Bobby Schayer

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 hansson 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
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 pray on me.

Struck A Nerve
there's an old man on a city bus
holding a candy cane,
and it isn't even christmas,
he sees a note in the obituary that
his last friend has died,
there's an infant clinging to
his overweight mother as they go to
shop for cigarettes,
and she spends her last dollar
for a bottle of vodka for tonight
and I guess it struck a nerve,
like I had to squint my eyes,
you can never get out of the line of sight,
like a barren winter day,
or a patch of unburned green,
like a tragic real dream,
i guess it struck a nerve
every day I wander in negative disposition,
as I'm bombarded by superlatives,
realizing very well that I'm not alone,
introverted i look to tomorrow for salvation,
but I'm thinking altruistically,
and a wave of overwhelming doubt
turns me to stone
and I guess it struck a nerve,
sent a murmur through my heart,
we just haven't got time to crack the maze,
like a magic speeding clock,
or a cancer in our sells,
a collision in the dark,
I guess it struck a nerve
I try to close my eyes,
but I cannot ignore the stimuli,
if there's a purpose for us all
it remains a secret to me,
don't ask me to justify my life.

Watch It Die
I was born on planet earth,
the rotating ball where man comes first,
it's been around for a long, long time,
but now it's time to watch it die
I saw a man on my big blue screen,
he ruled the world economy,
he said the rich would never concede,
but some day soon he'll be put to sleep,
I've seen the life of the forest gree,
and adaptations of the deep blue sea,
and who knows who is the fittest,
they will all soon be put to sleep,
on a plunging flight and we're sitting
in the pilots seat in the midst of life,
people on a dark horizon praying
somebody will save their lives
I was born on planet earth,
at a drastic time full of plastic mirth,
and every day I've seen increasing signs,
and you would too if you'd opened your eyes,
you had a chance, you did not try,
so now it's time to watch it die.

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

The Answer - Bad Religion


Long ago in a dusty village
full of hunger, pain and strife
a man came forth with a vision of truth
and the way to a better life
he was convinced he had the answer
and he compelled people to follow along
but the hunger never vanished
and the man was banished
and the village dried up and died
at a time when wise men peered
through brass tubes toward the sky
the heavens changed in predictable ways
and one man was able to find
that he had found the answer
and he was quick to write his revelation
but as they were scrutinized
in his colleagues eyes
he soon became a mockery
don't tell me about the answer
'cause then another one will come along soon
i don't believe you have the answer
i've got ideas too
but if you've got enought naivete
and you've got conviction
then the answer is perfect for you
an urban spall sits choking on its discharge
overwhelmed by industry
searching for a modern day savior from another place
inclined toward charity
everyone's begging for an answer
without regard to validity
the searching never ends
it goes on and on and on for eternity

Everyday we profit so, leaning toward the great unknown
Asking how it pertains to tomorrow
Aim for places we've not been, trample paths that go between
Yesterday's foundations and tomorrow

It's the way they say it's got to be
We spear ahead and forge our destiny
Who do they represent, who do you believe?
Make a sound decision for others to heed

Try to set a faster pace
Try to build a master race
One that will make a contribution to tomorrow

It's the way they say it's got to be
We put aside our fears and make history
The clothes are in the dryer and the writing's on the wall
We're trying everything we can to stop this fall

Everyday we profit so
Leaning toward the great unknown

A refreshing plunge, a drink of palatable water
A deep inspiration on a warm summer day
A safe stroll in the middle of a road community
A neighbor who in times of need will not turn away

I ain't no politician
I am a citizen
And I wonder if I'm living too far out of bounds

Community protection, rehabilitation
Police that serve without legitimate right to maim
Global awareness, ecological guilt
Cultural and environmental awakening

I ain't no optimist
I try to be a realist
I wonder if I'm thinking too far out of bounds

Is it too much to ask?
Could it be the earth is shrinking?
I can see the walls closing in
No one can take much for granted anymore

Remote control, three cars for every family
Corruption at the expense of the simple majority
A violent crash, a plunder of the third world
Any wretched plot that bolsters our economy

I ain't no blind supporter
I'm a conscious citizen
And I know that we are living too far out of bounds

