BAD RELIGION – NEW MAPS OF HELL – 2007

52 SECONDS
(Brett Gurewitz)
I know I’m part of something greater than myself
Don’t know the meaning of it but I hope that matters less
I don’t know anything when I’m factored out of scale
I know I’m part of something greater than myself

We’re all engaging in a game of attrition
Maybe god is just a chemical fiction

I’m a monkey with a madding affliction
With fact checking for a mental condition

I know I’m part of something greater than myself
Don’t know the meaning of it but I hope that matters less
I don’t know anything when I’m factored out of scale
I know I’m part of something greater than myself

HEROES AND MARTYRS
(Brett Gurewitz)
Amid the heat and the wrack
Hot boots invested and cracked
Poor candidates jacked into gray light
An ultra-violent call summoning both poet and thrall
Sweet catalyst for the acolytes

Our heroes and martyrs
Present two points of view
Tell me which deity you’re praying to

Into a welter of night
Flack, rounds and roiling blight
Cracked vertebrates stacked by the wayside
An ultra-violent call summoning both poet and thrall
The inveterate blind seeking daylight

Our heroes and martyrs
Present two points of view
Tell me which deity you're praying to

GERMS OF PERFECTION
(Greg Graffin)
Lacerate eviscerate and perforate and mutilate
We all fall down, all fall down
Deprecate repudiate ameliorate adjudicate
The wisdom found, wisdom found

Clip the wings of progress, turn the direction
Enrich the fallow soil with germs of perfection

Delegate facilitate investigate and obviate
The black turns green, black turns green
Separate evaluate and cultivate and propagate
The master’s dream, master’s dream

Sing the fears of history with renewed inflection
View the lost agenda with a skeptic’s intention

Machine of life, oh can we make it run?
We have the tools, but have only just begun
Machine of life, oh can we make it run?
The calculations of a greater sum

Clip the wings of progress, turn the direction
Enrich the fallow soil with germs of perfection

Perfection!

NEW DARK AGES
(Brett Gurewitz)
Yeah can you hear the call in our rambling land susurrations,
That can expand beyond all hope of light and plunge us into unrelenting night

A pall on truth and reason,
It feels like hunting season
So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right

Welcome to the new dark ages
I hope you’re living right
These are the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

Now come ye children one and all – let’s heed Ezekiel’s call,
And bide until the word is good and ripe and get plucked clean out of sight

The world will be erased our kin will be
Immaculate ejaculate in space
Before the kind of king’s love, he’ll snatch us
From above, brothers help me sing it

Welcome to the new dark ages
I hope you’re living right
These are the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

So how do you sleep
There’s nothing to keep
This is deep

Because we’re animals – with golden rules
Who... who can’t be moved by rational views

Welcome to the new dark ages
I hope you’re living right
Welcome to the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

REQUIEM FOR DISSIDENT
(Greg Graffin)
Oratory of hope and glory a whisper and a rhyme
An effigy, a soldier out of time
Citizen and patriot you can’t be far behind
The funeral is weighting heavy on your mind

Requiem
Bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem
Raise the rebel from its grave
Requiem
Sound the revolution’s thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

Dig around the cemetery a record of the day
Friends and neighbors in stages of decay
But the saddest thing of all eludes discovery
The stimulus for this somber ceremony

Requiem
Bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem
Raise the rebel from its grave
Requiem
Sound the revolution’s thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

The sanctimonious minions how they grovel at the feet
Authority is populist deceit
Pity yet another casualty's demoralized decline
Just a victim of irrational design

Requiem! Requiem!
Requiem
Bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem
Raise the rebel from its grave
Requiem
Sound the revolution’s thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

BEFORE YOU DIE
(Greg Graffin)
Porcelain and alabaster, decaying ever faster,
Unaware of imminent disaster open up your eyes.

As you ruminate the hopeless sands of time,
Did you wander out your days lost and resigned?
Or recreate the universals in your mind?

Everybody is a bastard: my world is like plaster
Crumbling apart from pressure of the blaster, waiting for a sign

And the momentary pleasures take their turn
As a wistful boy runs out of things to learn,
The episodes of yore are never to return.

Scare up some hope, you’re gonna need it just to cope,
You are the decision, numbers don’t lie
When you bite the dust, was it for purpose or for trust?

You’ll never relive it, think before you die.
Yeah, think! Think before you die.

Deficit and depravation – in the wake of desperation
Rewrite the morals, rectify the nation.
Now may be your time!

As you ruminate the hopeless sands of time,
Do you wonder how your life has been defined?
You know eternity can’t ever change your mind.
You know eternity can’t ever change your mind

So think! Think before you die!
Yeah, think! Think before you die

HONEST GOODBYE
(Brett Gurewitz)
Now get up and give in
I’ll crack your knuckles again
Supplicate and survive this transubstantiation
And get so mean – I want to know what it means!

