reflect
He judged my lifestyle was politically incorrect
I don't believe in self-important folks who preach
No Bad Religion song can make your life complete

Prepare for rejection
You'll get no direction from me
You'll get no direction from me

A sullen figure walks along a dusty road
His life was holy and he couldn't bear the load
He left his people and a simple life behind
He raised his torso and he looked into the sky

Shouting his questions
Looking for direction
What do I do now?

Now a confused schoolgirl stares at the TV tray
The stresses of maturing compound every day
She glances up to see her favorite video
And gets ideas from Madonna's nasty clothes

In need of affection
She craves the direction
Her heroes offer her

Everyone is looking for something
And they all assume somebody else knows what it is
No one can live with the decisions of their own
It seems, so they look to someone else

To tell 'em what to be
Tell 'em what to wear, tell 'em what to say
Tell 'em how to act and think, compel others compulsively
Until the world is all like them

A righteous student came and asked me to reflect
He judged my lifestyle was politically incorrect
I don't believe in self-important folks who preach
No Bad Religion song can make your life complete

Prepare for rejection
You'll get no direction from me
You'll get no direction from me

history doesn't make something right
consensus is not a fact-based exercise
you're tied and bound to this self-indulgent enterprise
we call America

a brush with a star, a token of love
a name in the sand, enough is enough
a diet of air, a face on the net
a fish in your palm, your television set

once you convince yourself
the universe falls into place
you've got your ideas
and your posse of friends
you all make up rules
and the fun never ends

but still there's a problem, leaves you gasping for air
you look for some meaning, blank smiles are all that's there
and still water stales a soft summer breeze
you cling to your hopes while you drop to your knees
there's no substance!(2x)

once you convince yourself
the universe falls into place
you've got your ideas
and your posse of friends
you all make up rules
and the fun never ends

but still there's a problem, leaves you gasping for air
you look for some meaning, blank smiles are all that's there
and still water stales a soft summer breeze
you cling to your hopes while you drop to your knees

there's no substance!(2x)

Hey mister, don't point at me
You shout rhetoric nonsense like a Pavlovian model responding to questions
Hey teacher, arrogance is bliss
You spend your time turning water into life as if you were God's foreman

Is it any wonder things seem so awry?
We swim in a sea of confusion
And don't have to think to survive
So nobody listens

Hey recluse, don't shout at me
You proclaim yourself expert by extensions of the methods detailed in your magazines
Hey downer, don't prey on me
We've all got bum raps that torment us day to day, that we hoist on our own shoulders

Is it any wonder people pass you by?
Your plea for understanding
Is heard as desperate lies
So nobody listens

I can't help you
I can't help you
I can't help you
I can't help you now

Is it any wonder things are so inane?
So many quests for compassion
Are just for someone's personal gain
So nobody listens

Nobody listens to you

I heard them say that the meek shall reign on earth,
Phantasmal myriads of sane bucolic birth,
I've seen the rapture in a starving baby's eyes,
Inchoate beatitude,
The Lord of the flies,
So what does it mean
When your mind starts to stray?
Kaleidoscopic images of love on the way,
Brother you'd better get down on your knees and pay,
1000 more fools are being born
Every fucking day,
They try to tell me that the lamb is on the way,
With microwave transmissions
They bombard us every day,
The masses are obsequious,
Contented in their sleep,
The vortex of their minds ensconced within
The murky deep.

Transfixated on the big blue screen
It's your window to the outside, a melancholy dream
A medium upon which you build reality
This episodic currency that everybody needs

Somebody's delivery lulls you to sleep
The man behind the weather map, the editor in chief
They control two worlds, power and disease
And you cannot suppress your curiosity

But see it's only entertainment
Superficial urgency, posterboard mentality
Only entertainment, tightly constrained, the buzz that remains
Is the story of how we run our lives

Many are the people poor and suffering
From the lack of coverage from the transmission beam
And if it ever gets here, you'll be offended too
'Cause you cannot distinguish chicanery from truth

See it's only entertainment
A superficial episode as life continues to unfold
Only entertainment, controlled and copied, they've planted the seed
That sprouts into your picture of the world

Can't someone protect me?
From this electron beam
Hey you, Mr. FCC
Have you no advice for me?

