Against Me!

Golden arches risin' above the next overpass
These horizons are endless
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
Profit driven expansion into foreign markets
And while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
Said, while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure

This is the best summer that I've ever had
European vacation - me and my best friends
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
Whatever there is to be said is said in English
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
Said, while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure

Here we are, a rock band looking for new audiences
Wherever we go, Coca-Cola's already been
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
And I just can't help but think that that's comparison
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
I'm not so sure, I'm not so sure, I'm not so sure

Golden arches risin' above the next overpass
These horizons are endless
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
Profit driven expansion into foreign markets
And while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
Said, while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure

This is the best summer that I've ever had
European vacation - me and my best friends
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
Whatever there is to be said is said in English
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
Said, while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure

Here we are, a rock band looking for new audiences
Wherever we go, Coca-Cola's already been
We're Americans abroad
We're Americans abroad
And I just can't help but think that that's comparison
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
While I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
I'm not so sure, I'm not so sure, I'm not so sure

I was dreaming of your love
I was lost in your arms embrace
Our bodies collide together
Whoa, this ultimate betrayal

The heart will not resign
What could be said, what could be done?
I hold out hope
For your reciprocation

Like an animal
These thoughts have gone beyond my control
For pleasure
Maybe just amusement

This overwhelming urge
Towards you I feign disinterest
While I covet the attention
While I crave your affection

Ravenous with lust
Jackal in heat, spit dripping
This mechanical impulse
Knows not loyalty or mercy

Like an animal
These thoughts have gone beyond my control
For pleasure
Maybe just amusement

Like an animal
These thoughts have gone beyond my control
For pleasure
Maybe just amusement

No (no), it's not what we meant to say (it's not what we meant to say)
We don't really love each other
What happens when the summer's over?
(How long before distance becomes a chore?)
I'm approaching with great (great) trepidation
I hope you'll understand

Before you speak (before you speak)
Think about what you're trying to say (think about what you're trying to say)
Who else is there to blame for miscommunication?
You're getting caught up in the excitement
(You making promises you can't keep)
You need to leave all your options open

Too much momentum
This room feels like it's going to explode
Too many angles
Too many factors to cover
Waiting for signal
You're searching for a network
You have to fight to stay in control of the situation

Anxiety, anxiety, you give me no mercy
Grind my teeth smooth and flat in my sleep
We took some pills to calm us down
(We needed help to come back up)
Just trying to stay in control of the situation

Too much momentum
This room feels like it's going to explode
Too many angles
Too many factors to cover
Waiting for signal
You're searching for a network
You have to fight to stay in control of the situation
And we fall apart so easily

Too much momentum
This room feels like it's going to explode
Too many angles
Too many factors to cover
Waiting for signal
You're searching for a network
You have to fight to stay in control
You have to fight to stay in control
No, you don't have to fight to stay in control of the situation

And we will keep ourselves in a place where it's easy to hold onto.
And as the last threats came and went, and this is the way that wars are played
Always heading for a front, heading for a front,
Hey did we go into the obscurity of an easy to pass on feeling
Objection is so cliche.

A new way [x4]

So can your pop sensibilities sing me the end of the world?
Turn gunshots and mortar blasts into a metaphor of how we are all the same.
Well there's a lot of things that should be said, (said) so we're hammering six strings,
Machine gun in audible voices, this is the party we came for.



A new way [x4]

we stand in amazement of motion in a world that is constantly revolving.
with plans of invasion and arms races racing, yeah,
we rock, we rock, we rock, we rock to the new sensation.

A new way [x4]

You're coming off kinda contrived and pretentious.
You're not saying anything we haven't heard before.
You're caught up in an argument.
And you're so lost in modern art.

You will lose it all.
And you will find again.
Don't lose touch.
Don't lose touch.

S.O.S. texted from a cell phone?
Please tell me I'm not the only one,
that thinks we're taking ourselves too seriously,
Just a little too enamored with inflated self-purpose.

Talk is cheap.
And it doesn't mean much.
Don't lose touch.
Don't lose touch.
I'm losing touch.
I'm losing touch.