(Did you laugh?) You know I did
(Did you cry?) I couldn’t get it right
(Did you live?) Always on the edge
(Did you lie?) Causing such a fright
(Did you love?) Oh to be forgiven
(Did you try?) But it wouldn’t be right

God it feels like an honest goodbye!

That sick brass boy day dreamin’
Cry baby convict demon
Hands so clean – a sympathetic cold blooded killing machine
How did you get so mean? – I want to know what it means!

(Did you laugh?) You know I did
(Did you cry?) I couldn’t get it right
(Did you live?) Always on the edge
(Did you lie?) Causing such a fright
(Did you love?) Oh to be forgiven
(Did you try?) But it wouldn’t be right

God it feels like an honest goodbye!

DEARLY BELOVED
(Brett Gurewitz)
Here’s a story of an honest man losing religion,
Climbing the pulpit steps before an eager congregation,
The while praying came a wicked inspiration,
Brothers, sisters this is what he said:

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved,
(Make no mistake, despite our traits, I’ve seldom seen evidence of genes)
I can’t relate to you, I can’t relate to you!

He was the kind of guy who’d always go right out of his way,
But more before that crazy notion leapt right into his head,
And stubbornly crept into every mad perception,
I can’t deny a funny feeling when he said:

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved,
I can’t relate to you, I can’t relate to you!

Dearest in memoriam – set phasers to stun
And grab yourself a neighbors’ skeleton to lean upon,
Did you know him in life – one filled with regret,
So soon we all forget – we ever met,

Do you know my name – sing a light refrain
For a man estranged – I won’t deny that I’m inclined to isolate

Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, dearly beloved,
I can’t relate to you, I can’t relate to you!
I can’t relate to you, I can’t relate to you, I can’t relate to you!

GRAINS OF WRATH
(Greg Graffin)
Back in ‘83 a man came to men and he told me “Son, our way of life is done"
But I was only young

With an eye to the fields speculators and yields rotten to the core,
Monoculture whores entered the bidding wars from distant shores,

I don’t wanna be in the land known as destitute and free,
With the grains of wrath blazing a path from sea to shining sea!

Oh the sinuous trails of concrete and rails and exhausted roars,
Population wars setting our future course,
Is profit and greed the only conceit on a scale between
Mere prosperity and inhumanity? It may well be but,

I don’t wanna be in the land known as destitute and free,
With the grains of wrath blazing a path from sea to shining sea!

I don’t wanna be in the land known as destitute and free,
With the grains of wrath blazing a path from sea to shining sea!

MURDER
(Brett Gurewitz)
If you’re discontent to know your world’s a pile of shit,
Listen to a riddle that’ll tickle every bit of it,

HA HA HA!

Ape shall not murder – Ape wasn’t so sure
Bad ape you made a mistake,
Annihilation in a cannibal war!
Well cultivation might have served you
Might have raised you up unscathed
If you had called that fucker by its name!

Did you listen to the arbiter’s beck and call?
Did you find what you were looking for or not at all?

NOT AT ALL!

Ape shall not murder – Ape take the cure
Bad ape you made a mistake,
Annihilation in a cannibal war!
Culture might have cured you
And raised you up unscathed
If you had called that fucker by its name!

Say the name!
Say the name!
Say the name!

SCRUTINY
(Greg Graffin)
One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight!
Days go marching by
There and back I never wait for a confident reply
Truth is stark and leaves its mark as limited constraints
And the most difficult part is accepting what the future may bring

It seems like a lifetime of scrutiny
Wither the path, whether worth the fee
A lifetime of scrutiny
And it seems as though I can’t be sure of anything anymore!

One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight!
Years go flying by
No one seems to hesitate or cast an earnest eye
Judgment comes in many forms but never scarce or shy
And the litany is long as the confidence is strong in their delight

It seems like a lifetime of scrutiny
Prejudicial waters wash over me
A lifetime of scrutiny
And the words just don’t equate with sense or sanity anymore!

One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight!
The faces and the names
Shattered hopes and stolen dreams and no one left to blame
Is it possible to win this pointless mortal game?
‘Cuz when death comes it’s swift and my friend,
We end up all the same

It seems like a lifetime of scrutiny
Wither the path and whether worth the fee
A lifetime of scrutiny
And it seems as though I can’t be sure of anything anymore!

PRODIGAL SON
(Brett Gurewitz)
Oh can’t you feel the nostalgia, son, I wonder about ya,
Modernistocrat Horatio Alger,
Clever never hesitating in the baiting, ever waiting
For the canticle of manacles abating.
Did you ever forget – you had a regret – and what you only guessed at
Might still be waiting?