Turn away, turn away
Turn away, turn away

It's an S.O.S. sent out telepathically
Signs of our distress don't allow complacency
We need restoration now of our integrity
And a drastic bold reminder of our morality

The rectifying troop is here
The ones we've needed all these years
To stop the heinous wrongdoings
And verify our moral benevolence as a people

Operation, Operation Rescue
They're here to right our fall, they've heard our troubled call
Operation, Operation Rescue
You wonder where they come from but I just wonder why they're here at all

Life ever-after is what they're in business for
See them brandish the key to our kingdom's door
It's pervasive, a part of, part of you and me
But not overwhelming as they wish it to be

If no one believed in fairy tales
There's nothing they could do but fail
Yet everywhere we look
Someone is trying to reassure our moral benevolence as a people

Operation, Operation Rescue
They're here to right our fall, they've heard someone's troubled call
Operation, Operation Rescue
You wonder where they come from but I just wonder what compels them all

Operation, Operation Rescue
Operation, Operation Rescue
You may wonder where they come from
But I just wonder what compels them all

Parallel
sleeping on a time bomb, staring into space
there's an ocean of unpleasantries we are not prepared to face
sitting on the fence post to watch the storm roll in
and terrified of the damage it will bring when it begins
it will begin
splintered dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
so far from reality (our lives are parallel)
independent trajectories (our lives are parallel)
separate terms of equality (our lives are parallel)
our lives are parallel
is there no redemption? no common good?
is there nothing we can do for ourselves? or only what we should?
comes the hard admission of what we don't provide
goes the insistence on the ways and means that so divide
they so divide
side by side suffering loneliness (our lives are parallel)
phony collective progress (our lives are parallel)
accepting that it's all such a mess (our lives are parallel)
gesturing without hope of redress (our lives are parallel)
our lives are parallel
forging little plays of deception and pain
as we watch our foundation crumble away
staggering like birds against a hurricane
and trying all the while to stay out of each other's way
broken dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
independant trajectories (our lives are parallel)
screaming out for understanding (our lives are parallel)
turning inward and suffering (our lives are parallel).

The final page is written in the books of history,
As man unleashed his deadly bombs and sent troops overseas
To fight a war which can't be won and kills the human race,
A show of greed and ignorance, man's quest for dominance.

They say when a mistake is made, a lesson can be learned.


But this time, there's no turning back, the hate engulfs the world.
A million lives are lost each day, a city slowly burns,
A mother holds her dying child, but no one is concerned!

Pity The Dead
there's a boy in crimson rags with a grimace and a spoon, and a little sullen
girl face-up staring at the moon
and there's no one around to hear their lonesome cries
then they pass away alone into the night
why do we pity the dead?
are you churned by emotion from voices in your head?
(are you scared of the logic that swirls within your head)
look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
oh why do we
pity the dead?
pity the dead!
well, you've seen the disease, suffering and decay,
and you whisper to yourself blissfully "it's okay"
and you still refuse the possibility
that the dead are better off than we
tell me what you see, tell me what you know
is there anyone who lives a painless life?
if there is show me so
the destitute and famished, demonic and the
banished, dejected and the ostracized, the
brainwashed and the paralyzed, the conquered
and objectified, the few who see the other side
tell me what you see! It's a mortal wretched cacophony
in the end you may find there's no guiding subtle light,
no ancestors or friends, no judge of wrong or right
just eternal silence and dormancy
and a final everlasting peace.

There's a boy in crimson rags with a grimace and a spoon
And a little sullen girl face up, staring at the moon
And there's no one around to hear their lonesome cries
Then they pass away alone into the night

Why do we pity the dead?
Are you churned by emotion from the voices in your head?
Look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
Oh why do we pity the dead?

Well, you've seen the disease, suffering and decay
And you whisper to yourself blissfully, it's okay
And you still refuse the possibility
That the dead are better off than we

Why do we pity the dead?
Are you scared by the logic that swells up in your head?
Look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
Oh why do we pity the dead, pity the dead?

Tell me what you see
Tell me what you know
Is there anyone who lives a painless life?
If there is, show me so

The destitute and famished
Demonic and the banished
Dejected and the ostracized
The brainwashed and the paralyzed

The conquered and objectified
The few who see the other side
Tell me what you see
It's a mortal, wretched cacophony

In the end you may find there's no guiding subtle light
No ancestors or friends, no judge of wrong or right
Just eternal silence and dormancy
And a final everlasting peace

Why do we pity the dead?
Are you churned by emotion from the voices in your head?
Look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
Oh why do we pity the dead?

