Rise Against

[LongLife]

Prayer Of The Refugee

Prayer Of The Refugee

Warm yourself by the fire, son,
And the morning will come soon.
I’ll tell you stories of a better time,
In a place that we once knew.

Before we packed our bags
And left all this behind us in the dust,
We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

Down!

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told.

But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home.
We’ve been pulling out the nails that hold up
Everything you’ve known.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

So open your eyes child,
Let’s be on our way.
Broken windows and ashes
Are guiding the way.

Keep quiet no longer,
We’ll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we’ve lost,
And the lives we’ve reclaimed.

Go!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up…
(I don’t need your help, I’ll stand my ground)
Don’t hold me up…
(I don’t need your help)
No! No! No!
Don’t hold me up!
(I don’t need your help, I’ll stand my ground)
Don’t hold me up!
(I don’t need your help, I’ll stand my ground)
Don’t let me down, down, down, down, down!

 

[LongLife]

Drones

Drones

Deep inside these burning buildings
Voices die to be heard
Years we spent teaching a lesson
We ourselves had never learned

And if strength is born from heartbreak
Then mountains I could move
And if walls could speak I'd pray
That they would tell me what to do

If you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by.
Forget my name and I'll forget it too.
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives
Are what keep me coming back to you.

No signs of life here, save the embers, the occasional flame,
We'd know the way but can't remember, conception to the grave,
Shout confessions from the greatest heights, where no one can hear,
All my fears, my insecurities are falling like tears.

If you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by.
Forget my name and I'll forget it too.
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives
Are what keep me coming back to you.

The drones all slave away, they're working overtime,
They serve a faceless queen, they never question why.
Disciples of a God, that neither lives nor breathes, (I won't come back!)
But we have bills to pay, yeah we have mouths to feed! (I won't come back!)
I won't come back!

And if you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by.
Forget my name and I'll forget it too.
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives
Are what keep me coming back to you.

I'm coming back to you

 

[LongLife]

The Approaching Curve

The Approaching Curve

[Spoken:]
The music played with a calming frequency.
The speakers gently seeped the sound of ambient keyboards and light percussion,
creating a seductive soundtrack to our midnight drive through curtains of blackness.
The windows were cold to the touch,
reflecting the icy conditions in our immediate extremity.
Salt stains and fingerprints littered the glass,
and streaks of melting snow cascaded down its length.
The music pulsed louder, yet gentle,
like the far away squeal of a pot of boiling water.
The skyline was glowing faintly with vague hints of an impending dawn.
The car raced along a painfully straight stretch of road,
and she hadn't so much as turned the steering wheel two degrees in the last twenty minutes
nor had we spoken.

As we were, so perfect, so happy.
They'll remember, only our smiles 'cause that's all they've seen.
Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned.
As we were, so perfect, so happy.

[Spoken:]
"Why are you doing this?" she spoke as if not expecting a response.
Her voice penetrated the still air of our speechless drive,
so suddenly that my heart had jumped.
"I'm not doing anything," I said, but I didn't even believe that myself.
"This is what's best, for me, for you, for us," or maybe just for me I thought,
as a tear formed in the pit of her eye.
The music poured through the speakers and we were losing ourselves in the cadence.
She looked down momentarily and closed her eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink.
Then she was crying. Then she was shouting. Then I was shouting,
now pouring confessions, having no answers, or solutions,
we barely even knew the questions.

As we were, so perfect, so happy.
They'll remember, only our smiles 'cause that's all they've seen.
Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned.
As we were, so perfect, so happy.

Don't put me underground, I was meant for a life somewhere else.
Please, love, give me the wheel, before both of our hearts you
will steal tonight (will steal tonight).

As we were, so perfect, so happy.
Don't remember, only your smiles 'cause that's all they've seen.
Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned.
As we were, so perfect, so happy.

[Spoken:]
Our cracking voices became part of the music.
The car pressed on faster through the night. As our voices lowered,
The cadence again overtook the air.
Up ahead there was a curve approaching.
She made no indications of slowing.

