ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

(lyrics by Al Fargione & Jason Bonafide)

I never had it tough, disconnected from the world outside

until I took a look around, realized people are dying.

I feel all this hatred and I see what it breeds:

A moral system based on violence, intolerance and greed.

So don’t back away, let your voice be heard

Learn how we butcher one another the way we butcher the herd.

But still we blame our televisions- are we desensitized

or just so afraid of what we’ll see we can’t open our eyes?

 

Shotgun bang, another dead body in the street

The beginning hopeful, the ending bittersweet.

Another lesson in hypocrisy, but tell me what have you learned?

His friends are crying, a family years

for something more than the condolences that they’ll receive

“It’s another bad batch, another mistake”- Who’d believe

we’d fall so far and end up this way

We live for tomorrow but we’re dying today.

 

Another day in paradise

With nothing to show

Life’s too short

by now you’d think we’d know.

 

Shotgun bang, race riots out in the street

A baby’s gone, a mother’s on her feet

He was a father, a husband, a friend and a son.

Lived by the knife, died by the gun

Hate drove him crazy, distrust made him mad

Everyday prayed for the best, hope’s all he ever had.

Surrounded by people, still no one heard him scream

As this vision of peace becomes one more shattered dream

 

What have we learned?

 

 

SIX-EIGHT

(lyrics by Eric Zell)

fuck.

Someday I’ll be recognized by you

You’ll see me exactly how I want you to

Four years gone by and still there’s nothing that great

It’s not okay because nobody has perfect fate

Next weekend, next opportunity to live your life

Get yourself together and get yourself some memories

Stop wasting time

 

Say what you’re gonna say

Tell me what you’re gonna do

You’re missing out on life because he told you to

Say what you’re gonna say

When you think you know it’s right

Close your eyes and I’ll sing a song for you tonight.

 

Sometimes I wonder why my dreams are all up in the sky

Without a doubt everyone must think I’m high

Get caught procrastinating, laziness decides our fate and

before you know it, your former girlfriend worships Satan.

Stammering, not babbling, rambling on about stuff again

You call me up and you say you wanna be my friend

Bored again, born again, passed out on the floor again

Don’t wake me up because my head’s up in the clouds again.

 

Who are we kidding now

Won’t see you again anyhow

Thinking of you, already missing you now

So goodbye and good luck, it’s like lightning’s struck

One in a million. My worst ever good luck.

 

 

WHAT I LEARNED IN MRS. BONAFIDE’S 12TH GRADE ENGLISH CLASS

(aka THE SKA SONG aka TAINTBIRD)

If my life starts here, why does this seem like the end?

How can I say I’m not scared when I’ll never see you again?

I’m running out of time, I’m on the clock everyday

I guess growing up means throwing 18 years away

 

One o’clock on a Thursday night

and I’m so goddamn tired I can’t close my eyes

6 A.M. is always waiting for me

like a slap in the face, reminder that I’m not free

That my life’s not my own and the world isn’t fair

As long as I’m too young to understand and too old to care

So give me this 9 to 5 lie until the day that I die

I know I’m fucked, caged up, 18 months left to say goodbye

 

I just sat inside, watched the cars roll by

Through the window, the blinds and these useless eyes

That are always fighting off sleep or glued to a screen

So everything I’ve been shown has yet to be seen

This routine brings me down but I could have done it myself

The world isn’t that big, I don’t need anyone else

I’ll spend some time on my own, I don’t mind being alone

Waste my days in this maze, a nice little cage that I call home

 

Who’s kidding who?

 

 

SWANKSTER

(lyrics by Chris Jordan & Al Fargione)

Too many rules and regulations that I must live by

Without enough explanation, nothing to justify

All these mindless limitations with no reasons why

And you’re too blind to see that my life belongs to me.

 

It’s hard for me to tolerate these rules everyday

But I’m not sure what I can do

I’ve had enough but not enough to throw it all away

But I’ve had enough to try and get myself away from you

 

Irrational rules with no rational thought behind them

So I’ve made up my own mind not to mind them

I’m taking the best of what’s left, something they’ll never feel for me

I’m disposable, cut my legs from under me.

 

 

EMO

Well my girlfriend just broke up with me

I think I’ll cry for an hour or three

It wasn’t very nice, it was quite mean

And now she’s going out with the captain of the football team

 

Cuz I’m nothing but an emo sissy

I bet she doesn’t even miss me

So I’ll cry just like a wussy

Because I’m nothing but an emo sissy

 

And I’ll feel just like a fool

When I pass in the hall of my rich high school

And if I stare at her too long in class

She’ll have her new boyfriend kick my ass

 

And I cry on my way home from school everyday

And I try to make my pain just go away

I’d say goodbye but I just can’t find the right words to say

Maybe that’s why the kids at school think I’m gay

 

I’m nothing but an emo sissy

And all you ever do is piss me off

Nothing left to say or do

Because you’re a bitch

and I hate you.

 

 

HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME

I still can’t believe we fucking recorded this.

 

 

NOTES

“Please Throw Money” was recorded over many, many sessions in the spring and summer of 2003 in various rooms of Chris Fisher’s house. Chris used to play in Conehead Buddha, runs a great studio and is one of the coolest people ever. He produced and engineered the whole project, which is why it doesn’t sound nearly as bad as it should. We were a quartet at the time, still in our ‘original lineup’, which included Al Fargione on drums and Eric Zell on bass. Everyone in the band was between 16 and 18, and still in high school. It was our first experience in a real studio and we learned A LOT. We may hate to listen to it, sell it, or play any of the songs off it 3 years later, but it was a lot of fun to make and something we were very proud of at the time. The “Hit Me Baby” cover originated at a battle of the bands at Albany Academy for Girls, in which Chris donned a full school-girl uniform. We won. We recorded the song to pass out for free at a show at Valentine’s a few months later, and we ended up tacking it on the end of the EP for some reason. So in the end, it’s our own damn fault people still request the Britney Spears cover and “Emo” every time we play in Albany.

 

 

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