Everybody Knows

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

Everybody knows that the war is over.

Everybody knows the good guys lost.

Everybody knows the fight was fixed.

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.

Everybody knows that the captain lied.

Everybody got this broken feeling.

Like their father or their dog just died.

That's how it goes.

Everybody knows.

-- Leonard Cohen (1988)

shit from an old notebook

Let the products sell themselves.
Fuck advertising, commercial psychology.
Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed!

Because of their own blind involvement
In their own conditioned minds
The unit bonded together
Morals, ideals, awareness, progress
Let yourself be heard!

-- Mike Watt / D. Boon (Minutemen) 1984

Electric Eye

Up here in space, I'm looking down on you.
My lasers trace everything you do.
You think you've private lives? Think nothing of the kind!
There is no true escape; I'm watching all the time.

I'm made of metal, my circuits gleam.
I am perpetual, I keep the country clean.
I'm elected -- electric spy. I'm protected -- electric eye.

Always in focus; you can't feel my stare.
I zoom into you, but you don't know I'm there.
I take pride in probing all your secret moves.
My tearless retina takes pictures that can prove.

Electric eye in the sky.  Feel my stare, always there.
There's nothing you can do about it.
Develop and expose, I feed upon your every thought.
And so my power grows.

-- Halford / Downing / Tipton (Judas Priest) 1982

The Road Warrior

When the world was powered by the black fuel, the desert sprung great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing; they'd built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked, but nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. Cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting. A firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men....

-- George Miller, et al (1981)

Natural Grace

 I live in this place with a natural grace. 

And I walk through confusion with a smile on my face. 

-- Laurence Colbert (Ride) 1994

Crystals

It seems that all I want to do is sleep these days

Wake up in about a year and not feel this way

-- Natalie Lew (Sea Lemon) 2024

illusion of freedom

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.

--Frank Zappa (1977)

alarm the populace

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

-- H.L. Mencken (1921)

fear free speech

"When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say."

-- George R. R. Martin (1999)

All or Nothing

"Never get out of the boat....  Unless you're going all the way."

-- Willard (Apocalypse Now) 1979

Windpower

Switch off the mind and let the heart decide

who you were meant to be. 

Flick to remote and let the body glide. 

There is no enemy. 

Etch out a future of your own design

well-tailored to your needs.

Then fan the flame and keep the dream alive. 

Shatter the lens and grind it into sand. 

One measured exposure.

Scatter the seed and furrow in our land. 

The future is roses! Roses! 

-- Thomas Dolby (1982)

Wanna Be Loved

I've been afraid, and I've been alone
Sometimes I need someone to pick up the phone
I'm tired of the leavin'
I need a home

I just wanna be loved
Can you tell me I'm worthy or important
Am I workin' hard enough?
I just wanna be loved

And I want someone to want me
I want somebody there
And I need someone to need me
I need someone who cares

-- Brandon Coleman (Red Clay Strays) 2024

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Stars shining bright above you

Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"

Birds singin' in the sycamore tree

Dream a little dream of me

Say "nighty-night" and kiss me

Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me

While I'm alone and blue as can be

Dream a little dream of me

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear

Still craving your kiss

I'm longing to linger 'til dawn, dear

Just saying this

Sweet dreams 'til sunbeams find you

Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you

But in your dreams, whatever they be

Dream a little dream of me

-- Gus Kahn (1931)

Ship of Fools

We're setting sail to the place on the map
from which no one has ever returned.
Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool,
By the light of the crosses that burned.
Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace
and the gold and the cotton and pearls.
It's the place where they keep all the darkness you need.
You sail away from the light of the world on this trip.

You will pay tomorrow

Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea.
They will leave you drifting in the shallows
or drowning in the oceans of history.
Traveling the world, you're in search of no good.
But I'm sure you'll build your Sodom like you knew you would.
Using all the good people for your galley slaves
as your little boat struggles through the warning waves.
But you don't pay...

You will pay tomorrow

Save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this ship of fools

-- Karl Wallinger (World Party) 1986

Is It Like Today?

Many years ago, he looked out through a glassless window.
All that he could see was Babylon -- 
Beautiful green fields and dreams
and learned to measure the stars.
But there was a worry in his heart.  He said:
How could it come to this?
I'm really worried about living.
How could it come to this?
I really want to know about this.

Then there came a day -- moved out across the Mediterranean
came to rest on isles and the Greek young men.
And with their silver beards, they laughed
at the unknown of the universe.
They could just sit and guess God's name. But they said:
How could it come to this?
We're really worried about living.
How could it come to this?
Yeah, we really want to know about this.

Then there followed days of kings, empires, and revolution.
Blood just looks the same when you open the veins.
And sometimes it was faith, power, or reason as the cornerstone.
But the furrowed brow has never left his face. He said:
How could it come to this?
We're really living in a landslide.
How could it come to this?
Yeah, we really want to know about this.

Then there came a day... man packed up, flew off from the planet.
He went to the moon.
Now he's out in space, fixing all the problems.
He comes face to face with God.  He says:
How could it come to this?
I'm really worried about my creation.
How did it come to this?
You're really killing me, you know.

-- Karl Wallinger (World Party) 1993

Factotum

I'm no preacher, but I can tell you this -- the lives that people lead are driving them crazy, and their insanity comes out in the way they drive.

-- Charles Bukowski (1975)

After Forever

Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave.
Is God just a thought within your head, or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?

When you think about death, do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?
Well I have seen the truth; yes I've seen the light, and I've changed my ways.
And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days.

Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say if they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize that God is the only way to love.

Is your mind so small that you have to fall in with the pack wherever they run?
Will you still sneer when death is near and say they may as well worship the sun?

I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ.
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced.
Will you be so sure when your day is near - say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down; now you can't retrieve.

Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone.
Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one.
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate.
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes, I think it's too late.

-- Tony Iommi / Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) 1971

Again a Game... Again

Take my hand
Colors seem so black inside your head
Does everything reflect the time you spend?

So tired of thinking
You hide your face
Don't ask me to excuse

...

Save your words
They're never there for those who try
A stranger in a world, no longer mine

Sometimes I'm feeling used
I'll change my place
I'd sooner be excused

...

There are times, I confess, I'm not easy to accept
So come find, I'll react
I'm a reason to be there

I'm only laughing...

-- Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) 1984

backwards society

We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.

-- Michael Ellner (1997) & Chris Hedges (2010)

Reason or Rhyme

Why must you shed such tender tears
In the evening of your years?
No other love could stem the tide
Of the loneliness I hide.
Open your heart and let me live!

No reason or rhyme, by chance or design...
Just a dance to the music of time.

-- Bryan Ferry (2010)