 

[LongLife]

Worth Dying For

Worth Dying For

Set me off like dynamite strapped tight around my waist
We are the ones in competition but claim this ain't no race

(Let's go!)

Take a breath and explode like bullets tearing through the wind
Cut me up with a razor blade that tries to separate the skin

Now in the
White flames of burning flags we
found a world worth dying for, yeah
We've been battered so hard that we don't
feel anymore

Take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?
So take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?

Send me off on the morning breeze so far away from here
Feel me rise in the strength I've found inside the warm embracing air
I'm moving slow
Like a glacier melting watch me dissipate
I searched for love in an empty world but all I found was hate

Now in the
White flames of burning flags we
found a world worth dying for, yeah
We've been battered so hard that we don't
feel anymore

Take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?
So take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?

Don't ask me why
'Cuz I don't know
Don't ask me how
I'm gonna solve this on my own
Don't ask me why
'Cuz I don't know
These things I've never faced
Scratch out, but won't erase

In the wreckage of a job well done
I saw a place I'd never seen before, yeah
And that moment I refused to close my eyes anymore

So take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?
So take me
From this world
Save me
What if we
All die young?

So take me [2x]

 

[LongLife]

Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors

Chairs thrown and tables toppled,
Hands armed with broken bottles,
Standing no chance to win but,
We're not running, we're not running.

There's a point I think we're missing,
It's in the air we raise our fists in,
In the smiles we cast each other,
My sister, my brother.

About the time we gave up hoping
We'd ever find these locks still open,
Stumbling on stones unturned,
The hurt we feel, we all have earned.

The lines we cross in search of change,
but all they see is treason.

Although we have no obligation to stay alive
On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive
(Break out) I won't be left here
Behind closed doors.

Bonfires burn like beacons,
Guiding the lost and weakened.
Flames dance on crashing waves,
Guiding ships who've gone astray

Time out, let's stop and think this through,
We've all got better things to do,
Than talk in circles, run in place,
Answers {are} inches from our face.

Although we have no obligation to stay alive
On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive
(Break out) I won't be left here
Behind closed doors.

Black eyes, broken fingers,
Blood drips and I let it run
down my lips into my swollen gums.
When hope is non-existent,
Our instincts all scream "Run",
We never turn our backs or even bite our tongues.

Although we have no obligation to stay alive
On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive
(Break out) I won't be left here
Behind closed doors.
[x2]

 

[LongLife]

Roadside

Roadside

Tell me what I'm supposed to do,
With all these left over feelings of you;
'Cause I don't know

And tell me how I'm supposed to feel,
When all these nightmares become real;
'Cause I don't know

And I don't think you see the places inside me that I find you,
And I don't know how we separate the lies here from the truth;
And I don't know how we woke up one day and somehow thought we knew
exactly what we're supposed to do.

So leave me at the roadside,
And hang me up and out to dry;
So leave me at the roadside,
And hang me up and out to dry.

And I don't think you see the places inside me that I find you;
And I don't know how we woke up one day and somehow thought we knew
exactly what we're supposed to do.

So leave me at the roadside,
And hang me up and out to dry;
So leave me at the roadside,
And hang me up and out to dry.

'Cause I don't think you see the places inside me that I find you,
And I don't know how we woke up one day and somehow thought we knew
exactly what we're supposed to do,
exactly what to do.

 

[LongLife]

The Good Left Undone

The Good Left Undone

In fields where nothing grew but weeds,
I found a flower at my feet,
Bending there in my direction,
I wrapped a hand around its stem,
I pulled until the roots gave in,
Finding there what I’d been missing,

But I know…
So I tell myself, I tell myself it’s wrong.
There’s a point we pass from which we can’t return.
I felt the cold rain of the coming storm.

All because of you,
I haven’t slept in so long.
When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean,
Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down,
I’ll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out.

