Brian Baker

A rhapsody! Contestants in disguise
A nation of desire
But who will win the prize?
The people stand united,
Reluctantly aligned
Copying and lying
Are the favorite past-time
You've got a chance
To confront the world today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

Common life depicted on afternoon tv,
Is spiked to give the miserable a vogue identity
Hate your neighbors,
Cheat your friends,
They don't discriminate
Popularity and fame don't care
If you're a reprobate

You've got a chance
To confront the world today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

I'm tired of all this
Shakespearean misinformation
I want to win the game
You've got the right intentions
But who's got time to think?
You've got a noon appointment,
You've got to hit the links
You're talking in the stratosphere,
You're curled up on the floor
With such a wealth of information,
Why are you so poor?
You've got a chance
To be relevant today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
(don't you believe what the wise men have to say)
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

Hey you, is there something worth aspiring to?
And can it be found in a record store? Well, it's not there anymore
Just think of all the things we did
We were different, just like all the other kids

Missy was a teen blue video star, Tom took his life in his mother's car
Milo went to college, but you knew about that
Rodney played our records, Jimmy started riots, Laurie was always quiet
She was battling depression

Hey you, is there something worth belonging to?
And can I pick it up for a song or a diploma or a worthy cause?
Well, let me tell you that there's nothing wrong
It's just that ones like us will never belong

Jack wore a skirt but he knew how to scrap, Billy went to county on a class-one possession
Wendy went to school while her daddy shot smack
Eugine kept a list, Mugger was security, Mary she kept her purity
We were all in it together

Yellowed postcards on the wall
Serve to cover up the blankness after all
So I will carry them along like a song
When I'm gone

Hey you, is there something worth belonging to?
You know we've been here all along like a confederacy of the wrong
And I confess it could be prejudice
But to you I dedicate this song

Out in the cold,
like a bundle of coal,
little packets of darkness,
wanting to grow,

Well there's nobody home,
and there's a wreck in the yard,
and maybe they're coming back,
if we wish really hard,
if we wish real hard now,

Won't somebody please come up with something,
'cause Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working
and all of the rest are really down in the ratings,
but everyone is gonna keep on waiting,

waiting for peace,
at the end of our streets,
back behind our apartments,
in our passenger seats,

just a moment of bliss,
of it all of the ways,
but despair and oblivion,
of our precarious ways,
its ours to face now,

Won't somebody please come up with something,
'cause Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working,
and all of the rest are really down in the ratings,
but everyone is still right here waiting,

now I know nothing lasts forever,
so we might as well wish for a God damn fix,
of this toxic change in weather,

Won't somebody please come up with something,
'cause Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working
and all of the others can barely stay in the running,
but everyone is gonna keep on waiting

Won't somebody please come up with something
Won't somebody please come up with something
Won't somebody please come up with something
Won't somebody please come up with something

All those stories that my dad told me,
they are just a whisper in time
All those things that never came to be,
they are just a whisper in time
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Things that I can't shake from my mind
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Moments that just flicker and die
(memories that flicker and die)
All those places I wanted to go,
they are just a whisper in time
All those friends who now I do not know,
they are just a whisper in time
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Things that I can't shake from my mind
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Moments that just flicker and die
Maps and roads that brought me here today,
they are just a whisper in time
Circumstances that were explained away,
they are just a whisper in time
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Things that I can't shake from my mind
A whisper in time, a whisper in time
Moments that just flicker and die
'Cuz we are messengers of memory
Just whispers in time

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

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.

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.

what will prove to be our big mistake?
short sighted arrogance all for what sake?
our families to ashes, our ambition to dust
our progeny in silence thinking "what about us?"

but don't forget the dance of neglect
the march for empowering prosperity
the pain from loss and want for mere lucidity
just maternal residue, and I was there too
and maybe so were you

when something is won it comes with sacrifice
it's there beneath the joy, the glory and pride
rarely it's acknowledged but in positive light
consciously omitting the losers' plight

but don't forget the dance of neglect
the craving for community that never was met
the longing for status and the overture of regret
with no one to deter, pathetically unsure
forgetting who they were

just maternal residue, and I was there too
and maybe so were you

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

Not long ago, and yet the image is so vague
I hesitate to label it a memory
There was a show of local color and I felt astray
'Cause I had nothin' to offer but insufficiency
And you know that it's a bitch
When you learn to scratch that itch
Of blatant fallibility
Sooner to some, but eventually
All gets pointed in the same direction
While the human masses and their vague conceptions
Obliterate each other with impunity
And you wonder, ""What's in this for me?""
To another abyss
To no avail
The search is bound to fail
To another abyss
To no avail
So long ago I set sail
And it chills me to the bone that I'm so far away
from home
To another abyss
So what should I do now?
What should I celebrate
Given finite means and a penchant to depreciate ?
How can I still avow and depend upon a state
That cares nothing for my happiness, welfare, or fate?
And I know I can't explain the commotion in my brain
Like a terrifying reality deconstructed but inadequately
All gets pointed in the same direction
While the human masses and their vague conceptions
Obliterate each other with impunity
And release the weight of history
To another abyss
To no avail
The search is bound to fail
To another abyss
To no avail
So long ago I set sail
And it chills me to the bone that I'm so far away
from home
To another abyss
So long ago
So long ago
Oh, I set sail
And I'm struggling on the way
And I'm waiting for the day (To another abyss )
And I'm looking for a way back home
(To another abyss) So far away
(To another abyss) So far away
(To another abyss)
(To another abyss) So far away
(To another abyss)

