Posted by Shane Becker on
<p>All of these lyrics and explanations were written by Ian Phillips circa 2000-2003 in Bloomington, IN.</p>
<h2>Public Notice</h2>
<blockquote>
I would like to inform you that all land is free and that you're an asshole. Fuck you.
</blockquote>
<p>
I wrote this song in response to a couple of friends of mine and I getting kicked out of a lake for swimming in it, because, apparently, we were trespassing. how the fuck can you trespass on a lake? The water, the earth, and the sky belong to all of us-not people with enough money to afford a lakeside estate.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>SUV</h2>
<blockquote>
We all look the same. We all talk the same because that's happiness.<br>
We all play dumb because we are all dumb-it's better to live in silence<br>
Than change our lives and be who we want to be.<br>
We have our cell phones, kids, picket fences and S.U.Vs<br>
We are all just cogs in their machine<br>
And we all fall victim to the American dream. (awe yeah)<br>
We all say yes, don't disagree with our boss, because he's our best friend.<br>
We just nod our head and do what he said, we're all fucking dead.<br>
And we'll live this way until we reach a ripe ol' age.<br>
Then we'll move to florida and wither away.<br>
Until then we'll be happy living as slaves,<br>
But we'll die unfulfilled buried in our shallow graves.<br>
We are nothing.
</blockquote>
<p>
This song is about those who waste their entire life away striving for the life their told to lead instead of the life they want to lead. They spend more time worrying about what will make their parents, or boss, or government, or neighbors happy, instead of doing what they want to do. And that's the american dream. I think that's fucked.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cut That Mullet</h2>
<blockquote>
You make the dance floor seem like a football game,<br>
And when I see you I feel the same<br>
As I did in high school, a feeling that I never want to have again<br>
Always having to worry about some one beating me or my friends.<br>
People who have the right to kick the shit out of anyone smaller that them.<br>
All you worry about is your image and your dumb crew.<br>
And beat the shit out of anyone who thinks different than you<br>
Thinking with you balls instead of your brain,<br>
But you can't change a person's mind by giving their body pain.<br>
But will you ever change your mind, or will you go through life being blind.<br>
Chorus<br>
You cut the mullet, now ditch the mentality.<br>
Are you different, or just another fatality?<br>
To a culture that dictates what you should do.<br>
Ignorance, stupidity and (thus) violence are what you bow down to.<br>
This scene is something that means a lot to me,<br>
And I hate for it to watch it be<br>
Destroyed by tough guys who use fists to silence mouths<br>
Make it a haven for rednecks while driving the smart people out.<br>
But you will never silence me, your violence will never quiet me.<br>
XChorusX
</blockquote>
<p>
I don't like tough guys Never did never will. And I don't really see much difference between the jocks who called me "alterna-fag" in high school, and the people who call me "pc-fag" in the scene. They're all dumb and a waste of carbon.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cry Me a River (Aka Blah Blah Blah I'm So Emo Song)</h2>
<blockquote>
There are days when nothing seems to work out right<br>
There are days when the tunnel has no light.<br>
Sometimes I feel that it's not enough to give all I can give<br>
Sometimes I fell like there's no real reason to live.<br>
Chorus<br>
No matter what I do, in the end I get screwed.<br>
No matter what I say, nothing can stop everything from slipping away.<br>
There are days when everything comes down on me<br>
There are days when the (metaphoric, of course) gods frown on me<br>
And it seems like my life is a c-<br>
And it seems that I am mediocre at best.<br>
Chorus<br>
There are days when I just want a bus to run over my head,<br>
But for some strange reason, I just ride my bike instead.<br>
Because I know that there will be better days<br>
And I know that the skies won't be so fucking gray.<br>
No matter what I do, in the end I won't be screwed.<br>
I will try, and I will give, fighting, dying making this world a better place to live.
