Bad Religion

Bad Religion

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,
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?

Atomic Garden
everybody wants do dance in a playpen,
but nobody wants to play in my garden.
I see the hippies on an angry line,
guess they don't get my meaning,
I'm enchanted by the birds in my blossoms,
I'm enamored by young lovers on the weekend,
I like the Forth of July,
when bombs start flashing,

and I wish I had a shiny red top,
a bugle with a big brass bell would cheer me up,
or maybe something bigger that could really go pop!
so I could make the gardening stop

come out to play, come out to play,
and we'll pretend it's Christmas Day
in my atomic garden

all my scientists are working on a deadline,
so my psychologist is working day and nighttime,
they say they know what's best for me,
but they don't know what they're doing,
and I'm glad I'm not Gorbachev,
'cause I'd wiggle all night,
like jelly in a pot,
at least he's got a garden with a fertile plot,
and a party that will never stop,

I hope there's nothing wrong out there,
I'm watching from my room inside my room

No Direction
a sullen figure walks along a dusty road,
his life was holy and he couldn't bear the load,
he left his people and simple life behind,
he raised his torso and looked into the sky,
shouting his questions, looking for directions,
"what do I do now?"

now a confused schoolgirl stares at the T.V. 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 a direction,
her heroes offer her,

everyone's looking for something,
and they assume somebody else knows what it is,
no one can live without the decisions of their own,
it seems so they look to someone else,
to tell them what to do,
tell'em what to wear,
tell'em what to say,
tell'em how to act and think
and 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

Change Of Ideas
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

Sanity
there's a watch in my pocket and its hands are broken,
the face is blank 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's 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 being,
it doesn't really matter how my day has turned out,
I always end up living in this world of doubt

Walk Away
shut off the t.v 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, I'll be a parade,
and I'll be determined that no one shall dissuade on my way,
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 that he was trying,
he told me about the weather and something old to pay,
"but tomorrow", he said, "I'm gonna surely walk away"

Best For You
above us lay the burdens,
below us lay the truth,
we're somewhere in the middle,
and we're all discontent too

is someone watching over you?
inside, they know what's best for you

judgments not tomorrow,
it's today (yes, now it's here),
but no it isn't jesus,
take a look at all your peers,
they're all looking down on you,
inside they know what's best for you...

everybody knows what's best for you,
everybody knows what's best for you,
everybody knows what's best for you,
everybody knows........

The Dichotomy
hey did you find the pieces your mentor left behind?
and did you care, did you trade his genius for your dispair?
did you walk the line?
did you see the mongrels on either side?
did greasy finers grasp for pieces of your mind?

Recipe For Hate
can't you feel it, can't you see it
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

re-living our ancestry
the frightful lack of harmony,
our fore-fathers 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
it's just a recipe for hate

All Good Soldiers
all good soldiers crack like boulders,
the sun climbs up to a razor,
violins, new boots, and numbers on a chain,
all good soldiers
all good soldiers fall in line,
when they march and shout
are a spectacle,
marching and singing
will go anywhere the president says,
because the president believes in god,
like all good soldiers should

all good soldiers wait like warheads,
when the fighting starts,
who will be accountable,
a cannibal, a cannonball,
six a.m. I can see my breath
and the clay dirt
is laughing at he weakling boy,
today is the day
that I'll write my friends
something I've been trying to remember,
I had a dream of a wall
that was twenty-one stories tall...

all good soldiers fall in line,
marching and singing,
will go anywhere the president says,
because the president believes in god,
like all good soldiers should

Watch It Die
I was born on planet earth,
the rotating ball where man comes first,
it's been around for a long, long time,
but now it's time to watch it die

I saw a man on my big blue screen,
he ruled the world economy,
he said the rich would never concede,
but some day soon he'll be put to sleep,

I've seen the life of the forest gree,
and adaptations of the deep blue sea,
and who knows who is the fittest,
they will all soon be put to sleep,
on a plunging flight and we're sitting
in the pilots seat in the midst of life,
people on a dark horizon praying
somebody will save their lives

I was born on planet earth,
at a drastic time full of plastic mirth,
and every day I've seen increasing signs,
and you would too if you'd opened your eyes,
you had a chance, you did not try,
so now it's time to watch it die

Struck A Nerve
there's an old man on a city bus
holding a candy cane,
and it isn't even christmas,
he sees a note in the obituary that
his last friend has died,
there's an infant clinging to
his overweight mother as they go to
shop for cigarettes,
and she spends her last dollar
for a bottle of vodka for tonight

and I guess it struck a nerve,
like I had to squint my eyes,
you can never get out of the line of sight,
like a barren winter day,
or a patch of unburned green,
like a tragic real dream,
i guess it struck a nerve

every day I wander in negative disposition,
as I'm bombarded by superlatives,
realizing very well that I'm not alone,
introverted i look to tomorrow for salvation,
but I'm thinking altruistically,
and a wave of overwhelming doubt
turns me to stone

and I guess it struck a nerve,
sent a murmur through my heart,
we just haven't got time to crack the maze,
like a magic speeding clock,
or a cancer in our sells,
a collision in the dark,
I guess it struck a nerve

I try to close my eyes,
but I cannot ignore the stimuli,
if there's a purpose for us all
it remains a secret to me,
don't ask me to justify my life