Shut your eyes
See the future's distant shore
March ahead
More enlightened than before
And there's sure to be bumps and distractions
but I know we'll get through
There will be me, there will be you
There will be a way
Unresolved repercussions from your life
Fortified with the vitriol of strife
And you can be gridlocked by predictions,
But you're wise grab the prize
Then revise, realize
there will be a way
Hey... Ho
And I don't know where we are going
but we're here on this ride
And we'll stand side by side
all along the way
Follow me to the future's distant shore
Vagary needn't haunt us anymore
And now it's time to set the agenda,
Learn the past, make it last
Share the wealth, hold your fire,
conserve life, make it right
kill the hate, negotiate
There will be a 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

since the start of the 17th century
there's been the scent of unseasoned wood burning in the air
and the conquest of nature meant nothing at all
while we betray exception we take all that's there

but motives are translucent in the reflection of shame
the actions ghostly remnants of our ancestral ways
and unwittingly you just take your place in this parade
the voracious march of godliness makes us all the same anyway
all the same...

since the dawn of our human family
there's been concentrated sepsis blowing in the breeze
and we turned on each other with ferocity
desperation, forced, without reprieve

but the missions were misguided and the trammeled led astray
the air resounds with thunder as the victor seized the day
and the haunting voice of history lives ignored but not betrayed
the voracious march of godliness will get us close to heaven one day
some day...

the voracious march of godliness (6x)
the voracious march of godliness makes us all the same anyway
all the same...

Neighbors, nobody loves you like we do. Neighbors, your government has triumphed in finally making you a public fit for the 21st century. Never before has a governing body shown so much concern for the economic well-being of its subjects. Today we have insulated you from countless factions who threaten your financial viability; such as the poor; the idealistic foreigners still clinging to their childish notions of social welfare; why, you're even kept uninformed of useless propagandist journalism that reports alleged violations of human rights (we all know they wouldn't have been punished if they hadn't been doing something WRONG!!). And who better to dispense such blatantly evident factoids but a self-appointed authority like myself?

Acid Rain is a thing of the past.... too many possible causes, too little significance for our modern thinking public, besides industrial manufacturing is at an all-time low anyway, who needs those narrow minded laborers, too many mouths to feed, hehe, and too much burden on the payroll! Who needs 'em here in the land of the free time. Some other ass-backward country will give us what we need by exploiting its uneducated children anyway.

The Internet has expanded our ability to pacify average Americans better than ever by offering fantastical adventures to every corner of the imagination. Your home office is the window to your world, and the heart of your social life. Such reclusive behavior helps clear the roads and public works from overburden like the lower middle class and others who depend shamelessly on their government. Today you are freer than ever to do what you want, provided you can pay for it!

Remember, the first word in USA is US!
We have arrived, neighbors, we are the privileged elite!

you want prosperity for yourself but not for me
somehow you just can't see we're in this collectively
you think that freedom is a drastic severence
from your past relations, just a quest for new bargains

we're not the same person
we're not the same person
(don't you ever wanna know)
wooohhh

don't need no good advice nor shoddy merchandise
I'm the suspect device, beaten down, unable to strike
we're not the same person
we're not the same person
(don't you ever wanna know)
wooohhh

and the sun comes over us again
we lament, we pine, and we rescind
and we ask for understanding
but aren't we the stingy ones indeed
when it's needed from us in the end?

we watch the days go by, compete and then we die
so few ever ask why but so many just abuse the design

we're not the same person
we're not the same person
(don't you ever wanna know)
wooohhh

we're not the same person
we're not the same person
(don't you ever wanna know)
wooohhh

The quickening is an ephemeral thing
That only happens in the dark
Like catching lightening in a jar
And the pain that it brings is just the promise of spring
It's madness on the wing
Oh, what does it mean?
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
(To come alive)
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
The entering is soulful conjecturing
Oh, lost and by the wind-grieved ghost
Please come back to me again
Because the way that she bleeds
Is in the law that he reads
Confusing words and deeds
So what does it mean?
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
(To come alive)
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
To pierce the vein of the sacred and profane
Poor science in the service of a faith
But who will bear the mark of Cain
To come alive
.......x12

How do you know what you can be
If you can't see where you are going?
What breaks the silence?
Misery can make you see where you belong
It's a dangerous stage but the show must go on

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let your weakness show
You just might be the last to know

Freedom is such a loaded word
So full of hurt and such aplomb
Loneliness saunters in its breeze
Like a disease it drags along
The time of your life can't be had for a song

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let your weakness show
You just might be the last to know

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let your weakness show

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Only the meek follow
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Trample the fear below
You might just be the last to know

