BAD RELIGION – NO CONTROL – 1989

CHANGE OF IDEAS
Well the sheaves have all been brought, but the fields have washed away,
And the palaces now stand where the coffins all were laid,
And the times we see ahead, we must glaze with rosy hues,
For we don’t wish to admit what it is we have to lose.

Millenia in coming, the modern age is here.
It sanctifies the future, yet renders us with fear.
So many theories, so many prophecies,
What we do need is a change of ideas.

When we are scared we can hide in our reveries but
What we need is a change of ideas.
Change of ideas, change of ideas,
What we need now is a change of ideas.

BIG BANG
This isn’t another new fashion, or a new wave plastic trend.
Everybody’s searching for something but in the meantime let’s all just pretend.
I’ve got this feeling and I don’t know what it is.
This room is overcrowded, man, and I need air to breathe, yeah.

Big bang, big crunch, you know there’s no free lunch.
Kneel down and pray, here comes your judgment day.
Big crunch, you know, it’s gonna be quite a show.
What goes around always comes around, yeah.

A million hopeless faces dwell within protected walls,
All waiting for a moment in life when they can heed the clarion call.
And it’s all so oppressive my mind feels like a sieve.
This city’s overcrowded, man, and I need room to live.

Big bang, big crunch, you know there’s no free lunch.
Kneel down and pray, here comes your judgment day.
Big crunch, you know, it’s gonna be quite a show.
What goes around always comes around, yeah.

I think of the countless shadows that have all come and gone,
All suffering in the notion of better things to come.
If you share these beliefs you know I wish you well,
‘cause there’s no room left in heaven and there’s sure no room in hell, yeah.

Big bang, big crunch, you know there’s no free lunch.
Kneel down and pray, here comes your judgment day.
Big crunch, you know, it’s gonna be quite a show.
What goes around always comes around.

NO CONTROL
Culture was the seed of proliferation but it’s gotten melded
Into an inharmonic whole, to an inharmonic whole.
Consciousness has plagued us and we cannot shake it
Though we think we’re in control, though we think we’re in control.

Questions that besiege us in life are testament of our helplessness.
There’s no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again, yeah.

Time is so rock solid in the minds of the hoards but they can’t
Explain why it should slip away, explain why it should slip away.
History and future are the comforts of our curiosity but here we are
Rooted in the present day, rooted in the present day.

Questions that besiege us in life are testament of our helplessness.
There’s no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again, yeah.

If you came to conquer, you’ll be king for a day,
But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away.
And believe these words you hear when you think your path is clear...

We have no control. We have no control.
We have no control, we do not understand.
You have no control, you are not in command.
You have no control. We have no control.
No control. No control. You have no control.

SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE
There’s a specter in the corner of an illustrated page
And a lonesome muted stripling with a rapt remedial gaze.
The poverty of his language and the wealth of his emotion
Bring him endless murky musings and unexpected frustration.
Angst and madness weave the fabric of his life.
Tomorrow might be better but right now it feels like...

There’s a panther wild and proud behind the doors of a redolent cage,
And an underdeveloped intellect filled with impotent and static rage.
And don’t think you’re exempt if you earn good weekly wages,
‘Cause your neighbor’s going crazy and insanity’s contagious.
I know there’s so much you want to say,
But your tongue gets in the way and sometimes it feels like...

I know there’s so much you want to say
And the tumbrel of your mind gets in the way.
It’s the same for everybody to degrees.
We all get that foggy freeze and sometimes it feels like...

AUTOMATIC MAN
He’s the latest superhero with powers so profound.
He can leap a dotted line in just a single bound.
I know you must have seen him in books and magazines.
He's the quintessential mindless modern epicene.

His life is meaningful because he gets things done.
Bang bang he’s dead, chalk up another triumph for our hero,
The Automatic Man.

It’s true you must have met him, he’s your best friend and your foe.
His opinions are determined by the status quo.
A true creature of habit, he smokes three packs a day.
When he has an original thought, he forgets it right away.

He’s a paradigm of carefree living.
He’s our mentor, disturb him if you can.
He’s the answer if your peace of mind is lacking.
He’s our savior, he is the common man.

So if you are troubled by the daily bump and grind,
Then take another look around and brother you will find...
The Automatic Man.