Constant entertainment for our restless minds.
Constant stimulation for epic appetites.
Is there something wrong with these songs?
Maybe there's something wrong with the audience.
Manipulation in rock music, fucking nausea.

I'm losing touch.
I'm losing touch, and it's obvious

Regime change under a Bush doctrine of democratic installations.
Constant war for constant soldiers.
What are we gonna do now?
De-escalation, through military force.
Increase the pressure, Oh Condoleeza
What should we do about the situation in Iran and North Korea?

Condoleeza.

Democratic election under Marshall law.
An Iraqi president out of control of our choices.
After all this death and destruction
Do you really think your actions advocate freedom?
The presidents giving a speech in Georgetown
To remember the voice of a slain civil rights leader,
Do you understand what the martyrs stood for?
Oh Condoleeza do you get the fucking joke?

Condoleeza
Condoleeza
Condoleeza
What are we gonna do now?
Condoleeza
Condoleeza
Condoleeza
What are we gonna do now?

We charge into danger.
No guarantees or safe places.
No one can be trusted,
everyone is a suspect.
And all the money's worthless.
The town is trite and exaggerated.
The food is turning and the water is poisoned.
And it's rotting your teeth right out of your head,
sight and hearing have quickly faded.
Your gut's expanding, your hairline's receding.
The sores are opening and the cancer's spreading.
And the antibiotics aren't working,
all the drugs just all the drugs are strangely sobering.
And the skeletons in your closet have opened the door and then started talking.

Just like Miami!
Miami!
Fucking Miami.
Miami!

Sharks circling for the feeding.
All hope has been abandoned, like ballots drifting into the ocean.

Just like Miami!
Miami!
Fucking Miami!
Miami!

Sharks circling for the feeding.
All hope has been abandoned, like ballots drifting into the ocean.

Hey!

They're in your room while you're sleeping.
They're in your car behind the seat waiting.
All the rifle sights are on the back of your head.
They're slipping it into your drink when you're not looking.
And they're selling it to you as art.
It's every other word in movies and songs.


All the public is buying,
it's business as usual,
and the business is capitalizing
on your fear, your greed, your perversions and vices.
They say you're guilty, they've got the evidence to prove it.
The mistakes are obvious, the faults are glaring.
The plane is on fire, the fucking ship is sinking.
And you're swept away in a hurricane.
You're buried in the rubble of an earthquake.
It's terminal,
inoperable,
they're amputating!
Massive hemmorrhaging,
major fucking complications!

Just like Miami!
Miami!
Fucking Miami!
Miami!

Sharks circling for the feeding.
All hope has been abandoned, like ballots drifting into the ocean.

Just like Miami!
Miami!
Fucking Miami!
Miami!

Sharks circling for the feeding.
All hope has been abandoned, like ballots drifting into the ocean.

Miami!

We can control the medium
We can control the context, the presentation
Well, is there anybody on the receiving end
Reaching out for some kind of connection?

[Chorus:]
Come on and wash these shores away
Come on and wash these shores away
I'm looking for the crest
Looking for the crest of a new wave

We can be the bands we want to hear
We can define our own generation
Well, is there anybody on the receiving ends?
Are you ready to brave new directions?

[Chorus]

Let breathe new dawn - this art is dead
No sense of original thought in the mainstream
So, is there anybody on the receiving ends?
We can eclipse all that came before us

[Chorus]

Evelyn sits by the elevator doors
It's been 37 years since James died on St. Patrick's Day, 1964
She could not hold it against him

There were times when there was nothing she could do
But lie in bed all day beside a picture of them together
A picture of better days

And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
With the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn, I'm not coming home tonight

If we're never together, if I'm never back again
Well, I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn, I'm not coming home tonight

In all the years that went by, she said she'd always love him
And from the day that he died
She never loved again

And in his wallet she kept on her nightstand
An A.A. card and a lock of red hair
She kept secrets of pride locked so tight in her heart
It killed a part of her before the rest was gone

She said, "if I would have known just how things would have ended up
I just would have let myself die"