</blockquote>
<p>
I think it's really easy to get down on myself a lot of times. And I'm sure that happens to everybody else as well. It's really easy to just concede and be like "oh, cry for me. I'm so sad and depressed," but I think that it takes some guts to say "yeah, things suck right now, but I'm going to try to make them better, damnit." Maybe that's just me.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bert and Ernie Are Dead</h2>
<blockquote>
Positive icons, a lesson to be learned<br>
A message of empowerment to be seen and heard<br>
Now are nothing, just a part of the past<br>
Because of some fucks with their bibles stuck up their ass.<br>
As they speak "god's words," we just follow the herds<br>
And believe that homosexuality's a sin.<br>
We all buy into their disguise and believe all their lies<br>
That men can not have relationships with men.<br>
And now we have to watch what we say<br>
Or some one will think us to be gay<br>
And our fear of anything homosexual (whatever the fuck that means)<br>
Affects and destroys every one of us all.<br>
Bert and Ernie are dead and so are my relationships<br>
My friends will never be my friends<br>
And I wonder why, I can never talk to another guy<br>
or have an intimate relationship with men.
</blockquote>
<p>
This song is halfway complicated in it's explanation, but it's basically about how as men, we don't see any positive male/male relationships. Do you wonder why men are so repressed, or why men are so blatantly homophobic? Probably because we're taught to hide our feelings and repress our emotions, out of the fear of having their peers think that they're gay (whatever the fuck that means). So now, even though I fucking hate being a "typical male," I still am affected by the bullshit that comes with being a "man." Fuck a lot of that shit. Oh, and what the fuck is with sexual labels? Why do we all have to be straight, or gay, or bi? Why can't we just be whatever the fuck we want?
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Problematic Term "Discovery" and a Little Incidence Called Genocide</h2>
<blockquote>
Wouldn't it be strange if Germany had Hitler day with t.v shows and parades?<br>
What do you think it would be like if they celebrated the Third Reich?<br>
Yet, we idolize the "great discoverer" or better the "great" conqueror<br>
The man who stole native land for us. The man named Christopher Columbus<br>
But we refuse to see what happened after "discovery"<br>
How many people died the fact that it's genocide<br>
All of the cultures lost in the holocaust before the Holocaust.<br>
And we put it all so far away, we give the furor his own holiday<br>
Wouldn't it be strange if Germany had Hitler day with t.v shows and parades?<br>
What do you think it would be like if they celebrated the third Reich?
</blockquote>
<p>
I took an early American history class (1492-Civil War), and our textbook was one of the more liberal history textbooks in dealing with the treatment of European colonizers of Native Americans. Even though this textbook was "liberal" in dealing with that, something struck me. They talked about the "problematic term discovery," because over 200,000,000 people already discovered the land. I was pretty impressed that a history book was addressing these problems, until I thought about it more. Now, they talked about the "problematic" terms associated with Columbus and his followers, but they didn't discuss any terms that might not be so"problematic," like genocide and conquering, for example. Not too much later, I read a book by Ward Churchill called Since Predator Came (which you can pick up from AK Press and a lot of other independent radical bookstores and distros. I highly recommend it.), and he discussed "a little incidence" called genocide" that our history seems to forget, the treatment of Native Americans by European colonizers. He discussed how the colonizers were "proto-hitler(s)," and he drew a lot of really good comparisons between colonizers of the Americas and the Nazis. And as I read this, I couldn't help thinking about my history book and it completely sidestepped using the term genocide, even though it was genocide by all means. And it's strange to see how our culture loves and adores Christopher Columbus. Hell, in almost every state there's a town named Columbus. There are huge statues of him in big cities. He's worshipped in textbooks and history classes in America. He was the instigator of the most destructive genocide ever.
Funny how we forget.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>I Have a Hairy Ass and I'm Proud</h2>
<blockquote>
They tell me to hate my body; they spit on me and tell me I'm ugly.<br>
They say my stretch marks are disgusting and that I'm too fat to be healthy.<br>
And with so much shit forced down my mouth, I start to believe them.<br>
I want to look like everyone else. I hate myself.<br>
I think that I'm not perfect, but then what's perfection?<br>
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder, or is it a status quo.<br>
Now I know that body image is bullshit. I refuse to be ashamed.<br>
For a culture so individualistic, they sure want everyone to look the same.