I WANT TO CONQUER THE WORLD
Hey Brother Christian with your high and mighty errand,
Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear a word you’re saying.
Hey Sister Bleeding Heart with all of your compassion,
Your labors soothe the hurt but can’t assuage temptation.

Hey Man of Science with your perfect rules of measure,
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather?
Hey Mother Mercy can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?

And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye
And a “God you must be joking!”

Hey Mr. Diplomat with your worldly aspirations,
Did you see your children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey Moral Soldier you’ve got righteous proclamations,
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations.

And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all of my decisions.
I want to conquer the world,
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children,
I’ll do away with air pollution and then I’ll save the whales,
We’ll have peace on earth and global communion.
I want to conquer the world!

SANITY
There’s a watch in my pocket and its hands are broken.
The face is blank but the gears are turning.
Confusion is a fundamental state of mind.
It doesn’t really matter what I’m figuring out,
I’m guaranteed to wind up in a state of doubt.

And sanity is a full-time job
In a world that is always changing,
And sanity is a state of mind
That you believe in, sanity.

There’s a shadow on the wall where the paint is peeling.
My body’s moving forward but my mind is reeling.
Depression is a fundamental state of mind.
It doesn’t really matter how my day has turned out,
I always end up living in this world of doubt.

And sanity is a full-time job
In a world that is always changing,
And sanity will make you strong
If you believe in sanity.
And sanity is a full-time job
In a world that is always changing,
And sanity is a state of mind
That you believe in, sanity.

HENCHMAN
Stranded
In a life in which your struggle for acceptance
Is a never-ending chore,
Upbraided
For your actions past and present and rewarded for the ideas
Of the future’s bright open door.

The henchman
Is the human analogue of the suffering multitudes
Who like good dogs sit and lick for their reward.

So what good advice have I got for you
To insure against your likely metamorphosis into this reprobate?

Don’t be a henchman,
Stand on your laurels,
Do what no one else does and praise the good of other men
For good man’s sake.
And when everyone else in the world follows your lead
(Although a cold day in hell it will surely be)
That’s when the entire world shall live in harmony.

IT MUST LOOK PRETTY APPEALING
The wheat waving next to you is healthy and so fine,
As is dinner with your loved ones every day.
But your routine is changeless through the decades of your life,
Green pastures, open spaces, holy ways.

And it must look pretty appealing,
The acres of lights,
The crowded festive nights
And the millions of others just like you.
Yeah it must look pretty appealing,
This other world of sin.
We keep dreaming of what other people do.

The person sitting next to you is dismal and deranged
On the bus ride home from work to end your day.
And the food on your table is more plastic than protein,
And your intellect depends on your TV.

And it must look pretty appealing
The pastoral retreat,
And the few pleasant people just like you.
Yeah it must look pretty appealing,
The simple way of life.
We keep dreaming of what other people do.

But we never do what other people do.
You’re too scared of other people not like you.

YOU
There’s a place where everyone can be happy.
It’s the most beautiful place in the whole fucking world.
It’s made of candy canes and planes and bright red choo-choo trains,
And the meanest little boys and the most innocent little girls.

And you know I wish that I could go there.
It's a road that I have not found.
And I wish you the best of luck, dear.
Drop a card or letter to my side of town.

Because there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend,
But baby, I’m amazed at the hate that you can send and
You... painted my entire world.
But I... don’t have the turpentine to clean what you have soiled.
And I won’t forget it.

There’s a place where everyone can be right,
Even though you remain determined to be opposed.
Admittance requires no qualifications:
It’s where everyone has been and where everybody goes.

So please try not to be impatient,
For we all hate standing in line.
And when the farm is good and bought, you’ll be there without a thought,
And eternity, my friend, is a long fucking time.
Because there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend,
But baby, I’m amazed at the hate that you can send and
You... painted my entire world.
But I... don’t have the turpentine to clean what you have soiled.
And I won’t forget it.

PROGRESS
And progress is not intelligently planned;
It’s the facade of our heritage, the odor of our land.

They speak of progress, in red, white and blue.
It’s the structure of the future as demise comes seething through.

It’s progress, ‘til there’s nothing left to gain,
As the dearth of new ideas makes us wallow in our shame.