And just like James, I'm drinking Irish tonight
With the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn, I'm not coming home tonight

If we're never together, if I'm never back again
Well, I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn, I'm not coming home tonight

I heard the hype about your band, I've seen your video playing on the TV
Publicity photos in magazines; oh, none of it makes me feel anything
I would be lying to you if I did not say something that would make me feel like a politician
A middle-of-the-road opinion no one finds offensive or challenging

I'm not interested; the stage is not a pedestal
I don't think you're bad people, I just think that your aesthetic is horrible
Please treat me with the same respect and candor; I would appreciate the honesty
Yeah, a little less professional, a little more upfront and confrontational

Whoa, whoa, whoa, just say what you're thinking
Say what you're really thinking

Whoa, whoa, whoa, just say what you're thinking
Say what you're really thinking
Say what you're thinking!

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By GABEL, THOMAS JAMES
<i>Lyrics &copy; Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.</i>

An inventory has been taken of every belonging
And there's so many values sought in event of emergencies
The only backup plan in case it doesn't work out
While reasons flap your hands to a former self
You know I am becoming a choice, you should make it

You're problems
Problems with everything

Sometimes it's like conversations are a waking dream third party perspective
And all the answers to thyself you can almost hear the sound traveling
Cause a feeling of anticipation
When all of the sudden you know what's gonna happen
Before the paranoids they rebuild your world
They neither eat nor sleep they are nothing

Here in the worst I will become the best of the more, the more problems
Problems with anything
No more problems, problems with anything

We want a band that plays loud and hard every night
And doesn't care how many people are counted at the door
That would travel one million miles and ask for nothing more
Than a plate of food and a place to rest

They'd strike chords that cut like a knife
It means so much more than t-shirts or a ticket stub
They'd stop at nothing short of a massacre
Everyone would leave with the memory that there was no place else in the world and this was where they always belonged

We would dance like no one was watching, with one fist in the air
Our arena's just basements and bookstores across an underground America
With this fire, we could light
With this fire, we could

Just gimme a scene where the music is free
And the beer is not the life of the party
And there's no need to shit talk or impress
Cause honesty and emotion are not looked down upon

And every promise that's made and bragged
Is meant, if not kept
We'd do it all because we have to, not because we know why
Beyond a gender, race, and class, we could find what really holds us back

Let's make everybody sing
That they are the beginning and ending of everything
That we all are stronger
Than everything they taught us that we should fear

how can you not find everything you need in all of this? potatoes, rice, and bread, we'll burn it as we take it in. sing your heart out, sing it like you mean it, you're gonna sing everything you're thinking, and you're gonna sing it until they're listening. cause if it really brings us all together, i'd say that settles all arguments of difference, surviving just by questioning, can you imagine if we all started demanding? i can play along to every record, front and back every song, and every word means as much to me as every word means to you. they can make an industry selling people the things they want to hear, if this is worth anything, we will sell it for humility, it will take us farther than the posture you're fronting.

Not one more word tonight
between here and there
Well put a distance the size of the ocean
so now his heart can beat a skipping rythm
As the cadence carries me
I almost drift away
far enough to forget
but when it comes you cannot hesitate
and when found i will write
on account and seal it in an envelope
addresed to your last known residence

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooo

and we sink and we drown
and what is lost can never be found
well these arms they'd swim,


until the lungs pulled in
when panic was lost in a deep understanding
that you will see what is wrong with everything
what is wrong with you and me
that make all the right reasons to fuck it up
your gonna fuck it up

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooo

(That sounded pretty good to me)
(I thought it was pretty good)

[Chorus x 2]
Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
You've got to make a serious decision

It could be me up there in stage lights
It could be me on the TV in your living room
It could be me jet-setting with my band all across the world
Appearing live in concert one night only, tickets sold out

[Chorus]

There I am giving candid disclosure to press in interview
There I go on my way through the crowd up to the podium
On behalf of our fans we'd like to accept this award
Smile for the camera, boys, gold record in hand

[Chorus]

All of our lives in waiting
All of our lives traded for their roses and applause
All of our lives dedicated to shoving it right back in their fucking face

Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you
You've got to make a serious decision
Said, you've got to make a serious decision

Stop! Take some time to think

The party's over
A cd skipping
It's the same song repeating
Grows more grating with each passing second...

