SONY 2002
Track Listing :
1. Punk Rock Song
2. The Gray Race
3. The Streets Of America
4. A Walk
5. Ten in 2010
6. New America
7. I Love My Computer
8. It's A Long Way To The Promise Land
9. Hear It
10.Rayse Your Voice
11.No Substance
12.Infected
13.21 Century (Digital Boy)
14.Stranger Than Fiction
15.Dream Of Unity
16.Punk Rock Song (German LanguageVersion)
17.Leave Mine To Me (Live)
18.Change of Ideas (Live)
19.Slumber (Live)
20.Cease (Live)
21.We're Only Gonna Die (Live with Biohazard)
22.The Henchman '98 (Live)
23.The Answer
24.The Universal Cynic
25.The Dodo
Line Up :
Greg Graffin: Vocals
Jay Bentley: Bass
Greg Hetson: Guitar
Bobby Schayer: Drums
Brian Baker : Guitar
****************************************************
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
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
The Streets Of America
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 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
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
New America
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
I Love My Computer
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
ever 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 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
It's A Long Way To The Promise Land
it's a long way to the promise land
so you'd better well know your way
where'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
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
what are you going to do?
when they call 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
Hear It
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
Rayse Your Voice
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)
No Substance
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)
Infected
now here I go,
hope I don't break down,
I won't take anything, I don't need anything,
don't want to exist, I can't persist,
please stop before I do it again,
just talk about nothing, let's talk about nothing,
let's talk about no one, please talk about no one, someone, anyone
you and me have a disease,
you affect me, you infect me,
I'm afflicted, you're addicted,
you and me, you and me
I'm on the edge,
get against the wall,
I'm so distracted,
I love to strike you,
here's my confession,
you learned your lesson,
stop me before I do it again
you're clear - as a heavy lead curtain want to drill you - like an ocean,
we can work it out, I've been running out, now I'm running out
don't be mad about it baby,
you and me, you and me,
I want to tie you, crucify you,
kneel before you, revile your body,
you and me, we're made in heaven,
I want to take you, I want to break you,
supplicate you, are incurable,
I want to bathe you in holy water I want to kill you,
upon the alter, you and me, you and me
21th Century (Digital Boy)
I can't believe it,
the way you look sometimes,
like a trampled flag on a city street,
oh yeah,
and I don't want it,
the things you're offering me,
symbolized bar code quick id,
oh yeah,
I'm a 21st century digital boy,
I don't know how to live (or read)
but I've got a lot of toys,
my daddy is lazy middle class intellectual,
my mammy's on valium,
she's so ineffectual,
ain't life a mystery?
I can't explain it,
the things they're saying to me,
going yayayayayayaya,
oh yeah,
I tried to tell you about no control,
but now I really don't know,
and then you told me how bad you had to suffer,
is that really all you have to offer?
Stranger Than Fiction
a febrile shocking violent smack
the children are hoping for a heart attack,
tonight the windows are watching,
the streets all conspire,
and the lamppost can't stop crying,
if I could fly high above the world,
would I see a bunch of living dots spell the world stupidity?,
or would I see hungry lover homicides,
loving brother suicides,
and olly olly oxenfrees,
who pickaside and hide
the world is scratching at my door,
my morning papers got the scores,
the human interest stories, and the obituary
cockroach naps and rattling traps,
how many devils can you fit upon a match head?,
caringosity killed the Kerouac cat,
sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
in my alley around the corner,
there's a wino with feathered shoulders,
and a spirit giving head for crack and he'll never want it back,
there's a little kid and his family eating crackers like thanksgiving
and a pack of wild desperados scornful of living
the worlds is scratching at my door....
cradle for a cat, Wolfe looks back,
how many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemingway cracked,
sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
life is the crummiest book I ever read,
there isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots,
pictures to shock and characters an amateur would never dream up
Dream Of Unity
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 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-o!
you can play by the rules or bend them to your knees
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
Punk Rock Song (German Language Version)
warst du schon mal in der wuste?schon mal den tod gesehen?
hunderttausend kinder sterben fur brot
und die zahlen lugen nicht, es ist die krankheit der menschen
doch wir tun was wir wollen, wir denken wie es uns gefallt
hast du die erfahrung gemacht? hast du die plage gesehen?
leute machen kinder, einfacht nur, um zu fiehen
im land des wettbewerbs ist kein mitleid mehr da
und wir vergessen die armen, wir machen weiter und weiter
weiter und weiter
das ist nur ein punk rock song
fur die, die sehen, daB es so nicht weitergeht
wie ameisen im haufen sind wir programmiert
aber es gibt immer mehr von dieser verfickten art
aber das ist nur ein punk rock song
hast du schon mal nicht weitergewuBt? schon mal in der scheiBe
gesteckt?
