BAD RELIGON - THE NEW AMERICA - 2000

YOU’VE GOT A CHANCE
(Greg Graffin)
A rhapsody!
Contestants in disguise,
A nation of desire,
But who will win the prize?
The people stand united,
Reluctantly aligned,
Copying and lying
Are their favorite pastime.

You've got a chance
To confront the world today,
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways.
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance.

Common life, depicted on afternoon TV,
Is spiked to give the
Miserable a vogue identity
Hate your neighbors,
Cheat your friends,
They don't discriminate,
Popularity and fame don't care
If you're a reprobate.

You’ve got a chance
To confront the world today,
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways.
What good is skill
If you don’t make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You’ve got a chance.

I’m tired of all this
Shakespearean misinformation.
I want to win the game.

You’ve got the right intentions,
But who’s got time to think?
You’ve got a noon appointment,
You’ve got to hit the links.
You’re talking in the stratosphere,
You’re curled up on the floor.
With such a wealth of information,
Why are you so poor?

You’ve got a chance
To be relevant today,
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways.
What good is skill
If you don’t make it to the dance?
(Don’t you believe what the
wise men have to say.)
Despite circumstance
You’ve got a chance.

IT’S A LONG WAY TO PROMISE LAND
(Greg Graffin)
It’s a long way to the promise land
So you'd better well know your way.
There's a ship on the ocean
And an albatross who is trying to lead you astray.
Leaders, politicians and power whores
Are in line to receive your choice.
And you bet your ass, if you give it to them,
They will gladly take your voice.

And it’s a long way to the promise land.
Wo-oh oh oh oh oh.

It’s a long way to the promise land,
If we work we might find it here.
There’s no substitute for enlightenment,
There’s no reason for bridled fear.
When you join the people who've joined the club,
You gotta clench and play your hand,
‘Cuz if you fall in line you’re gonna fall in time
And you'll never make a stand.

And it’s a long way to the promise land.
Wo-oh oh oh oh oh.

What are you going to do
When they come for you?
Bend and capitulate
Or keep your head on straight?
Easy answers bought without experience
Is gonna lead you to certain doom.
Because the truth is just what you make of it,
It begins and ends with you!

And it’s a long way to the promise land.
Wo-oh oh oh oh oh.

A WORLD WITHOUT MELODY
(Greg Graffin)
I don’t want to live
In a world without melody.
Sometimes the rhythmic din
Of society is too much for me,
But purpose is prioritized.
These days the goal is win the prize.
There’s a sleeping resonance we hold
Through which we're unified,
So let it out!

Don’t just get lost in the crowd,
No one can deter you from your own path.
There’s no trip too remote
From which you can’t come back.
And I’ve got this hunch about you and me,
None of us are ready
For a world without melody.

Melody is the key,
It’s the surest way
To unlock your individuality.
Melody is the key,
It will set you free!

Don’t disrelish harmony,
Community will make you whole.
Work and understanding are the chords
Way deep within your soul.
They only need to be struck once
And the vibrations swell and spread,
But if we mute them they decay,
Our sensibilities are dead,
So let it out!

Don’t just be one of the crowd
Hesitance and diffidence will do you in
And your soul doesn't care
For social medicine.
And I’ve got this hunch
About you and me,
None of us are ready
For a world without melody.

Melody is the key,
It’s the surest way
To unlock your individuality.
Melody is the key,
It will set you free!

And I know together we could change the world,
Just you and me,
But I won’t live without melody.

NEW AMERICA
(Greg Graffin)
Do you know the cost of future misery?
Have you lost your sense of sustainability?
We are just a step away
From realizing what we strive to be,
But we’ve got to break out
From this insulated, blind and lame senility.

Wake up the new America, wo-oh!
Transcend the mass hysteria, wo-oh!
Change is the thing you're wary of, wo-oh!
We need a new America, wo-oh!

Laurels, human triumph,
Bestowments from the past,
Victories don’t mean a thing
If they don’t last.
We are just marching toward extinction
With blinders on our eyes,
Jeopardizing everything
We’ve learned and come to realize.
You call that wise?

Open your eyes, America, wo-oh!
See through the lies they tell to us, wo-oh!
Confront the fears that worry us, wo-oh!
We need a new America, wo-oh!

We don’t have to be afraid to reinvent.
We’ve got to start to build
Progress and implement,
For when we take our fill
And never pay the price,
We only build ourselves
A fleeting, false paradise.
You can live in staunch denial
And mark me as your enemy,
But I’m just a voice among the throng
Who wants a brighter destiny.