I ain't no politician
I ain't no blind supporter
I ain't no metropia, I am a citizen
And wonder if I'm living too far out of bounds

Is it too much to ask?
Can we keep the earth from sinking?
I can see the walls closing in
No one can take much for granted anymore

You better not take it for granted anymore
I'm not taking nothing for granted anymore

There's a light on in the hallway, so I can't understand
Why you hide underneath the cover
There's a baby in your womb, so don't be scared tonight
'Cause Raggedy Ann is in the closet picking posies

Two babies in the dark, like diamonds in the sand
While Papa's far away making up children's stories
The little ones inside, so afraid to be alone
She's tired of being brave until the daddy comes home

So if you chance to see her, please tell her it's alright
'Cause everyone fights the tendency to snap sometimes
It's not a matter of being brave and strong
'Cause noises in the house are terrifying

Two babies in the dark, like diamonds in the sand
While Papa's far away making up children's stories
The little ones inside, so afraid to be alone
She's talking to herself now 'cause no one's home

I'll put you to sleep at night like a foreign movie
I'll sing you lullabies and I'll teach you about everything
And I'll only ask one thing
Please save me

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hi..Welcome to Stealth"

This is a strong an confound
This weekend i will spend over 800 million dollers on drugs
first, i will continue pushing the narcotics for all low income
people not covered and soon after that we can get rid of each
and every one of them and im doin what i think is right an i certainly
deserve it
gnight

There's an old man on a city bus holding a candy cane and it isn't even Christmas
He sees a note in the obituary that his last friend has died
There's an infant clinging to his overweight mother in the cold as they go to shop for cigarettes
And she spends her last dollar on a bottle of vodka for tonight

And I guess it struck a nerve, like I had to squint my eyes
You can never get out of the line of sight
Like a barren winter day or a patch of unburned green
Like a tragic real dream, I guess it struck a nerve

Everyday I wander in negative disposition as I'm bombarded by superlatives
Realizing very well that I am not alone
Introverted, I look to tomorrow for salvation but I'm thinking altruistically
And a wave of overwhelming doubt turns me to stone

And I guess it struck a nerve, sent a murmur through my heart
We just haven't got time to crack the maze
Like a magic speeding clock or a cancer in our cells
A collision in the dark, I guess it struck a nerve

I try to close my eyes
But I cannot ignore the stimuli
If there's a purpose for us all, it remains a secret to me
Don't ask me to justify my life

And I guess it struck a nerve, like I had to squint my eyes
You can never get out of the line of sight
Like a magic speeding clock or a cancer in our cells
A collision in the dark, I guess it struck a nerve

I was born on planet Earth
The rotating ball where man comes first
It's been around for a long, long time
But now it's time to watch it die

I saw a man on the big blue screen
He ruled the world economy
He said the rich would never concede
But someday soon he'll be put to sleep

I've seen the life of the forest green
And adaptations of the deep blue sea
And who know who is the fittest?
They will all soon be put to rest

On a plunging flight
And we're sitting in the pilot's seat
In the midst of life
People on a dark horizon, praying somebody will save their lives

I was born on the planet Earth
At a drastic time full of plastic mirth
And every day I've seen increasing signs
And you would too if you'd open your eyes

You had a chance, you did not try
So now it's time to watch it die

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?

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

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!

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

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

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

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

A febrile shocking violent smack
And the children are hoping for a heart attack
Tonight the windows are watching
The streets all conspire and the lamppost can't stop crying

If I could fly high above the world
Would I see a bunch of living dots spell the word stupidity?
Or would I see hungry lover homicides, loving brother suicides
And olly olly oxenfrees who pick a side and hide?

The world is scratching at my door
My morning paper's got the scores
The human interest stories
And the obituary

Cockroach naps and rattling traps
How many devils can you fit upon a match head?
Caringosity killed the Kerouac cat
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

In my alley around the corner there's a wino with feathered shoulders
And a spirit giving head for crack and he'll never want it back
There's a little kid and his family eating crackers like thanksgiving
And a pack of wild desperados scornful of living

The world is scratching at my door
My morning paper has the scores
The human interest stories
And the obituary

Cradle for a cat, Wolfe looks back
How many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemingway cracked
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

Life is the crummiest book I ever read
There isn't a hook
Just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock
And characters an amateur would never dream up

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

A febrile shocking violent smack
And the children are hoping for a heart attack
Tonight the windows are watching
The streets all conspire and the lamppost can't stop crying

If I could fly high above the world
Would I see a bunch of living dots spell the word stupidity?
Or would I see hungry lover homicides, loving brother suicides
And olly olly oxenfrees who pick a side and hide?