Why do we pity the dead?
Why do we pity the dead?

Portrait Of Authority
nothing more, nothing less,
in icon on the wall decoration and duress,
which many strive to be,
it's the marble statue standing over me,
and nobody has the will to tear it down,
it determines wrong and right,
but to me it's just a stereotype
and it makes us lose our sight
the portrait of authority,
you tell me that's what I'm supposed to be
(it embodies what he cannot be)
another time, another man,
an oppressive intrusion
and a plague across his land,
and it haunts him every day,
it tells him he has no chance
his hopes just fades away,
and he lives his life prepared to tear it down,
but he can't muster the support,
and to him it's just a stereotype
of his life-long fight.

Nothing more, nothing less
An icon on the wall, decoration and duress
That which many strive to be
It's the marble statue staring over me

And nobody has the will to tear it down
It determines wrong and right
But to me it's just a stereotype
And it makes us lose our sight

The portrait of authority
You tell me that's what I'm supposed to be

Another time, another man
An oppressive intrusion, a plague across his land
And it haunts him every day
It tells him that he has no chance, his hopes just fade away

And he lives his life prepared to tear it down
But he can't muster the support
And to him it's just a stereotype
Of his life long fight

The portrait of authority
It embodies what he cannot be

Nothing more, nothing less
An icon on the wall, decoration and duress
That which many strive to be
It's the marble statue staring over me

And nobody has the will to tear it down
It determines wrong and right
But to me it's just a stereotype
And it makes us lose our sight

The portrait of authority
You tell me that's what I'm supposed to be

Another time, another man
An oppressive intrusion, a plague across his land
And it haunts him every day
It tells him that he has no chance, his hopes just fade away

And he lives his life prepared to tear it down
But he can't muster the support
And to him it's just a stereotype
Of his life long fight

The portrait of authority
It embodies what he cannot be

Punk Rock Song
have you been to the desert?
have you walked with the dead?
there's a hundred thousand children being killed for their bread
and the figures don't lie they speak of human disease
but we do what we want and we think what we please
have you lived the experience?
have you witnessed the plague?
people making babies sometimes just to escape
in this land of competition the compassion is gone
yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushing on
we keep pushing on
this is just a punk rock song
written for the people who can see something's wrong
like ants in a colony we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' insects out there
and this is just a punk rock song
(like workers in a company we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' robots out there)
have you visited the quagmire?
have you swam in the shit?
the party conventions and the real politik
the faces always different, the rhetoric the same
but we swallow it, and we see nothing change
nothing has changed . . .
10 million dollars on a losing campaign
20 million starving and writhing in pain
big strong people unwilling to give
small in vision and perspective
one in five kids below the poverty line
one population runnin' out of time.

Have you been to the desert, have you walked with the dead?
There's a hundred thousand children being killed for their bread
And the figures don't lie, they speak of human disease
But we do what we want and we think what we please

Have you lived the experience, have you witnessed the plague?
People making babies sometimes just to escape
In this land of competition the compassion is gone
Yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushing on

This is just a punk rock song
Written for the people who can see something's wrong
Like ants in a colony we do our share, but there's so many other fucking insects out there
And this is just a punk rock song

Have you visited the quagmire, have you swam in the shit?
The party convention and the real politic
The face is always different, the rhetoric the same
But we swallow it all and we see nothing change, nothing has changed

This is just a punk rock song
Written for the people who can see something's wrong
Like workers in a factory we do our share, but there's so many other fucking robots out there
And this is just a punk rock song

Ten million dollars on a losing campaign
Twenty million starving and writhing in pain
Big strong people unwilling to give
Small in vision and perspective

One in five kids below the poverty line
One population running out of time
Running out of time

This is just a punk rock song
Written for the people who can see something's wrong
Like ants in a colony we do our share, but there's so many other fucking insects out there
And this is just a punk rock song

The figures don't lie, they speak of human disease
But we do what we want and we think what we please
One in five kids below the poverty line
One population running out of time