Oh me oh my
Get out of your 1950's fantasy,
Your face shines with misery transparently
Spew out that sobering
half-assed victim rhetoric
Make 'em all squirm
while they chew on it
It's a secret handshake
and a passing wink of the eye
As the witches bridge club weekly
meets to pen the tail on the sly
But they never ask
"why oh why don't we raise our voices to the sky?"
Instead you're mute
and fawn just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside
Oh me oh my
Damn your transcendental paralysis
We can work together
and make sense of this
Don't be so sure
you can chuck it all away
You've got to proceed
no matter how bad you want to stay
It's a natural cause
and a comfort zone
there in your head
And the world turns away
as you tap the snooze button in bed
But nobody can hear a word you said
Your history was never read
Instead you're mute and fawn
just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside

our apocalypse 1981
teenage vagrants looking for some fun
a renewed promise of prosperity
a vulgar platform for the world to see
we were...
the hippy killers (4x)

busted refuse from broken homes
pocked flesh and malacious bones
creatures sustained by desire, heart, and soul
nothing to leave and nowhere to go
we were...
the hippy killers (4x)

the hippy killers (8x)

good days during horrible times
overused bodies, neglected minds
shoulder to shoulder we formed as one
the next miserable generation
we were...
the hippy killers (4x)

I could only get the tools, the stimuli and molecules
Frozen moments in time
I could be the archetype, a credit to the genotype
Reprogram your mind

But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause
To distort a precious delusion

Delusion
Precious delusion

Did you see the moralist retort and raise his fist?
You can't make a man a machine
I can see the edifice crumbling in foggy mist
Razed by discovery

But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause
To distort a precious delusion

Delusion
Precious delusion
Delusion

We strike first and we're unrehearsed
Here we go again to stage the greatest show on heaven and earth
Come on, get your money's worth
Don't want to live (Can't live)
Don't want to give (Can't give)
Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
(Can't live) Don't want to live
(Can't give) Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
We're comin' on fast
And we're built to last
We stumbled once in 'Nam now we're glad to
finally say those days have past
Tell me how long can it last?
Don't want to live (Can't live)
Don't want to give (Can't give)
Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
(Can't live) Don't want to live
(Can't give) Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
We just started out
You don't need to be afraid
Yeah, you deserve two minutes hate
Well, we spit and we cursed
And our bleeding-hearts burst
But even ten million souls marching in February
Couldn't stop the worst
C-c-c-couldn't reverse
Don't want to live (Can't live)
Don't want to give (Can't give)
Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
(Can't live) Don't want to live
(Can't give) Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E
(Can't live, can't give, won't be)
Don't want to live (Can't live)
Don't want to live (Can't give)
Don't want to be (Won't be)
I can't live if it isn't with you
(Can't live, can't give, won't be,
E - M - P - I - R - E)
Don't want to live (Can't live)
Don't want to live (Can't give)
Don't want to be (Won't be)
E - M - P - I - R - E

Nothing comes easier than madness in the world today
Mass paranoia is a mode, not a malady
Yeah, I'd like to watch a thousand cable channels but there's nothing on
And my high speed connection's monitored daily by the Pentagon

These things are seldom what they seem
I'm not inclined to enjoy my dream
Won't go away

(No peace) No peace
(And no friends) And no friends
(We trace)
We trace the mortal edge (With no defense)
To state the obvious
This world is perilous for us

No sense (No sense)
And no guide (No guide)
Ain't it beautiful to be alive? (Yeah, right)
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense

We are the prey and culture is the predator
I'm running out of time where conditions are positional
Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity
There's got to be a way to overcome this grim reality

Is there an option left for me?
I'm not immune to despondency
There's no way

(No peace) No peace
(And no friends) And no friends
(We trace)
We trace the mortal edge (with no defense)
To state the obvious
This world is perilous for us

No sense (no sense)
And no guide (no guide)
Ain't it beautiful to be alive? (Yeah, right)
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense

There's a signpost on the corner and it keeps everybody safe
We were all made in the shade
And your mother's in the kitchen where she's patching all the cracks in the wall
We never had a care in the world

(No shade) Too much to sacrifice
(And no light) It's hard to recognize
(Just black) Traps to compromise
(And white) Obscuring deadly alibis
(My plans) It's combinational
(Designs) The pressure so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense

(No way) Nothing's plainer than the madness in the world today
(No sign) I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
(No grace) I seek initiatives in matters that are black and white
(No sense) So I'll construct this sound defense

k..k..k..killer (2x)

you have got your stranglers and prowlers in soft shoes
furniture makers, carpenters too
bombers and commandos, all with some lost cause
disgruntled workers, immersed in "veritas"

but stealthily, in the land of the free, it's lurking right there
most are unaware of
the biggest killer in American history (4x)
and God shed his grace on thee

business institutions, universities
both are quite the circus when the killer wants his way
I think of Edward Teller and his moribund reprise
then I look to Nevada and I can't believe my eyes
it's time for him to die!