</blockquote>
<p>
I think that when we're children, like elementary school/preschool age, we're taught that it's ok be to be yourself and different=good. Hell, I mean look at the lyrics to a lot of barney's songs. They're pretty posi-core. But, I think around 6th grade, adolescence, all this desire to be different is washed away in the river of popularity and consumption. People always want to be in or doing what's hot, and those who don't get themselves ripped a new emotional asshole, where they have a choice to either be themselves and get the shit kicked out of them or conform and be the same as everyone else. This puts a huge strain on people like me and probably everybody who's reading this, because we were the outcasts. We were the people who got made fun of in high school and we are the losers. But I digress, essentially, we're told to look one way and be one way, and if we don't, we're ugly. I think that puts a huge burden on the backs of everybody, because not only are these standards completely artificial and unnecessary, but these standards are basically impossible. I'm not going to be on the cover of GQ and my friend Lora isn't going to be on the cover of Cosmopolitan and I accept that. But at the same time, with that acceptation I am also admitting that I am ugly in the eyes of our culture, and even though I know all that's bullshit, it still hurts, and it's still hard for me.
</p>
<hr>
<p>Hulk Hogan Died for Your Sins</p>
<blockquote>
Everything you say is carved in stone. Everything you believe is right.<br>
Every word that comes out of your mouth is inspired by divine might.<br>
Because you know everything You know what's best for everybody.<br>
You have some kind of authority, even though your god is mythology.<br>
You impose your ways, and banish everyone who disagrees.<br>
Instead of living your life, you live on your knees.<br>
But I won't believe you, because I have a life of my own.<br>
I don't have any problem in saying I don't know the unknown.<br>
You say you have all the answers. I say no one ever will.<br>
I may be a moron, but you're worshiping a fairy tale.
</blockquote>
<p>
I don't ever get really angry or annoyed or pissed off, but there's one thing that really gets me going and that's when some dudes dressed up in suits and come to my house asking me if I've found god and Jesus Christ. They have some fucked idea that if I don't believe in what they're saying and what they believe, I obviously have no valid beliefs of my own- like they have some superiority to my meager mind and that I'm an idiot who needs to be found. Fuck that. I'd rather be lost forever than bow down to some shitty religion and sacrifice my personality and my spirituality. No gods no fucking masters.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Food for Oil</h2>
<blockquote>
We use force and economic sanctions<br>
And make him return the bombs that we sold him<br>
We kill thousands of men wimmin and children,<br>
Because their leader won’t do what we told him.<br>
And he won’t follow our rules,<br>
So we bomb their houses, hospitals and schools<br>
And show U.S supremacy<br>
Of the military over a third world country (big fucking whoop…)<br>
We block off all food and medical supplies<br>
So all the Iraqi people can starve and die.<br>
As their country falls into desolation,<br>
We cheer. Chalk up another victory for the United Nations.<br>
He won’t follow our rules<br>
So we’ll trade him oil for food.<br>
Trading a life’s necessity<br>
To inflate the pockets of corporate greed.
</blockquote>
<p>
Basically, US/UN sanctions against Iraq permit anyone to ship in any food and/or medical supplies even though the country is starving and dying of easily curable diseases. While Christian televanglists go to Somalia and beg people to find some room in their hearts to save the starving children, if you try to send people in Iraq some Advil, you get a million dollar fine and years in federal prison. At the same time, the US has all of the same weapons that we accuse Iraq of having. Something smells fishy…
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Choice of a New Generation</h2>
<blockquote>
When we read magazines and watch TV. We're given options A and B<br>
But what they'll never let us see that hidden behind the curtain are c through infinity<br>
We've got to have a choice, speak our mind and raise our voice. And right now we're not getting one.<br>
Because a choice of two evils is still choosing evil, and that ain't freedom.<br>
And they'll tell us that we're all free, and we live in the greatest democracy<br>
But with our minds and lives so rigidly defined, the essence of freedom and democracy are denied.<br>
I'm tired of Coke* and Pepsi*. I'm tired of McDonald's* and Burger King*. I'm tired of Reebok* and Nike*. I'm tired of the Gap* and Abercrombie*.<br>
I'm tired of CBS* and NBC*. I'm tired of Time* and Newsweek*. I'm tired of relying on MTV*. I'm tired of Epic* and Sony*.<br>
I'm tired of masculinity. I'm tired of elephant and donkey. I'm tired of going to the mall or watching TV. I'm tired of the life they've defined me.<br>
I want something different, some thing that can't be found through fundamentalism. I don't want a life centered around consumption. I want revolution!<br><br>
*all of these are registered trademarks of total assholes.