This is just a punk rock song
This is just a punk rock song
This is just a punk rock song

fa fa fafa fa fa fafa raise your voice! (4x)

don't be played like someone else's board game
don't be classed out like some desperate redoubt
don't be misled you've got a lot on your head
and nobody's gonna pay attention when you are dead

so...
fa fa fafa fa fa fafa raise your voice! (4x)

it's the primary rule, you gotta wanna be fooled
it's our daunted restraint that keeps us silent in shame
it's our nature to be adversarial and free
our evolution didn't hinge on passivity

so...
fa fa fafa fa fa fafa raise your voice! (10x)

Recipe For Hate
can't you feel it, can't you see it
the promise of prosperity,
it's overwhelming you and me
it afflicts us like a disease,
ubiquitous compelling too
we cling to you like crazy glue,
and inject such a potent seed
it's best for all humanity,
the spread of culture,
the sword of progress,
the vector of suffrage a warm and
septic breeze,
the pomp and elation,
the duty and vocation,
the blood of the hybrid
it's just a recipe
re-living our ancestry
the frightful lack of harmony,
our fore-fathers who led the way,
their victims are still here today,
now it's time to erase the story
of our bogus fate,
our history as it's portrayed
it's just a recipe for hate.

Can't you feel it, can't you see
The promise of prosperity?
It's overwhelming you and me
It afflicts us like a disease

Ubiquitous, compelling too
We cling to you like crazy glue
And inject such a potent seed
It's best for all humanity

The spread of culture, the sword of progress
The vector of suffrage, a warm and septic breeze
The pomp and elation, the duty and vocation
The blood of the hybrid, it's just a recipe

Reliving our ancestry
The frightful lack of harmony
Our forefathers who led the way
Their victims are still here today

Now it's time to erase
The story of our bogus fate
Our history as it's portrayed
Is just a recipe for hate

A recipe for hate

The spread of culture, the sword of progress
The vector of suffrage, a warm and septic breeze
The pomp and elation, the duty and vocation
The blood of the hybrid, it's just a recipe

Can't you feel it, can't you see
The promise of prosperity?
It's overwhelming you and me
It afflicts us like a disease

Ubiquitous, compelling too
We cling to you like crazy glue
And inject such a potent seed
It's best for all humanity

The spread of culture, the sword of progress
The vector of suffrage, a warm and septic breeze
The pomp and elation, the duty and vocation
The blood of the hybrid, it's just a recipe

Reliving our ancestry
The frightful lack of harmony
Our forefathers who led the way
Their victims are still here today

Now it's time to erase
The story of our bogus fate
Our history as it's portrayed
Is just a recipe for hate

A recipe for hate

The spread of culture, the sword of progress
The vector of suffrage, a warm and septic breeze
The pomp and elation, the duty and vocation
The blood of the hybrid, it's just a recipe

There's a watch in my pocket
And its hands are broken
The face is blank
But the gears are turning

Confusion
Is a fundamental state of mind
It doesn't really matter what I'm figuring out
I'm guaranteed to wind up in a state of doubt

And sanity is a full time job
In a world that is always changing
And sanity is a state of mind
That you believe in sanity

There's a shadow on the wall
Where the paint is peeling
My body's moving forward
But my mind is reeling

Depression
Is a fundamental state of day
It doesn't really matter how my day has turned out
I always end up living in this world of doubt

And sanity is a full time job
In a world that is always changing
And sanity will make you strong
If you believe in sanity

And sanity is a full time job
In a world that is always changing
And sanity is a state of mind
That you believe in sanity

here inside this quiet room there's direction
outside in the sultry noon-time reflection
a million people scurry
they're looking for advice
none willing to lend charity, just exercise their

shades of truth and partisan conventions
shades of truth between disparate lines
shades of truth interpret my intentions
you don't know I'm alright
you don't know I'm alright

who authored the blueprints and made us captains?
someone proclaimed creation, people listened
while children by the millions are thrown into this zoo
the so-called gift of clarity! oh what was God up to?

shades of truth and lenient conventions
shades of truth between disparate lines
shades of truth interpret my intentions
you don't know I'm alright
you don't know I'm alright
yeah!

so many walk in parallel and pull their blinders tight
so few offer apology and accept others' rights
and nothing absolutely can be cherished in the end
but can't we all accept that it will all happen again?