And the walls contain a resonation, laughter, and conversation.
It was fun while it lasted, but now we should be going.
I hope everybody had a real good time
The hospitality's partaken, my head is flying my heart's racing to keep up.
And I hope I havent overdone it nooo...
I hope my body can take it. I hope I make the the occasion.
It's only this fucked up i start realizing
all this living is just dying
and if these are my friends, if this is my home,
if this is how i spend my nights, how i communicate, and demonstrate a love of life.
My eyes roll into the back of my head, if these are the last words that i ever said
No i'm not ready to die just yet.

If I could have chosen where God would hide his heaven
I'd wish for it to be the salt and swell of the ocean
Carried by the currents to all continents' shores
Reaching into the depths where the sun's light is never shown
Mixed with algae and coral, breathed in by sharks and dolphins
Sailed by tanker ships, private yachts, swam in by tourists
Working its way up through inlets, lakes, and rivers
Swamps, and estuaries, down through limestone into the aquifer

Purified by the county, pumped through pipes and out faucets
Filled into a glass to meet the thirst of our children

And if I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman
My mother once told me she would have named me Laura
I'd grow up to be strong and beautiful like her
One day, I'd find an honest man to make my husband
We would have two children, build our home on the Gulf of Mexico
Our family would spend hot summer days at the beach together
The sun would kiss our skin as we played in the sand and water
And we would know we loved each other without having to say it

At night, we would sleep with the windows of our house left open
Letting the cool ocean air soothe the sunburned shoulders of our children

There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve
There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve
There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve
There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve!

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By GABEL, THOMAS JAMES
<i>Lyrics &copy; Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.</i>

If she wants to dance and drink all night
Well, there's no one that can stop her
She's going till the house lights come up or her stomach spills onto the floor
This night is gonna end when we're damn well ready for it to be over
Worked all week long, now the music is playing on our time
Yeah, we do what we do to get by, and then we need a release

You get mixed up with the wrong guys
You get messed up on the wrong drugs
Sometimes the party takes you places that you didn't really plan on going
When people see the track marks on her arm, she knows what they're thinking
She keeps on working for that minimum
As if a high school education gave you any other options, you know

They don't know nothing about redemption
They don't know nothing about recovery
Some people just aren't the type for marriage and family

No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to be a junkie
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to sleep alone
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to be a junkie
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to sleep alone

She's out of step with the style
She don't know where the action's happening
You know the downtown club scene ain't nothing like it used to be
You reach a point where there's not a lie in the world
That you could use to make the boys believe you're still in your twenties
But they keep getting younger, don't they, baby?

She's not waiting for someone to come over and ask for the privilege
She can still here that rebel yell just as loud as it was in 1983, you know
There ain't no Johnny coming home to share a bed with her, and she doesn't care

No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to be a junkie
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to sleep alone
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to be a junkie
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to sleep alone
No mother ever dreams that her daughter's gonna grow up to be a junkie
And if she had to live it all over again, you know she wouldn't change anything for the world

Sleep on pillows made in Singapore
Wrapped in comforters
Sweatin' through sheets
Drinkin' coffee in the morning
Flown in on aeroplanes across the vast seas

And your house is made of wood
Central air, central heat
You've got your furniture of particle board
Your doors are locked for, for safety

And you walk in leather shoes
Pants of denim, a black cotton sweatshirt
And you do what you do
'cause doing, you start to form a habit

And you drink all night long
And you sleep through the morning
And if something doesn't break
I'm just gonna go, go fucking insane

Away

And you sweep up the floor when it's dirty
You do the dishes, when the sink's full
And when the refridgerator's empty


Well it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, to go the store

You put your books on a shelf
Clothes arranged in the closet
You hang the things on the wall that you don't wanna be so easily forgotten