</blockquote>
<p>
They tell us that we're free. They tell us that we have some great freedom to choose what we want to do, and all we have to do is work hard and we'll succeed at attaining our dreams. It's really nice to hear, and it makes all of us happy thinking that we can do whatever we want. However, it's not true. They define us. They tell us that we're free as long as we don't challenge the status quo. As long as we buy into the idea that we need to buy more things to make us happy, cool, punk, whatever, we're free. And the more we consume, the more t shirts, records, video games, computers, you name it we BUY, the more happy we are. Look in any magazine. You'll see: "Buy this and be happy", "You need this product to make your life easier", "The record of the year." Fuck. We're trapped. However, there are other REAL alternatives, you just have to take the time to look. You don't have to buy things to be happy. You can spend less time working to buy the next coolest product and spend more time falling in love, making great meals, running around naked in the rain, reading, drawing, singing, doing anything that makes YOU happy. that's revolution. Doing what you love to do is revolution. Working for yourself and not for your boss is revolution. Revolution isn't some distant struggle that's going to happen when there are enough pissed off people, the real revolution is within your heart. Be a revolutionary, fall in love with yourself, fall in love your life, and take some time from working to buy things for your "free time" and actually have some time that's free. You'll never feel better.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Son of a Senator Vs. Son of a President</h2>
<blockquote>
Oh great. Here we are, we’ve gone so far, but still it’s all the same.<br>
Look around, it’s handed down- power through a name.<br>
Rich white male vs. rich whit male- what a pain in the ass.<br>
There’s no democracy with aristocracy, but yet there’s no ruling class?
</blockquote>
<p>
The 20th century, you’d think that we’d make some progress since the dark ages, but we haven’t. What we call democracy is just a vote for the dynasty that we want to rule us. But I learned in school that anybody could pull themselves up from the bootstraps and become rich, famous, and even the president...<br>
...Boy was I wrong.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Willie Wonka</h2>
<blockquote>
They take- only caring about the money they make.<br>
They’ll trample everything and anybody, when the goal is more money.<br>
But this lifestyle just doesn’t appeal to me.<br>
I won’t be part of a culture built on greed.<br>
They steal- forgetting everything that’s real:<br>
Empty relationships, broken lives and stolen dreams.<br>
But I refuse to sit and not attack.<br>
For everything they’ve stolen that I want back.<br>
What they’ve stolen I want back.
</blockquote>
<p>
There’s an Aboriginal Culture in Australia that does something that I find to be super cool. No matter what one’s skills are, they celebrate them all equally. Whether it’s hunting or just being good at listening to people to being able to write pretty songs, all skills are valuable in the culture. I look at that, and then I look American culture, where kids are constantly told to stop dreaming, people constantly sacrifice their lives and their dreams to make a buck. It gets to the point where the only positive traits are ones that will make your boss richer. I think that’s pretty fucked. All in all, capitalism steals dreams.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Kissing an As(s)htray</h2>
<blockquote>
Take another smoke for capitalism<br>
Light another one up for slavery<br>
Is it all of a sudden ok to support corporations<br>
Who are killing people to make money?<br>
Exploitation of workers and objectification of wimmin<br>
Animal torture and the government…<br>
Our personal choices may effect more than we think.<br>
Is this something really worth supporting (not to mention that it stinks)<br>
It’s merely a shallow want, hardly a need.<br>
It’s more for fashion and mindless consumption.<br>
Shell out our lives to corporate greed.<br>
So we can be enslaved by addiction.
</blockquote>
<p>
I don’t really think that this is a super straightedge song, I just think it’s logical. Tobacco companies like Phillip Morris don’t give a fuck about people, they sell us lies so we consume their product. Fuck- I mean, how long did it take for the tobacco industries to admit that smoking was addictive and that it caused cancer? They’ve always tried to portray smoking as rebellious, cool, and the in thing to do. It’s not- it’s submitting yourself to corporations, which we all know is not cool. Not to mention that smoking is just fucking gross. Yuck.