Then say with me,
We are the new America! wo-oh!
This is the new America! Wo-oh!

1000 MEMORIES
(Greg Graffin)
You were the one,
You were my everything.
Never apart,
No one in-between.
Then one day,
When you went your own way,
You felt justified,
And I was mortified.
But today...

You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
‘Cuz your smile
Is just too much to see.
You’re just a thousand memories.

Fantasies, broken dreams,
Reveries, sordid histories.
Following my heart,
Laden with reaction
Without calibration or design.
Committed to a trial,
A life of understanding.
Can’t somebody show a sign to you
For me to see if you only knew
That you were the one...

You were the one,
You were my everything.
Never apart,
No one in-between.
Then one day,
When you went your own way,
You felt justified,
And I was mortified.
But today...

You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
‘Cuz a picture is worth
One thousand memories.

A STREETKID NAMED DESIRE
(Greg Graffin)
Well, it was punk-fifteen in the morning
And it was time to stand my ground.
And as the gawks and stares bombarded me,
You know, I didn’t even hear a sound.

No one gave a damn
If I was there or away.
If I died and went to hell,
They’d throw a party on my grave
And they'd all say,
“This kid is just a fool, he’ll never be cool.
They might as well just ship him off
to some other school.”

Plain destitute,
Just a little too guilty, just a little too soon...
That day was just like any other day,
No work, and no pay.
I knew that paradise was some other place
And I’d get there another day.
I will find it before I expire
‘Cause I’ve got the desire.

Well, it was punk-fifteen in the evening
And it was time to set the town on fire.
I saw my boots and my hair
As reflected in the mirror
Reveal a streetkid named desire.
I didn’t give a damn
Because I was just dying to be
And as the Hollywood street scene
Left its mark on me.
I changed from a boy into a man.
I said: “never again!”
I stuck out my chin when I should have ran,
Shit in the fan.

I was driven so hard
By the sound of my heart,
But that day was just like any other day,
No work, and no pay.
I knew that paradise was some other place
And I'd get there another day.
I will find it before I expire
‘Cause I’ve got the desire.

When the walls surround
In deeper shades of blue
And there’s no voice of reason inside you
And you search for meaning
On an empty shelf,
Then you’re always dreaming
Of somewhere else.

Today is just like any other day,
No fear, no restraint.
I know that paradise is some other place
And I will get there another day.
You can come with me,
No conditions or fares,
Somehow, somewhere,
I will find it before I expire
‘Cause I’ve got the desire.

WHISPER IN TIME
(Greg Graffin)
All those stories that my dad told me,
They are just a whisper in time.
All those things that never came to be,
They are just a whisper in time.

A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Things that I can’t shake from my mind.
A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Moments that just flicker and die.

All those places I wanted to go,
They are just a whisper in time.
All those friends who now I do not know,
They are just a whisper in time.

A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Things that I can’t shake from my mind.
A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Moments that just flicker and die.

Maps and roads that brought me here today,
They are just a whisper in time.
Circumstances that were explained away,
They are just a whisper in time.

A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Things that I can’t shake from my mind.
A whisper in time, a whisper in time,
Moments that just flicker and die.

‘Cuz we are messengers of memory
Just whispers in time.

BELIEVE IT
(Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz)
It could happen to you,
A defect from the wasted outskirts of Los Angeles
With a crumpled-up pass for the RTD
And no authority or trajectory
On the brink of insanity.

You’d better believe it,
Because it’s written all over your face
Just a neighborhood reject,
Out of step and out of place,
You’d better believe it.

Would you ever have thought
Persistence could prevail
Against the almost
Unbearable weight of the system?
With nothing better to do,
And no one else who you can look up to.

You’d better believe it
Because it’s written all over your face
A political defect,
Out of step and out of place,
You'd better believe it.

And the future is bright
When ideas run astray
So turn out the light,
A punk can’t have a say,
Sometimes desire is all that's there
Who said life was fair?

I LOVE MY COMPUTER
(Greg Graffin)
I love my computer,
You make me feel alright
Every waking hour
And every lonely night.

I love my computer
For all you give to me:
Predictable errors
And no identity.

And it’s never been quite so easy,
I’ve never been quite so happy.
All I need to do is click on you
And we’ll be joined in the most soulless way,
And we’ll never ruin each other’s day
‘Cause when I’m through I just click
And you just go away.

I love my computer,
You’re always in the mood.
I get so turned on
When I turn on you.

