Bad Religion

[barbarin]

Vanity

Vanity

I'll strike it if I don't like it.
Gimme a club and I will have myself a riot.
I'm a monkey with a brick on my shoulder
And I'm getting bolder.

Let's deny and defame.
Let's destroy and recreate in our glorious name,
And when the joke of our centrality is upon us,
Grovel and decry

Our vanity.
Disgraced to face our own humanity,
In a world that mocks our tragedy.

Hyper-aware and impaired.
Terrified by nature's mocking stare.
Yearning for significance beyond our animal ken,
On which we do depend.

Such vanity.
Isolated with our own inanity.
Entangled by our callow gravity.
Disgraced to face our own humanity.

 

[barbarin]

In Their Hearts Is Right

In Their Hearts Is Right

There's something pathetic in the world today
And I don't know how it all began.
As if all the shame and punishment
Will finally make me understand.

A word means nothing wanting action.
Intentions are valuable as deeds.
And a wound can dog you for a lifetime,
Unless it only makes you bleed.

Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows now.

Everybody, everybody, everybody knows,
Everybody, everybody, everybody knows
What's in their heart is right.

I'm just a termite on an ant hill.
I think about it every single day.
A senseless being lacking inspiration,
Just waiting to be blown away.

Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows now.

Everybody, everybody, everybody knows,
Everybody, everybody, everybody knows
What's in their heart is right.

Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows,
Everybody (everybody, everybody) knows now.

Everybody, everybody, everybody knows,
Everybody, everybody, everybody knows,
Everybody, everybody, everybody knows,
Everybody, everybody, everybody knows
What's in their heart is right.

 

[barbarin]

Crisis Time

Crisis Time

There's a feeling about myself that I can't understand.
It's a foreboding sense that I see all around the land.
When the wheel of fortune turns progressively depraved,
It's the manifestation of a biospheric decay.

Keep yourself in line; there's no design.
The new paradigm is crisis time.

Luxury was privilege and I knew it all along,
But to let human reason get trumped by emotion is wrong.
All the bonds were broken when I said I loved you so,
But rejection of a fantasy is just a way to help you grow.

Keep yourself in line; there's no design.
The new paradigm is crisis time.

Yeah

There's a feeling about myself; I feel it oh so strong.
It's a romantic notion and I've thought about it darn too long.
On the crest of progress, we can't balance on the wave
If the measure of success is only tallied in the lives we save.

Keep yourself in line; there's no design.
The new paradigm is crisis time.

Keep yourself in line; there's no design.
The new paradigm is crisis time.

 

[barbarin]

Dept. Of False Hope

Dept. Of False Hope

Welcome, my son,
To where the work is never done
And the hungry are seldom ever fed.

The department of false hope
Is a proving ground for dopes.
And they'll grind your tiny bones to make their bread. (Hosanna.)

So hold your head up high, forgotten man.
Tomorrow won't be made for you.
And everybody's gotta try to lend a helping hand.
For god and man, there's nothing more to do.

It crackled on the radio
Through bright plumes of the sun.
The announcer said the age of faith was dead.

Though the adolescent nation
Was just looking for salvation,
The beast of reason reared its ugly head. (Hosanna.)

So hold your head up high, forgotten man.
Tomorrow's not for me and you.
And everybody's gotta try to lend a helping hand.
For god and man, there's nothing more to do.

From your cradle of destruction,
With the poorest of instruction
And the merest sliver of a tune,
Oh, you managed somehow to muddle through.

So hold your head up high, forgotten man.
Tomorrow's not for me and you.
And everybody's gotta try to lend a helping hand.
For god and man, there's nothing more to do.

There is nothing more...

 

[barbarin]

Nothing To Dismay

Nothing To Dismay

Now there's a list of catalysts that hold the heart at bay.
They grip the mind and sap the soul and feed on your dismay.
And I never understood why you can't see the world this way.
The lines are drawn at the break of dawn; there's nothing to dismay.

It's no, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

It's no, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

The dissonance runs deep in me, resort to weak applause.
Associate and denigrate the root without a cause.
And just because the overwhelming odds are stacked away,
What good is should if at most I would? But nothing to dismay.

It's no, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

It's no, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

Well it's just a solo journey,
Bewildered and astray.
But pay no mind to what you find;
There's nothing to dismay.

It's no, no...
No, no...
No, no...
Nothing to dismay, yeah.

No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

It's no, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
No, no, no security.
Nothing to dismay.

It's nothing,
Nothing to dismay.

 

[barbarin]

Popular Consensus

Popular Consensus

Some people are almost impossible to live with.
Some people have faith in the craziest things.
They follow outdated conventions that were recorded.
But most of it, to me, all sounds insane.

Maybe it's all you need to get you through the night.
Maybe you've seen the light.
But you know that popular consensus doesn't make it right.

Nothing can go on while forever increasing.
The universe expanding is a different thing.
But to turn a nasty habit into a virtue
Can't replace the need for charity.

Maybe it's all you need to get you through the night.
Maybe you've seen the light.
But you know that popular consensus doesn't make it right.

Like the seed of all creation or a doomsday scheme,
The future might be bright or bleak.
But you know that popular consensus doesn't mean much to me.

 

[barbarin]

My Head Is Full Of Ghosts

My Head Is Full Of Ghosts

My head is full of ghosts, but I'm no revenant,
Despite my resident's rivalry.
And I'll be the faithful pilot
On our blind trajectory.

Do you wanna know a secret?
Will you hold it close and dear?
This will not be made apparent,
But you and I are not alone in here.

My head is full of ghosts. No apparition.
A partition from the host.
A temple of cognition
And forbidden to approach.

Oh, to hell with superstition.
There's a stranger in the house.
I don't need no exorcism.
I need a key and the lock is inside out.

Now meta-cognition is just intuition.
And dreamers, we'll bark at the moon.
The weaver's unknown by the loom.

My head is full of ghosts and I'm the pilot
Of ultra-violent ancestry.
And I'll destroy these passersby
With zest and artistry.

Ghost, part apparition,
A partition from the host.
A temple of the hidden
And unbidden to approach.

 

[barbarin]

The Island

The Island

There's a world outside but I can't really make it.
There's a life to lead but I can't exactly fake it.
Yet the mood feels right, but my island is sinking out of sight.

I made jetties so they'd catch all the sediment.
Removed the rocks and every impediment.
But the tide's rising high to wash away my island in the night.

The sheltering sky was to be my everlasting lullaby.
They said that islands were solid as bedrock, standing firm forevermore.
But over time, even basement wastes away to the unrelenting shore.

There's a lonely seed waiting to be planted.
I've instructions but desire is wholly absent.
I'm just a petrel in the storm; my island can't protect me anymore.

 

[barbarin]

Changing Tide

Changing Tide

Every day's the same routine of endless chores and boring details.
And you know you're waiting for the perfect condition for your ship to set sail.

But of course, the climate's always changing.
Clinging to the past has got you straining.
Comes the recognition now you're on a mission that is born to fail,
Leave it!

Brothers, say goodbye.
Sisters, don't you cry, yeah.
All embrace the times.
Wade into the changing tide.

Searching for philosophy of life can be a drag on the soul.
Nowadays we pick and choose the pieces from other people's wisdom of old.

But of course, the climate's always changing.
Clinging to the past has got you straining.
Realizing all your most cherished beliefs are subject to rot and mold.
C'mon!

Brothers, say goodbye.
Sisters, don't you cry, yeah.
All embrace the times.
Wade into the changing tide.