Bad Religion Album

Hey brother christian, with your high and mighty errand
Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear a word your saying
Hey sister bleeding heart, with all of your compassion
Your labors soothe the hurt, but can't assuage temptation

Hey man of science, with your perfect rules of measure
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather?
Hey mother mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?

And I want to conquer the world
Give all the idiots a brand new religion
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness, and toil
Promote equality in all of my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye and a "God you must be joking"

Hey mister diplomat, with your worldly aspirations
Did you see your children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey moral soldier, you've got righteous proclamations
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations

And I want to conquer the world
Give all the idiots a brand new religion
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness, and toil
Promote equality in all of my decisions

I want to conquer the world
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children
I'll do away with their pollution and then I'll save the whales
We'll have peace on earth and global communion

I want to conquer the world
I want to conquer the world
I want to conquer the world
I want to conquer the world

Hey do what you want, but don't do it around me.
Idleness and dissipation breed apathy.
I sit on my ass all goddamn day,
A misanthropic anthropoid with nothing to
Say what you must, do all you can,
Break all the fucking rules and
Go to Hell with Superman and
Die like a champion, yeah hey!
Hey I don't know if the billions will survive,
But I'll believe in God when 1 and 1 are 5.
My moniker is man and I'm rotten to the core.
I'll tear down the building just to pass through the door.
So do what you must, do all you can,
Break all the fucking rules and
Go to Hell with Superman and
Die like a champion, yeah hey!

Hey sit down and listen and they'll tell you when you're wrong.
Eradicate but vindicate as "progress" creeps along.
Puritan work ethic maintains its subconscious edge
As Old Glory maintains your consciousness.
There's a loser in the house, and a puppet on the stool,
And a crowded way of life, and a black reflecting pool,
And as the people bend, the moral fabric dies,
The country can't pretend to ignore its people's cries.
You are the government.
You are jurisprudence.
You are the volition.
You are juridiction.
And I make a difference too.

i've got nothing to say, i've got nothing to do,
all of my neruons 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 you see,
modern man: evolotionary 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 "why?",
i see my ancestors spin with careless abandon,
assuming eternal supply, modern man...,
modern man: evolotionary 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

Early man walked away as modern man took control.
Their minds weren't all the same,
To conquer was his goal,
So he built his great empire,
And HE 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.

(repeated over and over)

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 thought he had 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 enought naivete
and you've got conviction
then the answer is perfect for you
an urban spall sits choking on its discharge
overwhelmed by industry
searching for a modern day savior from another place
inclined toward charity
everyone's begging for an answer
without regard to validity
the searching never ends
it goes on and on and on for eternity...
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 enought naivete
and you've got conviction
then the answer is perfect for you (the answer is perfect for you)

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

Yeah, nothing feels better than a spray of clean water
And the whistling wind on a calm summer night,
But you'd better believe that down in their quarters
The men are holding in for their dear lives,
The flat earth society is somewhere far away,
With their candlesticks and compasses
And the bright ship humana is well on its way
With grave determination...
And no destination, lie, lie, lie, ad infinitum

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 lunatic,
Sequestered and content,
There ignored and defeated
By the government,
There's an oriented public who's magnetic
Force does 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 smaller increments of time and eddies
Of new ideas are increasingly hard to find,
You need all that the other has,
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 or purpose will
Destroy us rapidly,

Against the grain,
That's where I'll stay,
Swimming upstream,
I maintain against the grain

Like a rock, like a planet
Like a fucking atom bomb
I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness
that I encounter everywhere I turn,
I've seen it all along,
in books and magazines,
like a twitch before dying,
like a pornographic scene,
there's a flower behind the window,
there's an ugly laughing man,
like a hummingbird in silence,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door,
wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore,
I've known it all along like the bone under my skin,
like actors in a photograph,
like paper in the wind,
there's a hammer by the window,
there's a knife on the floor,
like turbines in darkness,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

Everybody is 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...
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8
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 to late
And caused a chain reaction,
I've been hanging out there for eleven long years
Like a church mouse where the cat has 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!

Did you ever see the concrete stares of everyday?
The lunatic, the hypocrite, are all lost in the fray.
Can't you see their lives are just like yours?
An unturned stone, an undiscovered
Door leading to
the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you.
The masses of humanity have always had to suffer.