die parteitagungen und die realpolitik, die gesichter wechseln, das
gelaber bleibt
alles wird geschluckt, und so wird sich nichts andern
das ist nur ein punk rock song
fur die, die sehen, daB es so nicht weitergeht
wie flieBbandarbeiter tun wir unsere pflicht
und es gibt noch mehr von diesen stumpfsinnigen idioten
das ist nur ein punk rock song
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
eins von funnf kindem lebt in armut
der menschheit lauft die zeit davon
das ist nur ein punk rock song
fur die, die sehen, daB es so nicht weitergeht
wie ameisen im haufen sind wir programmiert
aber es gibt immer mehr von dieser verfickten art
aber das ist nur ein punk rock song
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
das ist nur ein punk rock song
das ist nur ein punk rock song
das ist nur ein punk rock song
Leave Mine To Me (Live)
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,
I'm not blind, and I'm not scared,
so many crucial factors exist out there,
and we're but one, and they're bout 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
Change Of Ideas (Live)
well the sheaves have all been brought,
but the fields have washed away,
and the palaces now stand
where the coffins all were laid,
and the times we see ahead
we must glaze with rosy hues
for we don't wish to admit what it is
we have to lose
millennia in coming,
the modern age is here,
it sanctifies the future yet renders us with fear,
so many theories, so many prophecies,
what we do need is a change of ideas,
when we're scared,
we can hide in our reveries,
but what we need is a change of ideas,
change of ideas, change of ideas,
what we need now is a change of ideas
Slumber (Live)
so, you're feeling unimportant,
'cuz you've got nothing to say,
and your life is just a ramble,
no one understands you anyway
well, I've got a piece of news, son,
that might make you change your mind,
your life is historically meaningful,
and spans a significant time
slumber will come soon,
and you are helping put it to sleep,
side by side we do our share faithfully
assuring that slumber will come soon
well, now do you feel a little better?,
lift up your head and walk away,
knowing we're all in this together,
for such a short time anyway
there is just no time to parade around sulking,
I would rather laugh than cry,
the rich, the poor, the strong, the weak,
we share this place together,
and we pitch in to help it die
I'm not good at giving morals,
and I don't fear the consequence,
if life makes you scared and bitter,
at least its not for very long
Cease (Live)
blacktop pavement cover me
like a chemical reaction or a steam roller
spreading randomly
there's a distant and a low frequency
it tickles my ear, it rumbles under my feet
and it shakes the leaves off of every tree (violently)
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease
institution on the Hill
like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor
to ignite a people's will
there's a shadowed stain on the west facade
it has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
and the descendants find oh so odd
(oh so odd)
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease
grave memorial hewn white stone
like the comforting caress of a mother
or a friend you've always known
it evokes such pain and significance
and the generations pass without recompense
what pretension! Everlasting peace
everything must cease
We're Only Gonna Die (Live with Biohazard)
early man walked away as modern man took control.
their minds weren't all the same, to conquer was his big goal,
so he built his great empire and slaughtered his own kind,
then he died a confused man, killed himself with his own mind.
go!
we're only gonna die from our own arrogance.
The Henchman '98 (Live)
stranded in a life in which your struggle
for acceptance is a never-ending chore,
upbraided for your actions past and present
and rewarded for ideas
of the future's bright open door,
the henchman is the human analogue of
the suffering multitudes who like good
dogs sit and lick for their reward,
so what good advice have I got for you to
insure against your likely metamorphosis into this reprobate?
don't be a henchman,
stand on your laurels do what no one else
does and praise the good of other men
for good man's sake,
and when everyone else in the world
follows your lead (although a cold day in hell it will surely be),
that is when the entire world shall live in harmony....
The Answer
long ago in a dusty village,
full of hunger, pain and strife,
a man came forth with a vision of truth,
and the way to a better life,
he was convinced he had the answer,
and he compelled people to follow along,
but the hunger never vanished,
and the man was banished,
and the village dried up and died,
at a time when wise men peered,
through brass tubes toward the sky,
the heavens changed in predictable ways,
and one man was able to find,
that he had thought he found the answer,
and he was quick to write his revelation,
but as they were scrutinized
in his colleagues eyes,
he soon became a mockery,
don't tell me about the answer,
'cause then another one will come along soon,
I don't believe you have the answer,
I've got ideas too,
but if you've got enough naivite,
and you've got conviction,
then the answer is perfect for you
an urban sprawl sits choking on its discharge,
overwhelmed by industry,
inclined toward charity,
everyone's begging for an answer,
without regard validity,
the searching never ends,
it goes on and on and on for eternity
The Universal Cynic
Catch a shooting star and put it in your pocket
Then your pants will start on fire
One bird in the hand, or two birds in the bush
Neither do you any good, when you're stuck in the quagmire
Show everyone you're not sure that they're telling the truth
Then you can be known as the universal cynic too
Benefit your fellow man with good deeds for the day
And you'll serve your life away
Pennies saved today are pennies still tomorrow
Strewn upon the desk, piled up in the paper weight
Show everyone you're not sure that they're telling the truth
Then you'll be known as the universal cynic too
Wipe your opaque eyes and restore your crystal vision
Turn another cheek and exalt in your decision
A bit of exercise for the universal cynic in you
Early to bed, and early to rise
Precludes you from seeing the most brilliant starry nights
Sticks and stones can break bones, words can't really hurt
Unless you carry guns, and are hungry for a fight
Challenging the standards, or questioning the established rules
Trying to understand how they can benefit you
Showing everyone you're not sure that they're telling the truth
Just a bit of exercise for the universal cynic in you
The Dodo
I see a white haired man, he's got a suit on hand
He's telling people how they're supposed to live
Nobody's listening to the politician
No matter what sage advice he has to give
He's got a clumsy, outdated m.o.
And he's come to a fork in the road
And there is only one direction to go
Among the commuters, dwarfed by the skyscrapers
I watch the countless millions fighting for space
See hateful, petty acts, disjointed images,
And can't believe that I'm one of the same race
We're all just struggling to cope
And we come to a fork in the road
As we watch our foundations erode
There's only one direction to goIt's the way of the dodo
Such a noble destiny
It's the waltz of desperation
Passed along to you and me
The way of the dodo
(It's the gray stuff in your head)
(It's the pulse of the living and the voices of the dead)