I love my computer,
You never ask for more.
You can be a princess
Or you can be my whore.

And it’s never been quite so easy,
I’ve never been quite so happy.
All I need to do is click on you
And we’ll be joined in the most soulless way,
And we’ll never ruin each other’s day
‘Cause when I’m through I just click
And you just go away.

The world outside is so big,
But it’s safe in my domain
Because to you
I’m just a number
And a clever screen name.

All I need to do is click on you
And we’ll be together for eternity.
And no one is ever gonna take my love from me
Because I’ve got security, her password and a key.

THE HOPELESS HOUSEWIFE
(Greg Graffin)
Oh me oh my...
Get out of your 1950’s fantasy,
Your face shines with misery transparently.
Spew out that sobering
Half-assed victim rhetoric,
Make ‘em all squirm
While they chew on it.

It’s a secret handshake
And a passing wink of the eye
As the witches bridge club weekly
Meets to pen the tail on the sly.
But they never ask: “Why, oh why,
Don't we raise our voices to the sky?”

Instead you’re mute and fawn,
Just waiting to die,
Like some kind of hopeless housewife.
But you can change while you're alive
And let ‘em all know
At least you tried
To kill the demons inside.

Oh me oh my...
Damn your transcendental paralysis,
We can work together
And make sense of this.
Don’t be so sure
you can chuck it all away,
You’ve got to proceed
No matter how bad you want to stay.

It’s a natural cause
And a comfort zone
There in your head.
And the world turns away
As you tap the snooze button in bed,
But nobody can hear a word you said.
Your history was never read.

Instead you’re mute and fawn,
Just waiting to die,
Like some kind of hopeless housewife.
But you can change while you're alive
And let ‘em all know
At least you tried
To kill the demons inside.

THERE WILL BE A WAY
(Greg Graffin)
Shut your eyes,
See the future’s distant shore.
March ahead,
More enlightened than before.

And there’s sure to be bumps and distractions,
But I know we'll get through.
There will be me, there will be you,
There will be a way.

Unresolved repercussions from your life
Fortified with the vitriol of strife.
And you can be gridlocked by predictions,
But you’re wise, grab the prize.

Then revise, realize
There will be a way.

And I don’t know where we are going,
But we’re here on this ride
And we’ll stand side by side
All along the way.

Follow me to the future’s distant shore,
Vagary needn’t haunt us anymore
And now it’s time to set the agenda.
Learn the past, make it last,
Share the wealth, hold your fire,
Conserve life, make it right,
Kill the hate, negotiate.
There will be a way.

LET IT BURN
(Greg Graffin)
Let your mind wander,
Look beyond the shadows.
Focus on the skyline,
Read the silhouettes.
Your deepest desires
Are a picture of tomorrow.
All your darkest fears
Are just a vestige of regret.

And it’s wo-oh oh oh,
It seems like such a long way to go.
As obstacles get bigger,
Prevailing winds blow stronger
And the fire continues to grow

Don’t let shallow water
Limit your perception.
Heed the new horizon,
Muster to it fast.
The moments of your yesterdays
Are in the wake behind you.
You can’t assess the future
If you’re living in the past.

Keep it stoked!

If you are committed
To a life of understanding,
Then there’s no agenda
For vengeance in your life.
Sharpen all your senses,
Face the opposition.
You can overcome
With fortitude and mental might.

And it’s wo-oh oh oh,
It seems like such a long way to go.
As obstacles get bigger,
Prevailing winds blow stronger
And the fire continues to grow
In your soul,
So be bold, let it grow.
Don’t let it die,
Let it burn!

DON'T SELL ME SHORT
(Greg Graffin)
We don’t need any more mountains
Because the trail builders
Failed to give us passage there,
So we can’t reach the sky.

We don’t need any more failure.
There is human tragedy
That’s written everywhere
And we are all too young to die.

Like a mystery that’s here to stay,
Some people never go away
Cuz they’ve got something to say.
Don’t sell me short!
You’ve been wrong too long.
Don’t brush me off
Just because I don’t belong.
Like it or not I’m all you’ve got,
Dispose me when I’m shot.
Just don’t sell me short,
I might not be who you thought.

We don’t need any more fables
Because the writers have passed
And left us lessonless
And we must find our own way.

We don’t need any more privilege.
There is vivid desperation
That is powerless
That no surplus can repay.