When the prodigal son with a caroming shadow of hate comes to land at home,
Well, he’s a mourning star with a champagne heart at his curtain call,
And father never understood the way the work gets done.
Don’t look at me, no, I ain’t one, no prodigal son,
Don’t look at me, no, I ain’t one, no prodigal son.

When everybody about – is ready to bout you – about controversial values,
Don’t you think you better readdress the level of the cowardice rising to drown you?
Did you ever connect – or come to reject – or even inspect
The dreams that hound you?

When the prodigal son with a caroming shadow of hate comes to land at home,
Well, he’s a mourning star with a champagne heart at his curtain call,
And father never understood the way the work gets done.
Don’t look at me, no, I ain’t one, no prodigal son,
Don’t look at me, no, I ain’t one, no prodigal son.

When you least expect it, he’s going to run
Like the blood red path of the western sun, oh yeah.
The prodigal son is waiting, waiting for his moment to come.

Well, hell no, don’t look at me,
Can’t you see, I ain’t one, no prodigal son.
Don’t look at me, no, I ain’t one, no prodigal son.

THE GRAND DELUSION
(Greg Graffin)
If I could only get the tools, the stimuli and
Molecules, frozen moments in time
I could be the archetype, a credit to the
Genotype, reprogram your mind

But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause to distort a
Precious delusion

Did you see the moralist retort and raise his fist
“You can’t make man a machine!”
I can see the edifice crumbling in foggy mist,
Razed by discovery

But the storybook sages fill their pages
Hiding from the warming sun
Limitless distractions give no pause to distort a
Precious delusion

LOST PILGRIM
(Greg Graffin)
Pilgrim, those are dry and bitter tears and lonely
Eyes that look way beyond your years
Pilgrim, did you drink the mercury?
Your lips turned blue and you’re struggling just to see,
You were too far gone to carry on, now your life has stalled,
As you march ahead yet go no place at all..

Pilgrim, when you left them all behind
The loneliness destroyed your able mind,
Pilgrim, see the writing on the door?
It’s taking you back to a place you were before

And the next in line paces your stride waiting for your fall,
With a hope that lies in a hidden master’s call

Pious eyes ignoring passers by
Headlong to their grave
Don’t despair this world of toil and care.
This pilgrim lost his way

Pilgrim, will you ever find your call?
Is truth so pure that you're willing to risk it all?

Pious eyes ignoring passers by
Headlong to their grave
Don’t despair this world of toil and care.
This pilgrim lost his way

SUBMISSION COMPLETE
(Greg Graffin)
Dedication is the price you pay: the initiated are
Coddled and caged
Before you walk, as soon as you crawl
Hope is pointless ‘cuz you’re stuck in the trawl

Fuck the freshman lectures and brandishments
They just betray impoverished accomplishments
The puppet masters fear originality
They tighten up the tethers and they shackle your feet
Submission complete!

Young recruits never have a chance, enticed to
The drill, admonished to dance
Early to rise and early to shine, life is long but the end is nigh

Break the guilty trammels from yesteryear
Remember how rejuvenation conquers all fears
Lowly opportunists take commanding roles
And hawk ultimatums so their weakness won’t show

The sad reflection of dead ambition
You live for nothing
Submission complete!

Yeah, break the guilty trammels from yesteryear
Remember how the taste of failure makes it all clear
The lowly opportunists take commanding roles
And hawk ultimatums so their weakness won't show

The sad reflection of dead ambition
You live for nothing

Expectation, indoctrination
Life’s a damnation
Submission complete!

Dying on your feet
Submission complete
A total defeat

FIELDS OF MARS
(Brett Gurewitz)
In the garden where he was cast out by the lord
Flames an Omni-directional sword
For he as ever failed to gather up the fruit
And thus was banished with his loot

He cantered aimlessly through endless permutations of night
Seeking a purpose and the meaning of kin
And when it finally came to him
You could’ve mistook it for the meaning of sin

The women wish him well
Every time he cast off marching to hell
Now if you’ve never seen a terrible sight
Stroll the garden of earthly delight
Maybe we can make it right – someday
I’ll see you high above the Fields of Mars

He knelt down before the unholy mob – who cried
“War is god!”
Gleaming outwardly with great pride – and
Prepared to die

The women wish him well
Every time he cast off marching to hell
Now if you’ve never seen a terrible sight
Stroll the garden of earthly delight
Maybe we can make it right – someday
I’ll see you high above the Fields of Mars

Who cannot fight anymore
Will never love any less
That kid inside of murder
Must be committed

To live a life of hostility
Never asking what it means
When mother nation
Blood and religion
Sanction killing upon the Fields of Mars
High above the Fields of Mars