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Prague Was a Pretty Good Start</h2>
<blockquote>
Don't get me wrong. I love making puppets, but sometimes the seem to fail.<br>
While on the other side of the world, they're successful using Molotov cocktails.<br>
And if we're really concerned about making a difference,<br>
We should take some time to examine our privilege.<br>
Because while the third world's being shot systematically we show our support symbolically.<br>
I'm not too sure about them, but I'd have to admit that if I we're engaged in armed struggle, your symbolism wouldn't mean shit.<br>
The US corporate state has people all over the world fighting for their lives and living in fear.<br>
So what makes us think that they won't do it here?<br>
When they Kick down our doors, what will be our reaction?<br>
We don't need any more martyrs for the cause, we need action.<br>
If we're really concerned with being a threat, I'll admit that in America they don't kill (white) dissent, well not yet.<br>
As the state shows it's violent nature again and again, the question is not to fight back the question is when.<br>
It's time to realize that they won't concede so easily. What to do wand where to be when they react violently?<br>
if we don't act up, and fight back, we'll all die silently. revolution or reform movement, which will be our legacy?<br>
We can all learn some thing from the Zapatistas*, Huey P*, Marx, Goldman* and Durruti*.<br>
The state will always value lives after the economy. I want peace, we all want peace, but I'd rather be free.
</blockquote>
<p>
About some names mentioned:
</p>
<ul>
<li>The Zapistas are one of the most well known guerrilla groups in the world. They consist of mainly indigenous peasants fighting to get their land back, which was stolen by the Mexican government.</li>
<li>Huey P. Newton was the minister of self defense for the Black Panther Party. He was assassinated by the FBI in the early 80s.</li>
<li>Emma Goldman was an Anarchist organizer and philosopher in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. She was deported to Russia for speaking of revolution, partaking in revolutionary activity, and inciting workers to fight against their bosses.</li>
<li>Durruti was a "general," for lack of a better term, for the Spanish Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War. This was by far the most successful anarchist revolution and society ever, and has been a lesson for organizers and anarchists everywhere.</li>
</ul>
<p>
<b>Note:</b> none of these people or books hold any kind of absolute truth, nor will one who reads these be an expert on anything, but they do have some good ideas, and are a good reference for one to shape her own opinions on violent revolution.
</p>
<p>
Ok. I want to make one quick point. This song is not trying to sensationalize violence. You will never hear a song of our graphically discussing dragging vivisectors into the street and shooting them while flames engulf the laboratory or watching rich people's houses burn down as we bomb their fucking cars or whatever. I think that's more a form of entertainment and sloganeering than actually make people think about the use of armed struggle against imperial capitalism, which is what this song is about.
Speaking of which…here's what the songs about:
For those who don't know, In September 2000, the World Trade Organization held a meeting in Prague, Czech Republic. Even though there were more than 10,000 police there, activists in Prague shut down the meeting in a matter of hours. The difference between Prague and lets say, Seattle, is that activists in Prague reacted aggressively towards police abuse by fighting back with throwing stones and molotov cocktails. And contrary to what happened in Seattle, where people were shot with pepper spray to the eyes and shot in the back with rubber bullets, in Prague there were 65 injuries, all of them police. All in all, the action in Prague was very, very successful.
All this brings up the question of using violence as means of resistance against capitalism and not only do I support violent resistance, I feel that believing in only in non-violent resistance is not only suicidal, but racist. For example, in Burma there was a huge march with numbers in close to a hundred thousand- what happened? The Burmese Government (which, ironically, gets a majority of it's weapons from US weapon manufacturing companies and a majority of their support from Pepsi) fired randomly into the crowd killing thousands. And that’s not an isolated incident, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Fuck-ALL of Latin America, the Native Americans, and oppressed people in the ghettos of America all have tried to protest non-violently and all have had to flee and fight guerrilla wars or disband, because their governments (all of which have been backed and supported by the United States, coincidence?) started firing on them. In fact, the only group that hasn't are the white liberals. And if we really want to do something to change the structure of wealth and power, but we refuse to show our solidarity with those being shot by US arms, then we are acting on the same privilege that we are granted by the system we're supposed to be fighting against. Also, if we really are a threat, and the state sees us as a threat, it would, to be blunt, exterminate us. So when that happens, what are we going to do, get shot in the back, or fire back?
</p>