Thought Provoking Lyrics

[Veganpunk]

I thought it would be cool to have a thread about song lyrics that you find thought provoking. Here is my first one:

Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits

Francis didn't give a f@*# about the rollbacks,
overproduction, reduced demand.
Never gave much thought to disputed contracts.
In his short life he'd only ever known
panic, fear, pain, darkness, pandemonium
in this hell that was his home
and 4th quarter expectations expedited their demise.
The panic grew as the humans stopped among them,
when the screaming began.
Francis shut his eyes and felt the hand of the humanity
brush over him but then his killers back turned for a moment.
A blinding ray of light spread across the floor.
In a crimson pool he saw his own reflection
as he bolted for the door.

Not just some fractured fairy tail,
although I wish that that were true.
This is a fable far too real
that we somehow still cling to.

The storylines that bridge the chasms between cognition and belief.
Any other plausible denial that might offer some relief.
From the dissonance that francis left screaming in his wake.
Deep into the heart of the cities parklands he made good his escape.
And where for five months he ran free and replayed his only fond memory.
Just a warm and distant dream of his mothers loving eyes upon him.
Francis made it farther than she did. A quarter mile just short
of the city limits they finally captured him.
And there's a statue right behind where it's written to remind
us of all their contributions. To me it marks "potemkin city limits"
as francis cast in bronze to the realm of god.

Not just some fractured fairy tail.
Although I wish that that were true.
This is a fable far too real.
We somehow still cling to

It's one of the best animal rights songs (yea they exist!) I've ever heard. It's about a pig who escapes the slatherhouse, only to be caught again.

[AtreyuKun]

Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction

a febrile shocking violent smack
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 world stupidity?,
or would I see hungry lover homicides,
loving brother suicides,
and olly olly oxenfrees,
who pickaside and hide

the world is scratching at my door,
my morning papers 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 worlds is scratching at my door....

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

[Mykislt]

NOFX - The Idiots are Taking Over
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It's not the right time to be sober
Now the idiots have taken over
Spreading like a social cancer
Is there an answer?

MENSA membership exceeding
Tell me why and how are all the stupid people breeding
Watson it's really elementary, the industrial revolution
Has a flipped a bitch on evolution
The benevolent and wise are being cornered, ostracized, what a bummer
The world keeps getting dumber
Insensitivity is standard and faith is being fancied over reason

Darwin's rolling over in his coffin
The fittest are surviving much less often
Now everything seems to be reversing, and it's worsening
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool
Now angry mob mentality's no longer the exception, it's the rule
And I'm starting to feel a lot like Charlton Heston
Stranded on a primate planet
Apes and orangutans that ran to the ground
were generals and the armies that obey them
Followers following fables
Philosophies that enable them to rule without regard

There's no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated
Political scientists get the same one vote as some Arkansas inbred (that's chad)
Majority rule, don't work in mental institution
Sometimes the smallest softest voice carries the grand biggest solutions

What are we left with?
A nation of god-fearing pregnant nationalists
Who feel it's their duty to populate their homeland
Pass on traditions
How to get ahead religions
And prosperity via simpleton culture

The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
The idiots are taking over
They're takin' over!
- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I liked it before, and it was thought provoking

[Veganpunk]

That Nofx song is on one of the few albums I like by them.

[lxskllr]

Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize

[Mykislt]

That Nofx song is on one of the few albums I like by them.

weird, I was obsessed with them, and I thought that anything past 2000 was mediocre. But since then I've gotten bored with them and with the genre.