most cannot remember minutia learned in school
it's not there on the blackboard, it's what they don't tell you
we have got a problem, it starts and ends right here
it can be defeated but you've got to face your fear

we'll join and unite and steady our sight
then we'll put it right 'cuz it's time to fight
the biggest killer in American history (4x)
and God shed his grace on thee

yeah, they say there's a place free of trouble and care
and you have to pass a test for to make it there
it has something to do with the road that's straight and narrow
and the only way to go it is by being right and thorough

there's always one more hill to climb
there's always one more hill to climb
bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices, astute and sharpened
tested, tested

often times we may be wonder what we're supposed to do
stand and deliver or see the conflict through
and as we long and proceed to build our castles in the sky
our plans get confounded and determination dies
there's no preparation and no guide
just what you've done before here with your life

bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices, astute and sharpened
tested, tested oh oh oh

acting on will, (the test is the reaction)
opening your heart, (the test is the emotion)
rolling the dice, (the test is the agility)
burning out your mind,(the test is the recovery)
watch-out!

you can play by the rules or bend them to your needs
but the test isn't over til you reach your dark eternal sleep
there are no absolutes, no big wheels in the sky
you don't have to be first just gotta somehow get by

yeah bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices astute and sharpened
tested, tested oh oh oh

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.

Well, am I making haste, or could it be haste is making me?
What's time but a thing to kill or keep or buy or lose or live in?
I gotta go faster, keep up the pace
Just to stay in the human race

I could go supersonic, the problem's chronic
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate I just accelerate into oblivion
Into oblivion

Now here I go again everything is alien
How does it feel to be outstripped by the pace of cultural change?
My deeds are senseless and rendered meaningless
When measured in that vein

I could go supersonic, the problem's chronic
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate I just accelerate into oblivion

I won't lie (pace setters, go-getters)
It's exciting (rat racers, forgetters)
When I try (researchers, berserkers)
To decide things (strategies to help the workers)

I just want to live (new time-saving devices)
Decently (quick vices, no crisis)
Meaningfully (brevity dependency)
I'm in misery (digital efficiency)

I could go supersonic, the problem's chronic
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate I just accelerate into oblivion
Into oblivion

Dedication's the price you pay
The initiated are coddled and caged
Before you walk, as soon as you crawl
Hope is pointless when you're stuck in the trawl

Fuck the freshman lectures and brandishments
They just betray impoverished accomplishments
The puppet masters fear originality
They tighten up the tethers and they shackle your feet

Submission complete

Young recruits never have a chance
Enticed to the drill, admonished to dance
Early to rise and early to shine
Life is long but the end is nigh

Break the guilty trammels from yesteryear
Remember how rejuvenation conquers all fears
Lowly opportunists take commanding roles
And hawk ultimatums so their weakness won't show

The sad reflection
Of dead ambition
You live for nothing
Submission complete

Yeah, break the guilty trammels from yesteryear
Remember how the pain of failure makes it all clear
The lowly opportunists take commanding roles
And hawk ultimatums so their weakness won't show

The sad reflection
Of dead ambition
You live for nothing

Expectation
Indoctrination
Life's damnation
Submission complete

Dying on your feet
Submission complete
A total defeat

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

a mutinous enemy carved a nascent country
sweat, blood and valor forms the grit of our history
bequeathed to everyone: chance and free expression
substance was restrained and the spirit was broken

I feel a strange denial rhythmic as change
constant as time
lonely insistent whispers
somber as a wave bye bye

searching for solution, without constitution
blackcoats by our sides promising salvation
advocating dogma as tickets to hereafter
mortals in their prime with their desperate hands in the air

daunting complex and burning
rhythmic as change
constant as time
conflicts, craving approval
weighted as a murder trial
oh, I feel a strange denial

correct is consensus
everything else, nonsense
forward is the hope
forget recompense
peace and tranquility is only for the wealthy
dearth for the masses and inequality

I feel a strange denial
rhythmic as change
constant as time
lonely insistent whispers
dissipating in the night
like a lone forgotten light

and no one is helping me
it's a strange denial

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Father can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born
And all the sorrow in this world

Let me take you to the hurting ground
Where all good men are trampled down
Just to settle a bet that could not be won
Between a prideful father and his son

Will you guide me now, for I can't see
A reason for the suffering and this long misery
What if every living soul could be upright and strong?
Well then I do imagine

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

When all soldiers lay their weapons down
Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves
It's easy to imagine

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

Yeah, there will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

Father can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born
And all the sorrow in this world

Let me take you to the hurting ground
Where all good men are trampled down
Just to settle a bet that could not be won
Between a prideful father and his son

Will you guide me now, for I can't see
A reason for the suffering and this long misery
What if every living soul could be upright and strong?
Well then I do imagine

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

When all soldiers lay their weapons down
Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves
It's easy to imagine

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

There will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

Yeah, there will be sorrow
Yeah, there will be sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

Right now, well, it's finally time to face my fears
Gonna get the hell out of here
And create a fresher atmosphere
But the consequence is clear

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Like you, perseverance is a useless tool
Just a patron on a ship of fools
Feigning interest in the cast and crew
While you've broken every single rule

