Tuff Skool In this city where sitting's a crime we'll sit down to steak whenever we dine while so called wealth is bartered back and forth we end up much poorer than we were before Like an unlocked door no-one's thought to try like your lowly temp when she rolls her eyes like your cherished youth being bound and tied like waiting in line for a fork in the eye by the tilt of your chin in my evening air I sense that for you, I'm not even there so keep the chasm wide and loud let your net worth rule the playground
Soundtrack to the failed revolution It's not so much subliminal as seductive and safe It lets you think you're keeping your illusions of taste We're the music selling you the fancy cars We're the background while you're drinking at the bar This music is designed for air play and utility Pitching you the promise of your ultimate conformity Wake up We're the soundtrack to the money changing hands We're the sedative slipped to you by subtle plans Give us simple music and none of the ideas We don't want that sad distraction from the peace of our careers Wake up
In Through the Cat Door The blue light flickering on my face I could get up but I feel such weight So comfortable and so secure I think I'll stay a little more Tell me all the things I want to hear Disconnect the far and near Muffle all the outside signs Stay with me and keep my time They're transmitting all my bad dreams. If there's anything outside this sphere Such faint murmurs I don't have to bear I'm so happy that you're around I'm all too happy to be bound
Not Paul Simon I've listened to the words you spew for longer than I care to think your ignorance amazes me, your actions push me to the brink I just can't sit idly by I hear you talk and watch friends die There was a time when I would just ignore But I can't justify that anymore I used to see you in the halls and I heard every word you said Now I see you everywhere, your words are pounding in my head
A Lever Long Enough and a Place to Stand I will resist, just to keep the world off balance
Gorilla Suits are Expensive These Days What is this? your private eye in this very public place the lenses zoom and probe at me as I try to build my public face I think I'm ready for my close up, your surveillance has had its toll in this dead, deserted stardom, I've practiced for this final role. I've auditioned all the parts I've played at the bank, the store, the parking lot. I've been recorded so many times, but no-one's watched a single shot I'll pluck your eyes from their metal sockets and undo their binding cords I think I'll take your eyes down to the sea and line them up along the shore you can watch the sands for security but you've watched the last you'll watch of me
you're the man you and your friends on the front porch, sitting and staring as the girls go by. Do you ever wonder why they won't meet your eyes? The question never comes up, you're the man. my girlfriend doesn't like to dance, says she doesn't want to get hit so she stands in the back. It makes it awfully hard to see the bands, but it doesn't bother you, you're the man. Are you in the band or just a girlfriend. You know she plays pretty well for a girl. You don't mean girl in a bad way, right? you'd never do that, you're the man
it's not the caffeine, it's the sugar I just met an old man, he said, "I've got all these years" "I've nothing to show for it, but a bed of cardboard and my fears" he says "but I love you" she's just trying not to cry he hit her once again, I can't stand to see her eyes I got beat up once again, it makes me so fucking tired I'm being pushed to the limit I've got to get out of here I'm all alone again I guess it's just not my luck I made all the right decisions, with friends like these I should be dead get up just one more try get up I can't decide get up no reason why why this feels like suicide get up get up get up
never start a sentence with "my old rap metal band" let's sing an ode to commercial radio spin the dial, see what you get a medium dead for 25 years, so why hasn't anyone noticed yet 50,000 watts of bull shit, 50,000 watts of greed too obsessed with selling ads to give the public what it needs. an independent voice is done, one more battle that money's won the pirate stations keep shutting down, one more battle that money's won corporate control and private funds, one more battle that money's won 8-6-5-4-3-2-1, once was good but now it's gone media sex-worker media sex-worker, let's sing an ode to the media sex-worker whose hype intoxication serves to make his writing such a bore we want the stuff about local weirdos, art experiments, clowns and freaks all you cover is green day, rancid, phish, oasis, flavor of the week. the radio's our ears, there's nothing to hear the tv's our eyes, there's nothing to see the paper's our voice, there's nothing to say blind deaf and dumb, we've wasted another day you have the power, why don't you use it? tell us about something new but the P.R. guy from polygram-seagram-nike has ideas for you you don't give a fuck about the music, you just want to sell and sell it might as well be kitchen sinks, you're in their pocket so well.