[Vegan's Wife]

lily is dancing
on the table
we've all been
pushed
too far
i guess on days
like this
you know who your
friends are
just another dead fag
to you that's all
just another light missing
on a long taxi ride
taxi ride

and i'm down to
your last cigarette and
this "we are one" crap
as you're invading
this thing you call
love - she smiles
way too much but
i'm glad you're
on my side, sure
i'm glad you're on
my side still

you think you deserve
a trust fund
just because you
want one
sure you talk the talk
when you need to
i fear
the whole world is
starting to
believe you
just another dead fag
to you that's all
just another light missing
in a long taxi line
taxi line

and i"m down to
your last cigarette and
this "we are one" crap
as you're invading
this thing you call
love - she smiles
way too much but
i'm glad you're
on my side, sure
i'm glad you're on
my side still

lily is dancing
on the
table
we've all been pushed
too far today
even a glamorous
bitch can be in
need
this is where you know
the honey
from the
killer bees
i'm glad you're on
my side
sure
i'm glad you're on
my side
sure
i'm glad you're on
my side still

got a long taxi ride
got a long taxi ride

[RobsanX]

This is one of the few songs that brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. I think it's so powerful because it's the true story of Roger Waters father.

Pink Floyd - When the Tigers Broke Free

It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black 'forty four.
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while.
And the Anzio bridgehead
Was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And kind old King George
Sent Mother a note
When he heard that father was gone.
It was, as I recall,
In a form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all.
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free.
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
They were all left behind,
Most of them dead,
The rest of them dying.
And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me.

[victoryredchevy]

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Confessor
Of the tragedies in man
Lurking in the core of us all
The last dying call for the everlost
Brief encounters, bleeding pain

Lepers coiled neath the trees
Dying men in bewildered soliloquoys
Perversions bloom round the bend
Seekers, lost in their quest
Ghosts of friends frolic
under the waning moon

It is the year of death
Wielding his instruments
Stealth sovereign reaper
Touching us with ease

Infecting the roots in an instant
Burning crop of disease
I am just a spectator
An advocate documenting the loss
Fluttering with conceit
This doesn't concern me yet
Still far from the knell
Taunting their bereavement

Mob round the dead
Point fingers at the details
Probing vomits for more
Caught in unbridled suspense

We have all lost it now
Catching the flakes of dismay
Born the tragedy of man
Regular pulse midst pandemonium
You're plucked to the mass
Parched with thirst for the wicked

Sick liasons raised this monumental mark
The sun sets forever over Blackwater Park

[Premium Parrots]

Witch Doctor

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you
I told the witch doctor I was in love with you
And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do
He said that
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang

I told the witch doctor you didn't love me true
I told the witch doctor you didn't love me nice
And then the witch doctor, he gave me his advice

He said that
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang

You've been keepin' love from me just like you were a miser
And I'll admit I wasn't very smart
So I went out and found myself a gal who's so much wiser
And he taught me the way to win your heart
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to say
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to do
I know that you'll be mine when I say this to you

Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang
Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bang-bang

You've been keepin' love from me just like you were a miser
And I'll admit I wasn't very smart
So I went out and found myself a gal who's so much wiser
And he taught me the way to win your heart
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to say
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to do
I know that you'll be mine when I say this to you, oh baby

Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang

[Veganpunk]

Very thought provoking PP.

[Veganpunk]

weird, I was obsessed with them, and I thought that anything past 2000 was mediocre. But since then I've gotten bored with them and with the genre.

Well, the other records I like by them are all before that one. Punk in Drublic, Pump Up The Valium, Heavy Petting Zoo was pretty good. SLATFATS, and White Trash as well. Oh and The Decline. I just ordered that on vinyl, the best song they will ever write. 18 minutes long. I'll post the lyrics:

Nofx - The Decline

Where are all the stupid people from?
And how'd they get to be so dumb?
Bred on purple mountain range
Feed amber waves of grains
To lesser human beings, zero feelings

Blame it on
Human nature, mans destiny (mans destiny)
Blame it on the greediocracy (greediocracy)
Fear of God
The fear of change
The fear of truth

Add the Bill of Rights, subtract the wrongs
There's no answers
Memorize and sing star spangled songs
When the questions
Aren't ever asked
Is anybody learning from the past?
We're living in united stagnation