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
Now it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Shadows entertain the unwashed masses
Scholars explain their numb reactions
I don't even know if I can ever find truth
But I'm sure it won't come from following you

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

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

Innocents burned alive at the stake
Tortured and dumped in nameless graves
Centuries waned, authority died
Scattering seeds of ancient lies

Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score

Child molesters and Jesuits
Holding secret conference
Underneath the Pontiff's nose
And only God will ever know

Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score

Give us this day our daily bread
Your legacy we'll not forget
Lick the wounds, cleanse the land
The modern world rejects your hand

Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge coming back for more
To even the score

The nightmare comes in sinister rouge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight
Days go marching by
There and back I never wait for a confident reply
Truth is stark and leaves its mark as limited constraints
And the most difficult part is accepting what the future may bring

It seems like a lifetime of scrutiny
Wither the path, whether worth the fee
A lifetime of scrutiny
And it seems as though I can't be sure of anything anymore

One - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight
Years go flying by
No one seems to hesitate or cast an earnest eye
Judgement comes in many forms but never scarce or shy
And the litany is long as the confidence is strong in their delight

It seems like a lifetime of scrutiny
Prejudicial waters wash over me
A lifetime of scrutiny
And the words just don't equate with sense or sanity anymore

One - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight
The faces and the names
Shattered hopes and stolen dreams and no one left to blame
Is it possible to win this pointless mortal game?
'Cuz when death comes it's swift and my friends, we end up all the same

It feels like a lifetime of scrutiny
Wither the path and whether worth the fee
A lifetime of scrutiny
And it seems as though I can't remember anything anymore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oratory of hope and glory, a whisper and a rhyme
An effigy, a soldier out of time
Citizen and patriot, you can't be far behind
The funeral weighing heavy on your mind

Requiem, bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem, raise the rebel from his grave
Requiem, sound the revolution's thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

Dig around the cemetery, a record of the day
Friends and neighbors in stages of decay
But the saddest thing of all eludes discovery
The stimulus for this somber ceremony

Requiem, bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem, raise the rebel from his grave
Requiem, sound the revolution's thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

The sanctimonious minions, how they grovel at the feet
Authority is populist deceit
Pity yet another casualty's demoralized decline
Just a victim of irrational design

Requiem
Requiem
Requiem

Bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem, raise the rebel from his grave
Requiem, sound the revolution's thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hit the road in wander mode, inquire along the way
Savior-faire in dull despair while living day to day
My heart is not a cold cauldron of proof
I don't ever need to prove myself to you

Looking back I'm off the tracks more times than I recognize
Mistakes are another opportunity to refine
My heart is not a cold cauldron of proof
I don't ever need to prove myself to you

There's no such thing as hell
But you can make it if you try
There might come a day
When emotion can be quantified

But as of now there's no proof necessary
No proof necessary
No proof necessary
There's no proof necessary, it's only in your mind

Oh, can't you feel the nostalgia, I wonder about you, modernistocrat Horatio Alger
Clever, never hesitating in the baiting, ever waiting for the canticle of manacles abating
Did you ever forget you had a regret?
And what you only guessed at might still be waiting

When the prodigal son with a caroming shadow of hate comes to land at home
Well, he's a mourning star with a champagne heart at his curtain call
And father never understood the way the work gets done
Don't look at me, no, I ain't one, no prodigal son
Don't look at me, no, I ain't one, no prodigal son

When everybody about is ready to bout you about controversial values
Don't you think you'd better readdress the level of the cowardice rising to drown you?
Did you ever connect or come to reject, or even inspect
The dreams that hound you?

When the prodigal son with a caroming shadow of hate comes to land at home
Well, he's a mourning star with a champagne heart at his curtain call
And father never understood the way the work gets done
Don't look at me, no, I ain't one, no prodigal son
Don't look at me, no, I ain't one, no prodigal son

When you least expect it, he's going to run
Like the blood-red path of the western sun
The prodigal son is waiting, waiting for his moment to come
Well hell no, don't look at me, can't you see I ain't one, no prodigal son
It ain't me, no I ain't one, no prodigal son

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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).

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

there's no substance!(2x)

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

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

Can you hear the call in our rambling land, susurrations that can expand
Beyond all hope of light and plunge us into unrelenting night?
A pall on truth and reason, it feels like hunting season
So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right

Welcome to the new dark ages
Yeah, I hope you're living right
These are the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

Now come ye children, one and all, let's heed Ezekiel's call
And bide until the word is good and right then get plucked clean out of sight
The world will be erased, our kin will be immaculate ejaculate in space
Before the king of king's love, he'll snatch us from above, brothers, help me sing it

Welcome to the new dark ages
Yeah, I hope you're living right
These are the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

So how do you sleep?
There's nothing to keep, this is deep
Because we're animals with golden rules
Who can't be moved by rational views

Yeah, welcome to the new dark ages
I hope you're living right
Welcome to the new dark ages
Say it again, yeah

These are the new dark ages
I hope you're living right
Welcome to the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

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

If you're discontent to know your world's a pile of shit
Listen to a riddle that will tickle every bit of it
Ha ha ha!