everyone wants to be a cop Everyone wants rules when thinking is too hard. Everyone wants laws so they know who they can rob Everyone wants scapegoats so we know we're not to blame. Everyone's a cop so we think and act the same Do you respect the force of law and use the law of force, or is respect for human dignity too confusing to support? Who keeps you on this short leash, do you police your own ideas? Then fear is your policeman and ignorance is your court
Power tool of the patriarchy one bank one store one boss and even more one church one cop one idea that can't be stopped one mall one rule one show to keep us fooled 4 billion tenants and one landlord it must be getting lonely, stuck at the top when the frenzy is all over and the mergers have to stop he's felt it accelerating for all of these years now the king of all the hills is missing his absent peers in the halls of the office block, he roams from door to door not knowing that he's looking for the people that were there before he spends his days and nights pacing through the 100th floor the consultants have all vanished and no workers greet him any more chorus: what will you do when you've bought it all what will you do when you've bought it all you're all alone once you've bought it all what will you do when you've bought it all
one penny check he pays his bills on time like any other citizen his parking tickets electric bills and debts to local businessmen but he adds a penny to the price every time he pays then calls back in a month or two to request the amount he overpaid the system loves its rules if rules are what you want then rules are what we'll use we'll stop your disregard with your own tools conformity sits so poorly, I feel no blame for me if I gently test the fiscal limits of your bureaucracy the accountants have to struggle through the paper trail that's left behind the cost of his existance in the government is multiplied if a few more people followed suit, the difference it would make would flood the halls with paperwork slow down and slowly break
fuck art, let's dance I climb over the fences built to surround us I lie on the streets of this so-called town I walk through the doors that are locked to confound us I don't buy it, let's burn it all down. too many fences, let's cut them all down
the bottom brick her fingers click on the ten-key pad counting seconds to the end of the day in a cubicle forest, in an ideal world 20 cents over minimum wage on the weekend she plays her stereo takes a walk by the edge of the lake bakes some food for the week ahead sometimes stays up a little bit late nothing's gonna go wrong Executives come and executives go but her docile demeanor remains it guarantees that at promotion time she's passed up again and again when the boss happens by as he rarely does he says "I'm glad you've been down here so long" "you're the bottom brick of the company the one who keeps our profits strong Over time things get worse and worse the accountants can't figure out why the financial strains still escalate she decides to take a holiday the bankruptcy court starts to look around and her backup figures look a little queer the police raid her house but there's no-one home the bottom brick has disappeared.
Panic in detroit all alone in a sea of metal he pulls into slot 92 sets the brakes, rolls up the window knows exactly what to do walks away in his cold grey suit another shopper like the last he never falters from his route or ducks the debris from the blast it's not to drive an expensive toy it's not to drive it's to destroy a motor city suicide, he drives his cars to take their life when he says "let's take a ride" it's with a pipe bomb strapped inside The fire's spreading all around him people shout and sirens roar he looks around so nonchalantly and opens up his new car's door
seen for sale I would have missed you, so anonymous except for the logo blazoned on your chest one short moment to hold so dear pulling back the labels as we sip our beer do you feed the static or does it feed you does it take you where you want it to? every moment of every day will be packaged up and sold away do you buy it, do you buy it....etc I'm not enthusiastic about conspicuous consumption when the money only feeds more of the same corruption they'll sell your thoughts, they'll sell your time and all the dreams that I call mine do you buy it, do you buy it....etc did we change the plot? well a little bit just so the scene with our product would fit did you always think that nothing's free? not the market it tie in take it from me. did you pay for that or did they pay you? is wearing advertisements what you meant to do? when you're gone and I'm on my way will hallmark teach us the words to say.
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