BAD RELIGION / AGAINST THE GRAIN
1990 - Epitaph Records
Steven Barker
Bad Religion home page Band list Home
1.Modern Man
2.Turn on the Light
3.Get Off
4.Blenderhead
5.Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking
6.Anesthesia
7.Flat Earth Society
8.Faith Alone
9.Entropy
10.Against the Grain
11.Operation Rescue
12.God Song
13.21st Century Digital Boy
14.Misery and Famine
15.Unacceptable
16.Quality or Quantity
17.Walk Away
MODERN MAN
i've got nothing to say, i've got nothing to do, all of my neurons are functioning
smoothly ,yet still i'm a cyborg just like you, i am one big myoma that thinks, my
planet supports only me, i've got this one big problem: will i live forever? i've got
just a short time to see, modern man, evolutionary betrayer, modern man,
ecosystem destroyer, modern man, destroy yourself in shame, modern man, pathetic
example of earth's organic heritage, when i look back and think, when i ponder and
ask myself "why?", i see my ancestor spend with careless abandon, assuming
eternal supply, modern man, evolutionary betrayer, modern man, ecosystem
destroyer, modern man, destroy yourself in shame, modern man, pathetic example
of earth's organic heritage, just a sample of carbon-based wastage, just a fucking
tragic epic of you and i
TURN ON THE LIGHT
i had a friend who kept a candle in his pocket, he used to touch it when the wind
was blowing high, i guess it made him feel like he could buck the system and when it
flickered out we laid him down to die, turn on the light, turn on a million blinding
brilliant white incendiary lights, (yeah) a beacon in the night, i'll burn relentlessly
until my juice runs dry, (yeah) i'll construct a rack of tempered beams and trusses
and equip it with a million tiny suns, i'll install upon the room of my compartment and
place tinfoil on my floor and on my walls then i'll turn on the light, turn on a million
blinding brilliant white incendiary lights, (yeah) a beacon in the night, i'll burn
relentlessly until my juice runs dry, and i'll burn like a roman fucking candle burn
like a chasm in the night burn for a miniscule duration, ecstatic immolation,
incorrigible delight
GET OFF
lacivious, it's all that i can think of as i drag my feet, searching like diogenes,
dangerous, the adjectives of the decade and of your alluring intricacies, yes i see
your green-screen mentality, and i can feel the sting of its consequence, and i know
i shouldn't, but it's too much to ignore and emotion i deplore, every time i look at
you, i just want to do it, i can clench my fist right through it, but i just want to get off,
rectilinear, this direction we've been heading never realizing we are on a runaway
machine, angular, the momentum that does turn us one step further on our ladder,
one more turn toward the east, i realize your green-screen mentality, and i know it's
shared by many more, i know it's impossible but i'm damned to find a way to revolve
the other way, every time i scrutinize i just say "screw it," we're on a ride down a
blind conduit, and i just want to get off ah-ah-ah-ah (x3) off
BLENDERHEAD
flying through a dark prismatic tunnel on a carousel, the earth is turning and you
know it very well, your mind is reeling like ten helicopters wheeling and you're
gonna hit the ceiling like a mallet on a bell, hey, blender head, they're starting to ask
questions, your transgressions are a danger flashing sign, challenge conventions
and radiate your splendor and feel those flywheels turn your blender... head (yeah)
tally up the gleaming ventured on a wishing well, each shining trinket has a story it
can tell, your moments pining like those tales all intertwining can become the rusted
lining of a deep neglected shell, hey, blender head, you ask so many questions, your
confusion's a life-affirming sign, break from tradition and carry on with valor and
feel those flywheels churn your blender... head (yeah)
POSITIVE ASPECTS OF NEGATIVE THINKING
let's gather 'round the carcass of the old deflated beast, we have seen it through
the accolades and rested in its lea, syntactic is our elegance, incisive our disease,
the swath endogenous of ourselves will be our quandary, we've nestled in its
hollow and we've suckled at its breast, grandiloquent in attitude, impassioned yet
inept, frivolous gavel our design, ludicrous our threat, excursive expeditons leave
us holding less and less, so what does it mean? when we tell ourselves it's only for
a while we've been deceived and it's only for a moment that the treasures of our
day make life easier to complicate, the treasure thrown away, i'm so tired of all the
fucked up minds of all the terrorist religions and their bullshit lines, of all the
hand-me-downs from all industrial crimes all the weeping mothers and those who
are led so blind, from the plastic protests and the hands of time and the pursuit of
mirth and all hating kind
ANESTHESIA
everybody's talking about the girl who went and killed the delivery man, but she
looks so kind and gentle, it just doesn't stand to reason, i saw her right there just
the other night as stately as a slot machine, but when she looked my way something
mad as hell came over me, anesthesia, mona lisa, i've got a little gun, here comes
oblivion, i never loved you, how did you find me? the cops will never prove
complicity now, anna.........., all good children go to heaven! i remember your face
that august night when we lied about the beautiful time to come and that crazy old
man who came much too late and caused a chain reaction, i've been hanging out
here for eleven long years like a church mouse wondering where the cat as gone
and looking at you now is driving me to distraction, anesthesia, mona lisa, i've got a
little gun, here comes oblivion, i never loved you, how did you find me? the cops
will never prove complicity now, anna.........., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, all good children go
to heaven!
FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... the full moon is
rising over dark water and the fools below are picking up sticks and the man in the
gallows lies permanently waiting for the doctors to come back and tend to him, the
flat earth society is meeting here today, singing happy little lies, and the bright ship
humana is sent far away with grave determination... and no destination, lie lie lie...
lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... yeah, nothing feels better than
a spray of clean water and the whistling of wind on a calm summer night but you
better believe that down in their quarters the men are holding on for their dear
lives, the flat earth society is somewhere far away, with their candlesticks and
compasses and the bright ship humana is on its way with grave determination... and
no destination, the flat earth society is meeting here today, singing happy little lies,
and the bright ship humana is well on its way with grave determination... and no
destination, lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... lie lie lie... (x
infinity)
FAITH ALONE
heard a sermon from a creaky pulpit with no one in the nave, i paid a visit to the
synagogue and i left there feeling blame, no one could tell me what to do, they had
not the capacity to answer me, what the world needs now is some answers to our
problems, we can't buy more time because our tender isn't valid, if your soul needs
love you can get consoled by pity, but it looks as though faith alone won't sustain us
anymore, watched the scientists throw up their hands conceding, "progress will
resolve it all," saw the manufacturers of earth's debris ignore another green peace
call, no one could tell me what to do, they had not the ability to answer me, what the
world needs now is some accountability, we can't buy more time because time won't
accept our money, if your soul needs love you can always have my pity, but it looks
as though faith alone won't sustain us no more... what the world needs now is some
answers to our problems, we can't buy more time because our tender isn't valid,
what the world needs now is some accountability, if your soul needs love you can
get consoled by pity, but faith alone won't sustain us anymore, faith alone won't
sustain us anymore (round, x infinity)
ENTROPY
random blobs of power expressed as that which we all disregard, ordered states of
nature on a scale which no one things about, don't speak to me of anarchy or peace
or calm revolt, man, we're in a play of slow decay orchestrated by boltzmann, it's
entropy, it's not a human issue, entropy, it's matter of course, entropy, energy at all
levels, entropy, from it you cannot divorce and your pathetic moans of suffrage tend
to lose all significance, extinction, degradation: the natural outcome of our ordered
lives, power, motivation: temporary fixtures for which we strive, something in our
synapses assures us we're ok but in our disequilibrium we simply cannot stay, it's
entropy, it's not a human issue, entropy, it's matter of course, entropy, energy at all
levels, entropy, from it you cannot divorce, a stolid proposition from a man unkempt
as i, my affectatious nature i cannot rectify, but we are out of equilibrium unnaturally,
a pang of consciousness at death and then you will agree it's entropy... entropy, it's
matter of course, entropy, energy at all levels, entropy, from it you cannot divorce,
entropy... (x4)
AGAINST THE GRAIN
three thousand miles of wilderness overcome by the flow, a lonely restitution of
pavement, pomp and show, i seek a thousand answers, i find but one or two, i
maintain no discomfiture, my path again renewed, against the grain, that's where i'll
stay, swimming upstream, i maintain against the grain, here labelled as a lunatic,
sequestered and content, there ignored and defeated by the government, there's
an oriented public whose magnetic force will pull, but away from the potential of the
individual, against the grain, that's where i'll stay, swimming upstream, i maintain
against the grain, the flow is getting stronger with small increments of time and
eddies of new ideas are increasingly hard to find, you need all that the other has,
it's your right to seize the day but in all your acquisitions you will soon be swept
away, against the grain, that's where i'll stay, swimming upstream, i maintain against
the grain, there's a common consensus and an uncomfortable cheer, a
reverberating chorus that anyone can hear, it sings "leave your cares behind you,
just grab tenaciously," this lulling sense of purpose will destroy us rapidly, against
the grain, that's where i'll stay, swimming upstream, i maintain against the grain,
against the grain, against the grain, against the grain
OPERATION RESCUE
it is 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 a troubled call,
operation, operation rescue, you wonder where they come from, but i just wonder
why they're here at all, ya-ya-ya-ya-ya (x3) ya-ya-ya-ya life ever-after is what they're in
business for, see them brandish the key to their kingdom's door, it's persuasive, it's
a part of you and me but it's 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, ya-ya-ya-ya-ya (x3)
GOD SONG
and did those feet in ancient times trod on america's pastures of green? and did
that anthropocentric godwane 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, have they told you how to think, cleansed your
mined 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 cultural efficiency" now we all fear this
impasse we have built to our future (ever so near), ever so near, and oh so austere