The businessman whose master plan controls the world each day
Is blind to indications of his species' slow decay.
Can't you see his life is just like yours?
An unturned stone, an undiscovered
Door leading to
the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you.
The masses of humanity have always had to suffer.

People blow their minds (they choose to resign)
This deformed society is part of the design.
It'll never go away (it's in the cards that way).
The masses of humanity have always, always had to suffer!

A door leading to, the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you.
The masses of humanity, still clinging to their dignity,
The masses of humanity will always, always have to suffer.
Always have to suffer.

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 can tell me what to do,
They have not the capacity to answer me
What the world needs now is some answers to our problems,
We can't buy more time cause 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 no more,
Watched the scientists throw up their hands conceding,
"Progress will resolve it all",
Saw the manufactures of earth's debris ignore another green peace call,
No one could tell me what to do,
No one had the ability to answer me
What the world needs now is some accountability,
We can't buy more time cause 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...

Faith alone won't sustain us anymore

Culture was the seed of proliferation
But it has gotten melded into an inharmonic whole,
Consciousness has plagued us and we can not shake it,
Though we think we're in control

Questions that besiege us in life
Are testament of our helplessness,
There's no vestige of a beginning,
No prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again,

Time is so rock solid in the minds of the hoards
But they can't explain why it should slip away,
History and future are the comforts of our
Curiosity but here we are rooted in the present day

Questions that besiege us in life
Are testament of our helplessness,
There's no vestige of a beginning,
No prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again,
If you came to conquer you'll be king for a day,
But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away,
And believe these words you hear
When you think your path is clear...

We have no control,
We do not understand,
You have no control,
You are not in command

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 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 ya ya ya ya ya ya,
Oh yeah,

cause i'm a 21st century digital boy,
i don't know how to read
But i 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 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?

cause i'm a 21st century digital boy,
i don't know how to read
But i 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)
Everything I want, I really need (21st Century digital boy)
21st Century schizoid 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)

everybody wants to 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 Fourth 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 night time
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 leats 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

A sullen figure walks along a dusty road
his life was holy and he couldn't bear the load
he left his people and a simple life behind
he raised his torso and he looked into the sky
shouting his questions
looking for directions
"what do I do now?"
now a confused school girl stares at the TV 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 is looking for something
and they all assume somebody else knows what it is
no one can live with the decisions of their own it seems
so they look to someone else
to tell 'em what to be
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 belive 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

he's the latest superhero with powers so profound
he can leap a dotted line in just a single bound
I know you must have seen him in the books and magazines
he's the quintessential mindless modern epicene

his life is meaningful because he gets things done
bang bang he's dead
bang bang he's dead
chalk up another triumph for our hero the automatic man

it's true you must have met him
he's your best friend and your foe
his opinions are determined by the status quo

a true creature of habit
he smokes 3 packs a day
When he has an original
thought he forgets it right away

he's the automatic man

he's a paradigm of carefree living
he's our mentor disturb him if you can
he's the answer if your peace of mind is lacking
he's our savior he is the common man
so if you are troubled by the daily bump and grind
then take a another look around and brother you will find
the automatic man

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 are 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

There's a watch in my pocket and its hands are broken
The face is blank but 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 is always changing
And Sanity is a state of mind
And 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
Congression is a fundamental state of being
It doesn't really matter how my day has turned out
I always end up living in the world alone

And Sanity is a full time job
In a world that is always changing
And Sanity will make you strong
And you believe in Sanity?

And Sanity is a full time job
In a world that is always changing
And Sanity is a state of mind
And you believe in Sanity?

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"

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,

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.
Judgment's not tomorrow, its 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 (x8)

There's people out there that say I'm no good,
'Cause I don't believe the things that I should,
And when the final conflict comes, I'll be so sorry I did wrong,
And hope and pray that our lord god will think I'm good.

Countries manufacture bombs and guns
To kill your brother for something that he hasn't even done.
Smog is ruining my lungs, but they aren't sorry they've done wrong,
They hide behind their lies that they're helping everyone.

In the end the good will go to heaven up above,
The bad will perish in the depths of hell.
How can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?

Fuck Armageddon, this is hell [x3]

We're living in the denoument of the battle's gripping awe,
So what's the use of being good to satisfy them all?

How could hell be any worse? Life alone is such a curse!
Fuck Armageddon, this is hell [x5]