Ape shall not murder, ape wasn't so sure
Bad ape, you made a mistake, annihilation in a cannibal war
Well, cultivation might have served you, might have raised you up unscathed
If you had called that fucker by its name

Did you listen to the arbiter's beck and call?
Did you find what you were looking for or not at all?
Not at all!

Ape shall not murder, ape wasn't so sure
Bad ape, you made a mistake, annihilation in a cannibal war
Culture might have cured you and raised you up unscathed
If you had called that fucker by its name

Say the name
Say the name
Say the name

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

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

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

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

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

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

You're obsessed and distressed 'cause you can't make any sense
Of the ludicrous nonsense and incipient senescence
That will deem your common sense useless
This ain't no recess

I want to believe in you but my plans keep falling through
I know I have to face the harshness, grin and bare the truth
And I have to walk this mile in my own shoes
And I'm no fool

I'm materialist, a full-blown realist
And I guess I'm full of doubt so I'm prone to have it out with you
I'm materialist, there ain't no fear in this
It's there for all to see, so don't talk of hidden mystery with me

Mind over matter, it really don't matter
If the street's idle chatter turns your heartstrings to tatters
Flatter hopes don't flatter and soul batter won't congeal to mend a life that's shattered into shards
Was it in the cards?

The process of belief is an elixir when you're weak
I must confess at times I indulge it on the sneak
But generally my outlook's not so bleak
And I'm not meek

I'm materialist, call me a humanist
And I guess I'm full of doubt so I'll gladly have it out with you
I'm materialist, I ain't no deist
It's there for all to see, so don't talk of hidden mystery with me

Like Rome under Nero, our future's one big zero
Recycling the past to meet immediate needs
And through it all we amble forth to persevere and climb
Our mountains of regret to sow our seeds

I'm materialist
I'm materialist
I'm materialist
I'm materialist

Pilgrim, those are dry and bitter tears
And lonely eyes look way beyond your years
Pilgrim, did you drink the mercury?
Your lips turned blue and you're struggling just to see

You were too far gone to carry on
Now your life has stalled
As you march ahead you go no place at all

Pilgrim, when you left them all behind
The loneliness destroyed your able mind
Pilgrim, see the writing on the door?
It's taking you back to a place you were before

And the next in line paces your stride
Waiting for your fall
With a hope that lies in a hidden master's call

Pious eyes ignoring passersby
Headlong to their grave
Don't despair this world of toil and care
This pilgrim lost his way

Pilgrim, will you ever find your call?
Is truth so pure that you're willing to risk it all?

Pious eyes ignoring passersby
Headlong to their grave
Don't despair this world of toil and care
This pilgrim lost his way

Somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of blue
Saint Ann's skirts are billowing
But down here in the city of limelights
The fans of Santa Ana are withering

And you can't deny the living is easy
If you never look behind the scenery
It's showtime for dry climes
Bedlam is dreaming of rain

When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze, even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning

This is not a test
Of the emergency broadcast system
When Malibu fires and radio towers
Conspire to dance again

And I cannot believe the media Mecca
They're only trying to peddle reality
Catch it on primetime, story at 9
The whole world is going insane

When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze, even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning

A placard reads the end of days
Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze
More a question than a curse, how could hell be any worse?
The flames are starting, the camera's running, so take warning

When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze, even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning

The road is narrow, the horizon wide
And they say what's waiting on the other side
Is so rewarding and the ultimate prize
But what good is something
if you can't have it until you die?
Desperate, tenacious , clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away
Wash away
Drunk with the assertions they know they can't defend
Confident that they might live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Temptation, revelation , you decide
Torture shows its colors often in disguise
Progress and purpose help us realize
We pass along a brighter faith
Even though it must be blind
Desperate, tenacious , clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away
Wash away
Drunk with the assertions they know they can't defend
Confident that they might live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Let's go
Oh, desperate, tenacious , clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away
Wash away, yeah
Drunk with the assertions they know they can't defend
Confident that they might live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?

There's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner with long division and a riding crop
Anybody can feel like a winner when it's served up piping hot
But the people aren't looking for a handout, they're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?

Let them eat war, let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war, let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed, declining pride

From the force to the union shops, the war economy is making new jobs
But the people who benefit most are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts
Who never stole from the rich to give to the poor, all they ever gave to them was a war
And a foreign enemy to deplore

Let them eat war, let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war, let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed, declining pride

We've got to kill 'em and eat 'em before they reach for their checks
Squeeze some blue collars, let them bleed from their necks
Seize a few dollars from the people who sweat
Cause it's freedom or death and they won't question it

At a job site the boss is god like
Conditioned workhorses park at a stoplight
Seasoned vets with their feet in nets
A stones throw away from a rock fight but not tonight

Feed 'em death, here comes another ration
Feed 'em death, 'cause they're the finest in the nation
Feed 'em death, when there's nothing left to feed them with
When it's freedom or it's death

Let them eat war, let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war, let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed

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

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

It's a matter of prescience, no not the science-fiction kind
It's all about ignorance and greed and miracles for the blind
The media parading disjointed politics
Founded on petrochemical plunder and we're its hostages

If you stand to reason you're in the game
The rules may be elusive but our pieces are the same
And you know if one goes down we all go down as well
The balance is precarious as anyone can tell, the world's going to hell

Don't allow
This mythologic hopeful monster to exact its price
Kyoto now
We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

You might not think it matters now, but what if you are wrong?
You might not think there's any wisdom in a fucked up punk rock song
But the way it is cannot persist for long
A brutal sun is rising on a sick horizon

It's in the way we live our lives
Exactly like the double edge of a cold, familiar knife
And supremacy weighs heavy on the day
It's never really what you own but what you threw away, and how much did you pay

Don't allow
This mythologic hopeful monster to exact its price
Kyoto now
We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

In your dreams
You saw a steady state of bounty for eternity
Silent scream
But now the wisdom that sustains us is in full retreat

Don't allow
This mythologic hopeful monster isn't worth the risk
Kyoto now
We can't have vision for the future if it can't be fixed

Alien
We need a fresh and new religion to run our lives
Hand in hand
The arid torpor of inaction will be our demise

Kyoto now!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now get up and give in, I'll crack your knuckles again
Supplicate and survive this transubstantiation
And get so mean
I want to know what it means

Did you laugh? You know I did
Did you cry? Couldn't get it right
Did you live? Always on the edge
Did you lie? Causing such a fright

Did you love? Oh, to be forgiven
Did you try? But it wouldn't be right
God, it feels like an honest goodbye

That sick brass boy daydreaming, cry baby, convict, demon
Hands so clean, a sympathetic cold-blooded killing machine
How did you get so mean?
I want to know what it means

Did you laugh? You know I did
Did you cry? Couldn't get it right
Did you live? Always on the edge
Did you lie? Causing such a fright

Did you love? Oh, to be forgiven
Did you try? But it wouldn't be right
God, it feels like an honest goodbye

Now get up and give in, I'll crack your knuckles again
Supplicate and survive this transubstantiation
And get so mean
I want to know what it means

Did you laugh? You know I did
Did you cry? Couldn't get it right
Did you live? Always on the edge
Did you lie? Causing such a fright

Did you love? Oh, to be forgiven
Did you try? But it wouldn't be right
God, it feels like an honest goodbye

That sick brass boy daydreaming, cry baby, convict, demon
Hands so clean, a sympathetic cold-blooded killing machine
How did you get so mean?
I want to know what it means

Did you laugh? You know I did
Did you cry? Couldn't get it right
Did you live? Always on the edge
Did you lie? Causing such a fright

Did you love? Oh, to be forgiven
Did you try? But it wouldn't be right
God, it feels like an honest goodbye

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

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

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

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.

Back in '83, a man came to me and he told me "Son
Our way of life is done," but I was only young
With an eye to the fields, speculators and yields rotten to the core
Monoculture whores entered the bidding wars from distant shores

I don't want to be
In the land known as destitute and free
With the grains of wrath blazing a path
From sea to shining sea

Oh, the sinuous trails of concrete and rails and exhausted roars
Population wars setting our future course
Is profit and greed the only conceit on a scale betrween
Mere prosperity and inhumanity? It may well be

But I don't want to be
In the land known as destitute and free
With the grains of wrath blazing a path
From sea to shining sea

I don't want to be
In the land known as destitute and free
With the grains of wrath blazing a path
From sea to shining sea

Striking at mental apparitions like a drunk on a vacant street
Silently beset by the hands of time and elegant in its fury
An aberrant crack as skeletons yield to unrelenting gravity
While viruses prowl for helpless victims who succumb rapidly

Tell me, tell me where is the love in a careless creation when there's no above?
There's no justice, just a cause and no cure
And a bounty of suffering it seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of is that they call it God's love

Well, we twist in torment and make believe
There's a truth that we all submit
Believe my eyes, my brain complies
To all that they interpret

So tell me, tell me where is the love in a careless creation when there's no above?
There's no justice, just a cause and no cure
And a bounty of suffering it seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of is that they call it God's love

I know there's no reason for alarm
But who needs perspective when it comes to pain and harm?
We can change our minds
There's a better prize

But first you've got to tell me, tell me where is the love in a careless creation when there's no above?
There's no justice, just a cause and no cure
And a bounty of suffering it seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of is that they call it God's love

They call it God's love
My pain is God's love

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

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

Lacerate, eviscerate and perforate and mutilate
We all fall down, all fall down
Depreciate, repudiate, ameliorate, adjudicate
The wisdom found, wisdom found

Clip the wings of progress, turn the direction
Enrich the fallow soil with germs of perfection

Delegate, facilitate, investigate and obviate
The black turns green, black turns green
Separate, evaluate and cultivate and propagate
The master's dream, master's dream

Sing the fears of history with a renewed inflection
View the lost agenda with a skeptic's intention