I hate these songs
I hate the words
That the singer is singin' to me
I hate this melody
I hate this stupid fucking drum beat

But I'm not gonna tell anyone
What I'm really thinking about
Keep the conversations on the surface
Just keep on smiling
Just keep on saying
Everything's gonna be alright
It's gonna be alright [x2]
Alright [x11]

Everyone's a critic, but hey they really respect your talent.
Have your manager call my manager, and we'll make records together.
At this level of success in entertainment, there are certain connotations.
It's a "you give we take" relationship.
The kids just wouldn't understand it.
Come on now, how long do think this is really gonna last?
How long can you hold their attention? How long before they move on to the next band?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?

Coordinate the marketing, label, publicity, touring.
Consult on, timing and presentation.
Go ahead put this in context.
It's 3 points on production, 15% to management,
10% to the agent, 5% to legal representation.
We call it our insurance plan to stretch the inevitable as far as we can.
Gotta make your money while you got the chance,
do whatever it takes to sell it.

On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?


(Let's go)
Just how desperate can we be?
Go buy our record and see.
Just how angry can we seem?
Go buy our record and see.
Just how fucked up can it get?
Go buy our record and see.
Just how much can we bleed?
We're completely irrelevant on LP and compact disc.

On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?
On the inside.
On the inside.
On the inside.
Do you wanna know how it feels on the inside?

I can't sleep
Dry red eyes wide open
Starin' at the white stucco ceiling
Turn on the TV
Watch music on television
Have I heard this song before, did this already happen?

Derived influence
In style of dress
Similar trends in camera technique and editing
Sync up the cuts (sync up the cuts)
To the bass drum kick (to the bass drum kick)
All the taste-makers drinking from the same glass

Is there anybody thinking what I am?
Is there anybody thinking what I am?

Are you restless like me?
Are you restless like me?
Are you restless like me?

And all the insiders rumor
About a decline in sales
All the buzz is happening in the new digital market place
FBI warning
Printed on the flip side
Under penalty of law piracy will be prosecuted

And in MRR (and in MRR)
Someone asks the question (someone asks the question)
With the instant availability of information
And content so easily obtainable
Is the culture now a product that's disposable?
Are the punks still singing the same song?

Is there anybody thinking what I am?
Is there any other alternative at all?

Are you restless like me?
Are you restless like me?
Are you restless like me
Like me?

East and West could not agree
So their generals gave call, gathered troops at the border
With guns at ready, drawn and aimed
Each side was praying to a God to bless them with strength and courage
It was in His name artillery lit the sky on fire
The people sang protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun

Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
But the battle raged on

Sirens filled the air, and the ground shook with war
Civilian casualties had been a cost that was predetermined
When interviewed for report, victims pleaded in frustration
Their claim: that this was a war without reason
And bureaucrats engaged in debate to try and reach a resolution
The people sang protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun

Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
But the battle raged on

While the broadcast, like their prayers, went unanswered and ignored
God, like the rest of the world, just watched in silence
There was purpose to be served, there were fortunes to be earned
Before a peace could be called to stop the fighting, they sang...

Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
Protest songs in response to military aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier's gun
But the battle raged on

In the closest alley,
In the first doorway,
He pushed up against her and closed his eyes.
He said "this is probably the worst decision that Ive ever made"
She laughed and smiled
she said "Im sure you do this all the time...right?"

As the morning came, and the city awoke,
into the building, the people all went to work.
As their rides out of town came, they parted ways,
she said "Do you know when you're coming back again?"
Dig it deeper, deeper, and farther still
Bury it up and over and into the ground.
All these lies will grow in ways that we never thought possible.

Quiet down, down, down
so soft of a sound
you can hear it all come back after you.

Quiet down, down, down
so soft of a sound
you can hear it all come back after you.

Now you want to take it back, you think you might have fucked up.
Waking dreams of concrete, deafening panic, cracking skull,
there is yelling all around, get up, get up, please start breathing.
And the moment will come when you finally realize
the results of decisions and the choices in your life
do you hear it all come back after you?