shades of truth just partisan conventions
shades of truth between disparate lines
shades of truth interpret my intentions
you don't know I'm alright
you don't know I'm alright

just shades of truth and partisan conventions
shades of truth between disparate lines
shades of truth interpret my intentions
you don't know I'm alright
you don't know I'm alright

Skyscraper
come let us make bricks
and burn them hard,
we'll build a city with a tower for the world
and climb so we can reach
anything we may propose,
anything at all
build me up, tear me down
like a skyscraper,
build me up, then tear down
these joining walls
so they can't climb at all
I know why tore it down that day,
you thought, if you got caught
we'd all go away,
like a spoiled little baby
who can't come out to play,
you had your revenge
build me up, tear me down
like a skyscraper,
build me up, then tear down
these joining walls
so they can't climb at all.

Come let us make bricks and burn them hard
We'll build a city with a tower for the world
And climb so we can reach anything we may propose
Anything at all

Build me up, tear me down
Like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

I know why you tore it down that day
You thought that if you got caught we'd all go away
Like a spoiled little baby who can't come out and play
You had your revenge

Build me up, tear me down
Like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

Well madness reigned and paradise drowned
When Babel's walls came crashing down
Now the echoes roar, for story read that was hardly understood
And never any good

Build me up, tear me down
Like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

So you're feeling unimportant
'Cause you've got nothing to say
And your life is just a ramble
No one understands you anyway

Well, I've got a piece of news, son
That might make you change your mind
Your life is historically meaningful
And spans a significant time

Slumber will come soon
And you are helping put it to sleep
Side by side we do our share, faithfully assuring
That slumber will come soon

Well, now do you feel a little better?
Lift up your head and walk away
Knowing we're all in this together
For such a short time anyway

There is just no time to parade around sulking
I would rather laugh than cry
The rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, we share this place together
And we pitch in to help it die, we pitch in to help it die

I'm not too good at giving morals
And I don't fear the consequence
If life makes you scared and bitter
At least it's not for very long

Slumber will come soon
And you are helping put it to sleep
Side by side we do our share, faithfully assuring
That slumber will come soon

Slumber will come soon
Slumber will come soon
Slumber will come soon

So you're feeling unimportant
'Cause you've got nothing to say
And your life is just a ramble
No one understands you anyway

Well, I've got a piece of news, son
That might make you change your mind
Your life is historically meaningful
And spans a significant time

Slumber will come soon
And you are helping put it to sleep
Side by side we do our share, faithfully assuring
That slumber will come soon

Well, now do you feel a little better?
Lift up your head and walk away
Knowing we're all in this together
For such a short time anyway

There is just no time to parade around sulking
I would rather laugh than cry
The rich, the poor, the strong, the weak, we share this place together
And we pitch in to help it die, we pitch in to help it die

I'm not too good at giving morals
And I don't fear the consequence
If life makes you scared and bitter
At least it's not for very long

Slumber will come soon
And you are helping put it to sleep
Side by side we do our share, faithfully assuring
That slumber will come soon

Slumber will come soon
Slumber will come soon
Slumber will come soon

we all know politicians only go
just halfway there
just halfway there
the innocence of youth needs protection not abuse
but no one seems to care
yet no one seems to care

and you sit there and watch the world go around
from your pseudo-benevolent vantage point
while we who've been left to pick up after you
try our best to make some sense for those who come next

now what have you done to foster the truth
besides just hide the lies?
besides just hide the lies?
a selfish campaign never justifies the gain
but the means are verified
yeah the means are verified

and you sit there and insist you are right!
from your popular psychological podium
while those who rely and depend on you
they wilt because you don't accept we need each other

while sowing the seeds of Utopia
you invoked a convenient amnesia
you forgot how to care, you forgot how to provide
you forgot how to work toward a meaningful life

Spirit Shine
shed a tear for the criminal, give him something to believe
light a fire for the miserable, give the darkness some meaning
closed wounds harbor pestilence, when you lick them from within
charity has a redolence chastity cannot rescind
spirit shine, it's a sign
of a troubled mind (tortured mind)
spirit shine all the time
can render you blind
you can take it all to heart or throw it all away
you can give until you're dry and sucked of all your gleam
you can fake another cry and compromise your dream
cling tight to the parable - let it dominate your life
create a God who's infallible - give your leader some respite
clouds wounds harbor pestilence - when you lick them from within
rosy smiles lose their radience - when you take it on the chin.