The world is scratching at my door
My morning paper's got the scores
The human interest stories
And the obituary

Cockroach naps and rattling traps
How many devils can you fit upon a match head?
Caringosity killed the Kerouac cat
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

In my alley around the corner there's a wino with feathered shoulders
And a spirit giving head for crack and he'll never want it back
There's a little kid and his family eating crackers like thanksgiving
And a pack of wild desperados scornful of living

The world is scratching at my door
My morning paper has the scores
The human interest stories
And the obituary

Cradle for a cat, Wolfe looks back
How many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemingway cracked
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

Life is the crummiest book I ever read
There isn't a hook
Just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock
And characters an amateur would never dream up

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bask in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves
I need my connection
To the world outside

The world outside is buzzing like an angry wasp in summer
The candidates are running and the son of God is coming
Crackle mental convolutions tune in to the revolution
Whereby everyone's included so we'll never have to be alone

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bathe in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves
I need my injection
From the world outside

Every atom of my body, blood, and sinew, bone and fiber
I can't distill you from my blood, you're a hungry germ inside of me
You're my lover, my heroine, my conscience, and my voice and
I know now that I have learned to let you in, I will never have to be alone

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bathe in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves

I'd take after my mother but she's from a different generation
I prefer my big brother, he's so gentle and understanding
And I learn what I can by the television light
So that when I'm all alone I know it's gonna be alright

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bask in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves
I need my connection
To the world outside

The world outside is buzzing like an angry wasp in summer
The candidates are running and the son of God is coming
Crackle mental convolutions tune in to the revolution
Whereby everyone's included so we'll never have to be alone

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bathe in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves
I need my injection
From the world outside

Every atom of my body, blood, and sinew, bone and fiber
I can't distill you from my blood, you're a hungry germ inside of me
You're my lover, my heroine, my conscience, and my voice and
I know now that I have learned to let you in, I will never have to be alone

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Oh yeah, I want to bathe in your golden light
Submerge in electric waves

I'd take after my mother but she's from a different generation
I prefer my big brother, he's so gentle and understanding
And I learn what I can by the television light
So that when I'm all alone I know it's gonna be alright

Television, television, television, television
Television, television, television, television

Every time you shake someone's hand and it feels like your best friend
Could it be that it's only superficiality?
Without regard to well-being, without an inkling of compromise
Handshakes are nothing but a subtle fuck you
Contracts determine the best friendships

This is the way of the modern world
Everyone's vying for patronage
This is the way of the modern world
And something has gotta give

Every time you shake someone's hand and you share neither color nor creed
You gotta overcome the obstacles of history
There is restrained passion, mistrust and bigotry
And these have created the new foundations of society
There's no harmony just class and race

This is the way of the modern world
Everyone's fighting for dominance
This is the way of the modern world
And something has gotta give

Now I believe in unity
And I am willing to compromise
But I'm not gonna lie or sell my soul

Every time you shake someone's hand
It determines where you stand
And if you won't uphold your side then it's better to

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
Fend for yourself
And shun the handshake

Someone's gotta give

The brown and orange sky holds its breath
As the sun retreats to the distant horizon
And our hearts palpitate anxiously as we soon will lay supine
And wait for sleep to overcome us

And from somewhere in our black subconscious minds when we're asleep
Comes a haunting swelling mass of voices resonating
It screams of forgotten victims and the cries of innocence
And the desperate plea for recognition and recompense

Tiny voices
Echoes of our heritage, our long and sallow faces turn the other way
Tiny voices
Harbored deep within as we outwardly deny that they have something to say
And if you don't confront them they will never go away

The billions of tiny pinhole embers fade into a morning sky
Filled with poignant morose wonder
Waking to bear a cosmetic peace that verifies the turmoil
That we carry deep inside