Inside my hands these petals browned,
Dried up, fallen to the ground
But it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
Returned this flower to the dirt,
So it could live. I walked away now.

But I know…
Not a day goes by that I don’t feel this burn.
There’s a point we pass from which we can’t return.
I felt the cold rain of the coming storm.

All because of you,
I haven’t slept in so long,
When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean,
Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down,
I’ll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out.

All because of you…
All because of you…

All because of you,
I haven’t slept in so long.
When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean,
Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down,
Inside these arms of yours.

All because of you,
I believe in angels.
Not the kind with wings,
No, not the kind with halos,
The kind that bring you home,
When home becomes a strange place.
I’ll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out.

 

[LongLife]

Survive

Survive

Somewhere between happy, and total fucking wreck
Feet sometimes on solid ground, sometimes at the edge
To spend your waking moments, simply killing time
Is to give up on your hopes and dreams, to give up on your...

Life for you, (who we are) has been less than kind
So take a number, (who we are) stand in line
We've all been sorry, (who we are) we've all been hurt
But how we survive, (who we are) is what makes us who we are

An obvious disinterest, a barely managed smile
A deep nod in agreement, a status quo exile
I shirk my obligations, I miss all your deadlines
I excel at quitting early, and fucking up my life

Life for you, (who we are) has been less than kind
So take a number, (who we are) stand in line
We've all been sorry, (who we are) we've all been hurt
But how we survive, (who we are) is what makes us who we are

All smiles and sunshine, a perfect world on a perfect day
Everything always works out, I have never felt so fucking great
All smiles and sunshine, a perfect world on a perfect day
Everything always works out, I have never felt so great

(Life isn't like this)
(Life isn't like this)
(Life isn't like this)
(Life isn't like this)
(Life isn't like this) Life isn't like this
(Life isn't like this) Life isn't like this
(Life isn't like this) Are we verging on an answer,
or fucking up our...

Life for you, (who we are) has been less than kind
So take a number, (who we are) stand in line
We've all been sorry, (who we are) we've all been hurt
But how we survive, (who we are) is what makes us who we are

(Who we are)
It's what makes us who we are
(Who we are)
Makes us who we are
(Who we are)
It's what makes us who we are
(Who we are)

 

[LongLife]

Built To Last

Built To Last

Invest time, invest life
invest it all, reinvent yourself
before you know it
your essence is renewed with something fresh
Your will, your way
will earn respect in your day
let the glory sharpened knife
carve the future of your life

let's not praise the past, just a fact
Built to last
old school or the new
doesn't mean a thing if your heart's not true
greedy ones faded fast, we're here
Built to last
For the fun, not a fad
the love and the truth so powerful

work out the snags of the past
work out the snags that won't last
mistakes have finished my brothers
mistakes will guide all the others
Your will, your way
might shape a better day
eradicate the stagnancy
eradicate it like disease

let's not praise the past, just a fact
Built to last
old school or the new
doesn't mean shit if your heart ain't true
greedy ones faded fast, we're here
Built to last
For the fun, not a fad
the love and the truth so powerful
the love and the truth so powerful

as we've seen around the world
We won't go away
cause we'll always feel this way
We're here to stay
and our impact will be felt
We won't go away
if we feel it, if we feel it
We're here to stay
Built to last

 

[LongLife]

State Of The Union

State Of The Union

If we're the flagship of peace and prosperity
We're taking on water and about to fuckin' sink
No one seems to notice, no one even blinks
The crew all left the passengers to die under the sea

[Chorus]
Countdown, to the very end,
Equality, an invitation that we wont extend
Ready aim, pull the trigger now,
in time you firmly secure your place in hell

State of the union address,
reads war torn country still a mess
the words: power, death, and distorted truth
are read between the lines of the red, white, and blue

[Chorus]

Your place in hell [x2]

'Guilty' is what our graves will read,
no years, no family, we did
nothing (nothing) to stop the murder of
a people just like us