Machine of life, oh can we make it run?
We have the tools but only just begun
Machine of life, oh can we make it run?
The calculations of a greater sum

Clip the wings of progress, turn the direction
Enrich the fallow soil with germs of perfection

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

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

In the garden where he was cast out by the lord
Flames an omnidirectional sword
For he as ever failed to gather up the fruit
And thus was banished with his loot

He cantered aimlessly through endless permutations of night
Seeking a purpose and the meaning of kin
And when it finally came to him
You could have mistook it for the meaning of sin

The women wished him well every time he cast off marching to hell
Now if you've never seen a terrible sight, stroll the garden of earthly delights
Maybe we can make it right someday
I'll see you high above the Fields of Mars

He knelt down before the unholy mob
And cried "war is god"
Gleaming outwardly with great pride
And prepared to die

The women wished him well every time he cast off marching to hell
Now if you've never seen a terrible sight, stroll the garden of earthly delights
Maybe we can make it right someday
I'll see you high above the Fields of Mars

High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars

Who cannot fight anymore
Will never love any less
That kid inside of murder
Must be committed

To live a life of hostility
Never asking what it means
When mother nation, blood and religion
Sanction killing upon the Fields of Mars

High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars

She came from heaven, well there's no point belaboring that
I've seen some trouble and I must admit that I'm in demand
I confront rejection with magnetic good intentions and yet
Hey Jack, get back, in fact, don't do that

I act sharp but feel uncertain
'Cause next time it could be curtains

Evangeline, conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith 'cause mine is broken
Compared to mine
What is your crime, Evangeline?

Now just to be certain, let's be sure to set the record straight
I could use an angel but I don't intend to split up the take
Never go for treason, but I got reasons that don't warrant debate
My act's intact and in fact you're not all that

You act sure but you're uncertain
'Cause next time it could be curtains

Evangeline, conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith 'cause mine is broken
Compared to mine
What is your crime, Evangeline?

Well, there's no use turning back
It's already much too late
When the house is burning

Evangeline, conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith 'cause mine is broken
Compared to mine
What is your crime, Evangeline?

A new age of reason, brains treason to trick the mind
What good is searching if nothing's there to find?
We arrive at this place of no return, my brothers
Only to discover that our minds have led us away so far from the painful truth of who we are

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear and pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy of epiphany

Come forth, bear witness, see the profit from your loss
Beg for forgiveness only after you tally the cost
We arrive at this place of no return, my sisters
Only to discover that our values ran us aground on the shore, in the sea of what we could be

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear and pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy of epiphany

If it's real to me, do I have to prove it to you?
Why do revelations fade to cold blue untruths?
It's oh so relative
Subservient in total to one's perspective

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear and pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy of epiphany

Always failing me

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Who do you believe can put some meaning in your life?
Meaning in your life, meaning in your life
Who do you conceive to provide you guidance and light?
Guidance and light, guidance and light

Are they waiting for you in the by and by?
Do you even have to try?

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see
It's easy to confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy, it's only destiny

Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?
Ignorance and fear, ignorance and fear
Ancient people succumbed to it, can it happen here?
Can it happen here, can it happen here?

Does it make you suffer 'cause you have to die?
Is it best to live a lie?

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see
It's easy to confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy, it's only destiny

Why can't you see?
There ain't no destiny
For you and me
There ain't no destiny

Why can't you see?
There ain't no destiny
For you and me
There ain't no destiny

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see
It's easy to confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy, it's only destiny

Here's a story of an honest man losing religion
Climbing the pulpit steps before an eager congregation
While praying came a wicked inspiration
Brothers, sisters, this is what he said

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
Make no mistake, despite our traits, I've seldom seen
I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you

He was the kind of guy who'd always go right out of his way
But more before the crazy notion leapt right into his head
And stubbornly crept into every mad perception
I can't deny a funny feeling when he said

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
Make no mistake, despite our traits, I've seldom seen
I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you

Dearest in memoriam, set phasers to stun
And grab yourself a neighbor's skeleton to lean upon
Did you know him in life, one filled with regret?
So soon we all forget we ever met

Do you know my name?
Sing a light refrain
For a man estranged
I won't deny that I'm inclined to isolate

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
I can't believe
I can't relate to you, I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you, I can't relate to you

Here's a story of an honest man losing religion
Climbing the pulpit steps before an eager congregation
While praying came a wicked inspiration
Brothers, sisters, this is what he said

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
Make no mistake, despite our traits, I've seldom seen
I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you

He was the kind of guy who'd always go right out of his way
But more before the crazy notion leapt right into his head
And stubbornly crept into every mad perception
I can't deny a funny feeling when he said

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
Make no mistake, despite our traits, I've seldom seen
I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you

Dearest in memoriam, set phasers to stun
And grab yourself a neighbor's skeleton to lean upon
Did you know him in life, one filled with regret?
So soon we all forget we ever met

Do you know my name?
Sing a light refrain
For a man estranged
I won't deny that I'm inclined to isolate

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved
I can't believe
I can't relate to you, I can't relate to you
I can't relate to you, I can't relate to you

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.