And from somewhere in our black subconscious minds when we're asleep
Comes a haunting swelling mass of voices resonating
It screams of forgotten victims and the cries of innocence
And the desperate plea for recognition and recompense

Tiny voices
Echoes of our heritage, our long and sallow faces turn the other way
Tiny voices
Harbored deep within as we outwardly deny that they have something to say
And if we don't confront them they will never go away

There's a purpose, and there's a goal
There's a virtuous, and immoral
There's a reason, for all of this
But I don't know what it is

I am one, and plural too
I accept them, but they exclude
I could make sense, of all of this
But I don't know what it is

The seeds of inspiration never germinated in my mind
The beacon of awakening is somewhere that I can't find
So I don't know what it is

There's a beginning, and there's an end
There's a climax, some would contend
There's a way to, signify this
But I don't know what it is

The seeds of inspiration never germinated in my mind
The beacon of awakening is somewhere that I can't find
So I don't know what it is, show me something more definitive
I don't know what it is

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

desolate and without purpose
radiating from so many septic sources
forming the fabric of a wayward people
disappearing as the vestiges of our past

scratched like tartan into virgin soil
a substrate for progress and disarray
a spreading network of broken dreams
searching for a thoroughfare to take us away

just a little tale from the streets of America (say a little prayer)
sparkled promises paved with pathos and hysteria
trenchant, weary native sons
step back
and see the damage done
meander to the horizon (shoot straight to the horizon)
the streets of America

black, tarred concrete
pine for me
lying domant
for you and country
hardened surface
cracked within
catch the sweat
from off the chin

of men and women
senior and child
who look to you
and your sterile miles
and in their stares
is bald dismay
for what you promised
led them astray

hard-cracked, daunting, lifeless veins
false hope corridors to greener pastures is all that remains

Ten In 2010
parched, cracked mouths, empty 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 billion 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't happen to you
10 in 2010
fifteen years we'll think of a solution
10 in 2010
it won't just appear in one day
10 in 2010
for ten in twenty-ten we're well on our way
like piercing ear darts, I heard the news today
10 in 2010
10 billion people . . . coming your way.

Despite that he saw blatant similarity, he struggled to find a distinctive moiety
All he found was vulgar superficiality
But he focused it to sharpness and shared it with the others
It signified his anger and his misery

Them and us, lobbying determined through a mire of disbelievers
Them and us, dire perpetuation and incongruous insistence
That there really is a difference between them and us

Hate is a simple manifestation of a deep-seated self-directed frustration
All it does is promote fear and consternation
It's the inability to justify the enemy
And it fills us all with trepidation

Them and us, bending the significance to match a whimsied fable
Them and us, tumult for the ignorant and purpose for the violence
A confused loose alliance forming them and us

And I heard him say we can take them all
We can take them all
We can take them all, that's what he said
We can take them all

But he didn't know who we were and he didn't know who they were
And there wasn't any reason or motive or value to his story
Just allegory, imitation glory
And a desperate feeble search for a friend

Them and us, lobbying determined through a mire of disbelievers
Them and us, dire perpetuation and incongruous insistence
Tumult for the ignorant and purpose for the violence
A confused loose alliance forming them and us

We can take them all
We can take them all

Victory
the velveteen and oaken soothed the lonely child
the parents watched the escort take him while they stood outside
the priest was kind and gentle as he positioned his head
the pain was like brimstone, but the kid hardly bled
victory
instinct over intellect
victory
it erupts from deep inside
history
history is laughing at us
plotting its discovery
victory, victory
blame it on the victory
among the parade crowd there stands a decorated man
remembering how he helped to save this sacred land
his helpless enemy was wounded, both hands raised with hope
he killed him without second thought, with brute force and a rope
so many times, so many lives
test the other side
waiting to see what the maker has in mind
the unsuspecting commoners hum diligent each day
they wallow in their father's sins, as time passes away
the crimes are without motive but they ignore all restraint
the evil sits inside them torpid timing its escape.

A Walk
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 closet is a mess, and your backyard's falling down
and I have no grand ideas or intentions of sticking around
I'm gonna build a world
independant 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?
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
cuz I don't have to live like you
so I'm going for a walk.

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

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 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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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!