Bad Religion

[barbarin]

Spirit Shine

Spirit Shine

Shed a tear for the criminal, give him something to believe
Light a fire for the miserable, give the darkness some meaning
Closed wounds harbor pestilence, when you lick them from within
Charity has a redolence chastity cannot rescind

Spirit shine, it's a sign
Of a troubled mind (tortured mind)
Spirit shine all the time
Can render you blind

You can take it all to heart or throw it all away
You can call it just a lark and live your life that way
You can give until you're dry and sucked of all your gleam
You can take another cry and compromise your dream

Cling tight to the parable - let it dominate your life
Create a God who's infallible - give your leader some respite
Closed wounds harbor pestilence - when you lick them from within
Rosy smiles lose their radiance - when you take it on the chin

 

[barbarin]

The Streets Of America

The Streets Of America

Desolate and without purpose
Radiating from so many septic sources
Forming the fabric of wayward people
Disappearing as the vestiges of our past

Scratched like tartan into virgin soil
A substrate for progress and disarray
A spreading network of broken dreams
Searching for a thoroughfare to take us away

Just a little tale from the streets of America (say a little prayer)
Sparkled promises paved with pathos and hysteria
Trenchant, weary native sons
Step back
And see the damage done
Meander to the horizon (shoot straight to the horizon)
The streets of America

Black, tarred concrete
Pine for me
Lying dormant
For you and country
Hardened surface
Cracked within
Catch the sweat from off the chin

Of men and women
Senior and child
Who look to you
And your sterile miles
And in their stares
Is bald dismay
For what you promised
Led them astray

Hard-cracked, daunting, lifeless veins
False hope corridors to greener pastures is all that remains

 

[barbarin]

Ten In 2010

Ten In 2010

Parched, cracked mouths, empty swollen guts
Sun-baked pavement encroaches on us
Haves and have-nots together at last
Brutally engaged in mortal combat
10 in 2010

What kind of God orchestrates such a thing?
10 in 2010
Ten billion people all suffering
10 in 2010
Truth is not an issue just hungry mouths to feed
10 in 2010
Forget what you want, scrounge the things you need

Happy and content it can't happen to you
10 in 2010
Fifteen years we'll think of a solution
10 in 2010
It won't just appear in one day
10 in 2010
For ten in twenty-ten we're well on our way
10 in 2010

Like piercing ear darts, I heard the news today
10 in 2010
10 billion people... coming your way

 

[barbarin]

Victory

Victory

The velveteen and oaken fixtures soothed the lonely child
The parents watched the escort take him while they stood outside
The priest was kind and gentle as he positioned his head
The pain was like brimstone, but the kid hardly bled

Victory
Instinct over intellect
Victory
It erupts from deep inside
History
History is laughing at us
Plotting its discovery
Victory, victory
Blame it on the victory

Among the parade crowd stands a decorated man
Remembering how he helped to save this sacred land
His helpless enemy was wounded, both hands raised with hope
He killed him without second thought, with brute force and a rope

So many times, so many lives
Test the other side
Waiting to see what the maker has in mind

The unsuspecting commoners hum diligent each day
They wallow in their father's sins, as time passes away
The crimes are without motive but they ignore all restraint
The evil sits inside them torpid timing its escape

 

[barbarin]

Drunk Sincerity

Drunk Sincerity

The smell of virgin pages wafted through the swinging doors
And the croaking speech he's heard from countless counselors before
They said "we all care for you, we know how you suffer
But I know you can succeed, I used to have it so much rougher"

There's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
It's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
And like fools we trust the delivery
But it's all just drunk sincerity

In maternal family assembly poised regarding the blue tube
The numbers crept up higher and the hawks stayed out of view
Then the generals said "we don't want our boys dead
Your sons and your husbands will be coming back heroes soon"

With steam, heat, and rhythm in the back seat of the car
And adolescent perspective projecting life's forecast to the stars
You heard love from the lips and you were rapt by the hips
And the promise was eternal but you couldn't see that far

 

[barbarin]