Father what have I done?
I took that 22
A gift to me from you
To bed with me each night
Kept it clean
Polished it well
Cherished every cartridge, every shell

Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt
There's a carcass of my second kill
Down, by the park, under stone, under pine
There's a carcass of my brother William
Brother where, have you gone to?
I swear, I never thought I could
I see so many times
They told me to shoot straight
Don't pull the trigger, squeeze
That will insure a kill
A kill is what you want
A kill is why we breed

The Christians love their guns
The church and NRA
Pray for their salvations
Prey on the lower faiths

The story book's been read
And every line believed
Curriculum's been set
Logic is a threat
Reason searched and seized

Jerry spent some time in Michigan
A twenty year vacation, after all he had a dime
A dime is worth a lot more in Detroit
A dime in California, a twenty dollar fine

Jerry only stayed a couple months
It's hard to enjoy yourself while bleeding out the ass
Asphyxiation is simple and fast
It beats seventeen fun years of being someones bitch

Don't think (Stay)
Drink your wine (Home)
Watch the fire burn (Be)
His problems not mine (Safe)
Just be that model citizen

I wish I had a schilling
(For each senseless killing)
For every senseless killing
I'd buy a government
America's for sale
And you can get a good deal on it
(A good deal on it)
And make a healthy profit
Or maybe, tear it apart
Start with assumption
That a million people are smart
Smarter than one

Serotonin's gone
She gave up, drifted away
Sara fled, thought process gone
She left her answering machine on
The greeting left spoken sincere
Messages no one will ever hear

Ten thousand messages a day
A million more transmissions lay
Victims of the laissez faire
Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns
A hundred decibels turns to one
One bullet, one empty head
Now with Serotonin gone

The man who used to speak
Performs a cute routine
Feel a little patronized
Don't feel bad
They found a way inside your head
And you feel a bit misled
It's not that they don't care, yeah

The television's put a thought inside your head
Llike a Barry Manilow, jingle
I'd like, to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
A symphonic blank stare, yeah
It doesn't make you care (make you care)
Not designed to make you care (make you care)
They're betting you won't care (you won't...)

Place a wager on your greed
A wager on your pride
Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?

We are the whore
Intellectually spayed
We are the queer
Dysfunctionally raised

One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
Living through conformity

One more prayer to keep me safe
One more prayer to keep us warm
One more prayer to keep us safe
There's gonna be a better place

Lost the battle, lost the war
Lost the things worth living for
Lost the will to win the fight
One more pill to kill the pain

Na na na na na
La na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na

The going get tough, the tough get debt
Don't pay attention, pay the rent
Next of kins pay for your sins
A little faith should keep us safe

Save us
The human, existence
Is failing, resistance
Essential, the future
Written off, the odds are
Astronomically against us
Only moron and genius
Would fight a losing battle
Against the super ego
When giving in is so damn comforting

And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?

Fellow members
Club "We've Got Ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his, and I've got mine
Meet the decline

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war
We are worker
We love our queen
We sacrifice
We're soilent green

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war

[xrt]

'Jimmy Eat World - Let It Happen' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbDHFIeKNVI


I have a ringing in my head
And no one to help me answer it
Even with you close enough to kiss.

Every minute is arranged
Every moment lasts a day
But thinking about it can't help me let go, I know.

Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk
Gotta love how it's somehow all on me
All the petty scenes
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
'Cause I can laugh it off.
I can laugh it off.

I must look like I'm running away
To you at your faster pace
I wonder what it is you could have seen, in me.

I'm the evil one who said.
Gonna let everything just happen
Just like my chest, my ears are proud
The collision is such an ugly sound.

I can hear you now
Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk
Gotta love how it's somehow all on me
All the petty scenes
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
'Cause I can laugh it off.
Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk
Gotta love how it's somehow all on me
And all the placings
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
'Cause I can laugh it off.
I can laugh it off.

I can hear you now
Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk
Gotta love how it's somehow all on me
All the petty scenes
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
'Cause I can laugh it off.

Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk
Gotta love how it's somehow all on me
All the petty scenes
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
'Cause I can laugh it off.

This song moves me.

[tom502]

CRASS - Bloody Revolutions

You talk about your revolution, well, that's fine
But what are you going to be doing come the time?
Are you going to be the big man with the tommy-gun?
Will you talk of freedom when the blood begins to run?
Well, freedom has no value if violence is the price
Don't want your revolution, I want anarchy and peace

You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool
You speak of liberation and when the people rule
Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be?
Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me

But what about those people who don't want your new restrictions?
Those that disagree with you and have their own convictions?
You say they've got it wrong because they don't agree with you
So when the revolution comes you'll have to run them through
You say that revolution will bring freedom for us all
Well freedom just ain't freedom when your back's against the wall

You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool
You speak of liberation and when the people rule
Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be?
Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me

Will you indoctrinate the masses to serve your new regime?
And simply do away with those whose views are too extreme?
Transportation details could be left to British rail
Where Zyklon B succeeded, North Sea Gas will fail
It's just the same old story of man destroying man
We've got to look for other answers to the problems of this land

You talk of overthrowing power with violence as your tool
You speak of liberation and when the people rule
Well ain't it people rule right now, what difference would there be?
Just another set of bigots with their rifle-sights on me

Vive la revolution, people of the world unite
Stand up men of courage, it's your job to fight

It all seems very easy, this revolution game
But when you start to really play things won't be quite the same
Your intellectual theories on how it's going to be
Don't seem to take into account the true reality
Cos the truth of what you're saying, as you sit there sipping beer
Is pain and death and suffering, but of course you wouldn't care

You're far too much of a man for that, if Mao did it so can you
What's the freedom of us all against the suffering of the few?
That's the kind of self-deception that killed ten million jews
Just the same false logic that all power-mongers use
So don't think you can fool me with your political tricks
Political right, political left, you can keep your politics
Government is government and all government is force
Left or right, right or left, it takes the same old course
Oppression and restriction, regulation, rule and law
The seizure of that power is all your revolution's for
You romanticise your heroes, quote from Marx and Mao
Well their ideas of freedom are just oppression now

Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created
It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated
Nothing's really different cos all government's the same
They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game

Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created
It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated
Nothing's really different cos all government's the same
They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game
There's nothing that you offer but a dream of last years hero
The truth of revolution, brother................... is year zero

[Veganpunk]

Here's another one from Propagandhi. It's about how Fat Mike from Nofx is a hypocrite, (he urged the punk community to vote for Kerry, the "lesser of two evils") and the warped tour is a joke.

Propagandhi - Rock For Sustainable Capitalism

I f#@%in� love that one rock video where that f#@%ing jack-ass mohawked millionaire prances around by far the worst sausage party on earth, where by mere chance he's caught on film shaking hands with an incredibly diverse collection of patriotic skins. I like the message it sends: With a Rebel yell, Just Do Exactly What You're Told. One million douche bags can't be wrong? "When did punk rock become so safe?" You'll excuse me if I laugh in your face as I itemize your receipts and PowerPoint your balance sheets. I hear this year's Vans Warped Tour is "going green!" I guess they heard that money grows on trees. Hope they ship all those shitty bands overseas like they did the factories. Music's power to describe, compel, renew It's all a distant second to the offers you can't refuse. Anyone remember when we used to believe that music was a sacred place and not some f@#%ing bank machine? Not something you just bought and sold? How could we have been so naive? Well, I think when all is said and done, just cuz we were young doesn't mean we were wrong. And I'll rock back and forth on this two-bit hobbyhorse 'til she splinters and gives way. I'll tend the flowers by her grave. And whisper her name. If anyone out there understands can I please see a show of hands just so I know I'm not insane? Ever get the feeling you been played? Well, that's rock for sustainable capitalism and you know, we may face a scorched and lifeless earth, but they're accountable to their shareholders first. That's how the world works.