So before you go contribute more
To the destruction of this world you adore,
Remember life on Earth is but a flash of dawn
We're all part of it as the day rolls on.

And progress is a message that we send.
One step closer to the future, one inch closer to the end.

I say that progress is a synonym of time.
We are all aware of it but it’s nothing we refine.

And progress is a debt we all must pay.
Its convenience we all cherish, its pollution we disdain.

And the cutting edge is dulling,
Too many folks to plow through.
Just keep your fucking distance
And it can’t include you.
It's progress, 'til there's nothing left to gain,
It’s progress, it’s a message that we send.
And progress is a debt we all must pay.

I WANT SOMETHING MORE
Going through a world of sad debris,
Regard quixotic reveries of ownership:
The blossoming disease of man called tenure and accretion,
The ancient western treadmill of deception and derision.
But I want something more.

Racing through a life of tragic wastage,
I experience the loss of trust and innocence.
The billowing cyclone of time has blown away our reasons
As we trudge like blind men forward trying to avoid collision.
But I want something...
More.

ANXIETY
It’s a love song to the self, a story recapped every day,
It’s a world of bogus feelings and a world of slow decay,
It’s a world of laughter hidden by this world of fear and torment,
It’s a game of strange compulsion, our visceral convulsion:

Anxiety for love of life, anxiety for pain,
Anxiety, a feeling that you know you can’t contain.
Anxiety destroys us but it drives the common man.
Foundation of society, anxiety. Suppress it if you can.

The caste of coffee achievers didn’t perform like they planned.
The morning rush hour traffic is our play of false elan.
So run around your frantic track and lay you down to sleep;
Tomorrow's the redemption, we strive for that exception.

Anxiety for love of life, anxiety for pain,
Anxiety, a fear that you have nothing more to gain.
Anxiety destroys us but it drives the common man.
Foundation of society, anxiety. Suppress it if you can.

What are we angry for?
We all need a common cure.
That common goal for which you strive:
To have more than the other (have more than the other) guy.

The quest for truth, the quest for gold, yeah, we end up all the same.
The common lie, the righteous cry, we end up all the same.
The angry crowd, those lost and found, everybody’s all the same.
The poet’s pen, these words I lend, we all bend to
Anxiety for love of life, anxiety for pain,
Anxiety, a feeling that you know you can’t contain.
Anxiety destroys us but it drives the common man.
Foundation of society, anxiety.

BILLY
I can recall the warm youth of a summer day, yeah:
The sweetest lemonade, the darkest game arcade,
And Billy had a yearning in the corner of his mind.
It moved him secretly. It moved him powerfully.

But prescience was lacking and the present was not all
And his aptitudes were carelessly wasted.
And challenging life with the abandon of a fool,
He squandered the hours of his day.

Then darkness and disorder slapped him sharply in the face, yeah.
It hit him like a friend, struck something deep within.
He couldn’t break the chain of slow decay that seemed to drag him
Just like a fatal tie toward the other side.

And Billy was a lunatic, just barking at the moon,
And his brain was totally wasted.
He then exchanged his friends for a needle and a spoon
And he threw his future away.
Bolt the door and throw away the key.
Your dim reflection is all that you can see.
So where is the justice when no one is at fault
And a human life is tragically wasted?
How fragile is the flame that burns within us all
To light each passing day?

THE WORLD WON'T STOP WITHOUT YOU
You’ve got to quit your little charade and join the freak parade
Now that your road has been paved from conception to your grave.
Enormous things to do, others’ practices to eschew,
To be better than you is impossible to do,
But the world won’t stop without you.
No, the world won’t stop without you.

Your achievements are unsurpassed, you are highly-ordered mass,
But you can bet your ass your free energy will dissipate.
Two billion years thus far, now mister here you are,
An element in a sea of enthalpic organic compounds.
The world won’t stop without you.
The world won’t stop without you.

You’re only as elegant as your actions let you be
A piece of chaos related phylogenetically
To every living organ system, we’re siblings, don’t you see?
The earth rotates and will revolve without you constantly.
Two billion years thus far, now mister here you are,
An element in a sea of enthalpic organic compounds.
The world won’t stop without you.
No, the world won’t stop without you.
I said the world won’t stop without you.