Like the fix of rapture in a trance,
Oh, fates are sealed by circumstance
So you’ve got to take a chance.
Don’t sell me short!
You’ve been wrong too long.
Don’t brush me off
Just because I don’t belong.
Pass me on by, ignore my cry,
Forget me when I die.
Just don’t sell me short,
Not while I’m still alive.

Everybody’s talking
About heaven on earth,
I’m still trying to figure
Out just what I’m worth.

I’m full of emotion
And stuff you can’t contain,
And you just want to
flush me down the drain,
But you can’t make me go away.

Don’t sell me short!
You’ve been wrong too long.
Don’t brush me off
Just because I don’t belong.
Like it or not I’m all you’ve got,
Dispose me when I’m shot.
Just don’t sell me short,
I might not be who you thought.
You’ve been wrong too long.
Don’t brush me off
Just because I don’t belong.
Pass me on by
And forget me when I die
Just don’t sell me short,
Not while I’m still alive.

PRETENDERS
[bonustrack]
I give to you, you take from me
We live in perfect harmony
But I know you can’t give me what I need
With subtle care and rosey hues
We duke it out, we change our views
We hold so dear our unanimity

Oh...

We are just pretenders
We are just pretenders, lost in this charade
We are just pretenders, characters on stage
We are just pretenders, trying to break free
We are just pretenders, hiding so no one sees

We try to find our peace of mind
Just a vestige we left behind
But ignorance takes far less energy
And if you please, I’ll look to you
Because I need somebody who
Forgives me for my harsh reality

Oh... but

We are just pretenders
We are just pretenders, we’re trying to break free
We are just pretenders, we’ll lose them easily
We are just pretenders, trying to break free
We are just pretenders, hiding so no one sees

You standing there
Playing with your hair
Trying to ignore
But peeking in the mirror
Reliving the scenes
From books and magazines
Craving the life
You live in your dreams
And I’m standing here
Thinking that it's queer
But fearing that I am the same

You ask me how I feel
It's so damn surreal
I think it’s finally time we ended this game
‘Cause we are just pretenders
We are just pretenders, lost in this charade
We are just pretenders...

THE FAST LIFE
[available on European and Japanese Version]
The silent stray inertia,
No burden on my back.
No determinance, no ballast,
No chance of looking back.
It doesn’t matter what’s ahead,
It’s time I’ll hit it hard.
No fixing my position,
No sign of retard.

It's the fast life,
There’s nothing I can do.
The fast life,
Suck it in and follow through.
The fast life,
Just learning as I go.
You might call it careless,
But this fast life
Is all I’ve ever known.

Like a wispy feather
Defying gravity,
Or a rolling cobble
In the middle of the stream,
Propelled by a ghost force
That never shows his face,
Increase the ante
Of this perpetual pace.

It’s the fast life,
There’s nothing I can do.
The fast life,
Suck it in and follow through.
The fast life,
Just learning as I go.
You might call it careless,
But this fast life
Is all I’ve ever known.

Ever since the day
I came out of the womb,
My head was always bouncing
Off the walls in the room,
Always scratching gravel,
Covering new ground.
No matter how hard they tried,
They couldn't pin me down.

It’s the fast life,
There’s nothing I can do.
The fast life,
Suck it in and follow through.
The fast life,
Just learning as I go.
You might call it careless,
But this fast life
Is all I’ve ever known.
Yeah, it’s all I've ever known.

QUEEN OF THE 21ST CENTURY
[available on European and Japanese Version]
From the time she could crawl
She was all draped in macrame.
She was preened and redeemed
In a church that tried to show the way.
She was taught to never ask for more,
They had no idea of what she had in store.

She’s the queen of the 21st century,
Just a ghost of what her parents thought a little girl should be:
Analog heart, analog nerves, analog brain,
But a fixture of the digital domain.

From the time she could read
She could see that there was urgency,
No debate, just a spate of ignorance
In a splintering community.
She could never meet their expectations,
Then she came to symbolize the nation.

She’s the queen of the 21st century,
Just a shred of what her parents thought a little girl should be:
Steeped in spite, coddled in fear, drenched in novelty,
But masterful at sensual technology.

She’s the queen, no rules in her empire.
She’s the queen, just libido and desire.
She’s the lean, mean, fighting machine,
The stuff of modern media lore
And she always knows the score.

She’s the queen of the 21st century,
Just a ghost of what her parents thought a little girl should be:
Fallen star, black and blue,
Broken hearts, wasted youth,
Rusted cars, twisted roots,
Mental scars, the ugly truth.

She’s the queen of the 21st century
And she’s a modern-day polemic,
A walking controversy.

She’s the queen!