21ST 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, 'cause i'm a 21st century digital boy, i don't know how to live but i've got
a lot of toys, my daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual, my mommy's on valium, so
ineffectual, ain't life a mystery? i can't explain it, the things they're saying to me, it's
going yayayayayayaya, oh yeah, 'cause i'm a 21st century digital boy, i don't know
how to read but i've got a lot of toys, my daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual, my
mommy's on valium, so ineffectual, ain't life a mystery? i tried 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? see i'm a 21st century digital boy, i don't know
how to read but i've got a lot of toys, my daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual, my
mommy's on valium, so ineffectual, that's what i yearn for (21st century digital boy),
neurosurgeons scream for more (21st century digital boy), innocence raped with
napalm fire (21st century digital boy), anything i want i really need (21st century
digital boy), 21st century schitzoid boy (21st century digital boy), 21st century video
boy (21st century digital boy), 21st century digital boy (21st century digital boy), 21st
century sofa boy (21st century digital boy)... note: the first four lines in the last
stanza are "stolen from king crimson"
MISERY AND FAMINE
so proud a history, replete with sanctity, orbs in their harmony, they sing their code
to me, have you ever heard yourself, the orbit you are in? the terse, oppressive
blanket that's instilled here by our spin, it's misery and famine, it's a force we cannot
see, misery and famine, it compels us naturally, misery and famine, great ellipse, we
bend to thee, misery and famine, just accept your vagrancy, others who bear no
name, who feel that life's a game, my verse they will defame, we suffer all the same,
they pay no regard to their position or their speed, but the firmament still covers
them with its malevolent seed, it's misery and famine, it's a force we cannot see,
misery and famine, it compels us naturally, misery and famine, great ellipse, we bend
to thee, misery and famine, just accept your vagrancy, "you look for meaning in
things no one comprehends, you feel no affinity to the rabble we're in," sources of
inquiry have nothing to portend, they will perplex us all until the coming end, a
feeling of despair, hungry and full of care, we resent everywhere the fortune that
we share, "this world could be a better place" is a concept i condone, given our
pathetic course our destiny is known, it's misery and famine, it's a force we cannot
see, misery and famine, it compels us naturally, misery and famine, great ellipse, we
bend to thee, misery and famine, just accept your vagrancy, misery and famine (x4)
UNACCEPTABLE
irreducible is the word for today, plastic compounds and nuclear waste, what the
hell's the matter with the people on this planet? have we all gone insane? the
stigma of industrial progress killing us over and over again, it's one part per
trillion... unacceptable, one part per billion... unacceptable, one part per million...
unacceptable, this mammoth pogrom set upon us courtesy of the usa, inexcusable
are the men before our time, i'd like to kick their ass for what they left behind,
cancer-causing chemicals, ozone-depleting arsenals, we're all gonna fry, so put
your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye, one part per trillion...
unacceptable, one part per billion... unacceptable, one part per million...
unacceptable, one part per billion... unac(fucking)ceptable (x infinity)
QUALITY OR QUANTITY
offer me eternity, and i'll trade a cup of coffee and a time, looking for a handout on
behalf of those who have so little time, but who wants to live on just 70 cents a day?
padding your pockets doesn't make this a better place, "cereal and water" is a feast
for some you say, your price-tag on existence can't cover your double face, quality
or quantity (x3) a choice you have to make, dipping in the icing, bringing home the
largest turkey from the field, breaking all the piggy banks, scooping up the booty,
licking all the right holes, bolstering the payroll, why reduce life to a dollar amount
per day? and why let the world think this is the american way? your uneaten greens
are a feast for some you say, survival and living are concepts you can't equate,
quality or quantity (x3) don't tell me they're the same, quality or quantity (x3) a
choice you have to make,
WALK AWAY
shut off the tv and peel off those sunday gloves, and i'll stain the clean that you've
been counting, old mr. fletcher passed by here today, after 40 years of toil he just up
and walked away, fantastic the panic that showed in his eyes, he shrugged when i
asked him about it, he said, "young man pay heed, you listen well to what i say, now
there comes a time for a man to walk away," walk away (walk away) i'll be a parade,
and i'll be determined that no one shall dissuade on my way (dissuade) i'll sure take
some time, to burn all the bridges that i'm leaving behind, he passed by again and
he was shivering from the cold, i'm not sure but i think he was trying, he told me
about the weather and something old to pay, "but tomorrow," he said, "i'm gonna
surely walk away," walk away (walk away) i'll be a parade, and i'll be determined that
no one shall dissuade on my way (dissuade) i'll take my sweet time, and burn all the
bridges that i leave behind, walk away (walk away) i'll be a parade, and i'll be
determined that no one shall dissuade
email me if you have any lyrics, pics, ideas and/or suggestions