Come Join Us

Come Join Us

So you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round
And you can't find the truth in the things you've found
And you're scared shitless 'cuz evil abounds
Come join us

Well I heard you were looking for a place to fit in
Full of adherent people with the same objective
A family to cling to and call brethren
Come join us

All we want to do is change your mind
All you need to do is close your eyes

So come join us
Come join us
Come join us

Don't you see all the troubles that most people are in
And that they just want you for their own advantage
But I swear to you we're different from all of them
Come join us
I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live
Where truth is determined by consensus
Full of codified arbitrary directives
Come join us
All we want to have is your small mind
Turn it into one of our own kind
You can go through life adrift and alone
Desperate, desolate, on your own
But we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones
So come join us
Come join us
Come join us

We've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew
The world hates us, well we hate them too
But you're exempted of course if you
Come join us
Independent, self-contented, revolutionary
Intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly
If you're not one of them, you're us already so
Come join us

 

[barbarin]

Cease

Cease

Blacktop pavement cover me
Like a chemical reaction or a steam roller
Spreading randomly

There's a distant buzz and a low frequency
It tickles my ear, it rumbles under my feet
And it shakes the leaves off every tree
(Violently)
What pretension! Everlasting peace
Everything must cease

Institution on the Hill
Like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor
To ignite a people's will

There's a shadowed stain on the west facade
It has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
And the descendants find it oh so odd
(Oh so odd)
What pretension! Everlasting peace
Everything must cease

Grave memorial hewn white stone
Like the comforting caress of a mother
Or a friend you've always known

It evokes such pain and significance
What was once is reduced to remembrance
And the generations pass without recompenses
What pretension! Everlasting peace. Everything must cease.

 

[barbarin]

Hear It

Hear It

Like a morning crow and his unwelcome song
Or a worn-out broken record that keeps skipping along
Mountains of instructions you keep piling on me
Resound like a cacophonous symphony
But I don't wanna hear it anymore

Priests and politicians pretend they're your friend
And police speak to you like you're children again
Blanket statements cover you like a rug
And they tell me maybe I'm acting a little too smug
But I don't wanna hear it anymore

Every day we hear the secrets of life
Reduced to cheap jokes, poetry, and friendly advice
They'd rather see us all pusillanimous
Absorbent in their chorus of correctness
But I don't wanna hear it anymore

 

[barbarin]

Shades Of Truth

Shades Of Truth

Here inside this quiet room there's direction / Outside in the
sultry noon-time reflection / A million people scurry They're
looking for advice / None willing to lend charity just exercise
their

Shades of Truth and partisan conventions / Shades of Truth
between disparate lines / Shades of Truth interpret my
intentions / You don't know I'm alright / You don't know I'm
alright

Who authorized the blueprints and made us captains? / Someone
proclaimed creation, people listened / While children by the
millions are thrown into this zoo / This so-called gift of clarity!
Oh what was god up to?

Shades of Truth and lenient conventions / Shades of Truth
between disparate lines / Shades of Truth interpret my
intentions / You don't know I'm alright / You don't know I'm
alright

So many walk in parallel and pull their blinders tight / So few
offer apology and accept other's rights / And nothing
absolutely can be cherished in the end / Can't we all accept that
it will all happen again?

Just partisan conventions / Shades of Truth between disparate
lines / Shades of Truth interpret my intentions / You don't know
I'm alright / You don't know I'm alright

 

[barbarin]

All Fantastic Images

All Fantastic Images

England seemed like such a beautiful place from afar / Until
one day I went and saw how miserable things really are

All fantastic images they only are apparent / propagated just by
hope / and desire to share it /

Beauty was the allure that brought me close to you / Loneliness
was the bond that made me stick like glue

All fantastic images they only are apparent / promoted by
desperate hope / that things are somewhat better

I don't have a thing against fantasy / But to chase it down just
don't make sense to me / If your only hope is simply peace and
love / You end up discarding most of what you're made of

All fantastic images they only are apparent / promoted by
desperate hope / and the need to share it