BAD RELIGION – AGE OF UNREASON – 2019

BAD RELIGION
AGE OF UNREASON
2019

CHAOS FROM WITHIN

Cowering like settlers on someone else’s land

Mistaking advances of the natives

Who have come to lend a hand?

It’s a sad and pathetic badge of shame, my friends

Terror always seems to win

In the drama of human motivation

Where is restraint and reason?

Threat is urgent existential

With patience wearing thin

But the danger’s elemental

It’s chaos from within

The fox-stained leaves of civilization

Depict a stark repeat

It’s always a flaw in reasoning

That fates the citizenry

When the ancestor fell from the arbor

The march of fear began

But the predator wallowed in failure

In the face of consciousness

Threat is urgent existential

Time to scan the horizon

But the danger’s elemental

It’s chaos from within

Threat is urgent! Existential!

Omnipresent like a skin

But the danger’s purely mental

It’s chaos from within

Chaos from within!

MY SANITY

When the world has gone mad and there's nowhere to roam

The lights are all on but nobody's home

There comes a time when you look up to the sky

And ask why do my favorite songs always make me cry

And am I losing

My sanity, my sanity

I’ve nothing to lose, so please let me be

I’ve got a firm grip and strong roots like a tree

Burrowed deep in reality

I won’t let you go, what else can there be

You're all I have

When you swore to be true, our bed was belief

But alternative facts snuck in like a thief

There comes a time to release the cord of self

And with confidence declare your state of perfect mental health

Never doubting

My sanity, my sanity

I’ve nothing to lose, so please let me be

My life is a song, a short melody

Harmonizing with reality

I’ve got it real bad, there’s no remedy

You’re all I have, my dear sanity

Sometimes there’s no sane reason for optimism

Oh my sanity, my sanity

I’ve nothing to lose, so please let me be

My life is a song, a short melody

Harmonizing with reality

I’ve got it real bad, there’s no remedy

My world picture is exemplary

I won’t let you go, what else can there be

You’re all I have, my dear sanity

DO THE PARANOID STYLE

Hey let’s jump around to the renegade sound of the paranoid style

Hey get upside down to the American sound of the paranoid style

Everybody have you heard the news the old dance with wicked moves

It’s been around for many a year so polish up your granddad’s gear and

Shake shake shake with fear waive your rights like you just don’t care

Anyone can do it – it’s easy if you dare

It’s the paranoid style in American politics Casey Jones you better watch your apocalypse

Illumination and fluoridation are communist plots against the population

Hey let’s jump around to the renegade sound of the paranoid style

Hey get upside down to the American sound of the paranoid style

Hey kids on the right and left do you feel dispossessed

If you’re on the left or right I feel your pain tonight

So shake off reality it's easy as you please soon everyone is dancing con-spir-a-tor-i-a-lly

It’s the paranoid style in American politics Casey Jones you better watch your apocalypse

All kinds of wild interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination

Hey let’s jump around to the renegade sound of the paranoid style

Hey get upside down to the American sound of the paranoid style

THE APPROACH

An apocryphal popular mythology or a civilization in wane

Whatever your assessment is, a paradox remains

There's a moral and intellectual vacuum and you’re right to be lookin’ askance

Philosophically moribund, revolution hasn’t a chance

As the light fades, the shadows dance in silhouette to stars

Despite all illusion we approach the darkest hour

Is the enemy hiding in your conscience or can forgiveness pave the way?

There’s got to be a place for them if tomorrow’s a better day

With the high priest banging on the war drum you cannot make out what he’s saying

With all the litter on the battlefield, no higher ground remains

As the light fades, the shadows dance in silhouette to stars

Despite all illusion we approach the darkest hour

Go

Welcome to the show

History took a toll

Discontent was sown but now the child is grown and come into his own

A superstar

But despite all illusion we approach the darkest hour

LOSE YOUR HEAD

I ain’t superstitious but hey do you know a good exorcist?

Despite darker tendencies I’ve always had a strong bias to exist

And though recent developments seem like bad news for humanity

Self-pity is always a case of mistake identity

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Before you lose your head

Religion who needs it and by the way how should we bury our dead

I doubt that it matters much son that’s what the postman said

There’s an accident waiting to happen at all times anyway

And maybe we’d all benefit from some epistemic humility

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Before you lose your head

And when your life endeavor evades your clever meddling

It’s only headphone weather so get your head together

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Lose your head, yeah

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Don’t lose your head

Soon we’ll all be dead

END OF HISTORY

Halcyon days are not a thing

Nostalgia is no excuse for stupidity

I don’t believe in golden ages

Or presidents that put kids in cages

America awaits on bended knee

Can’t you see?

Sweet children, Locke’s burden

Why did mother draw the curtains

Free will is your dilemma, (what will the dust remember)

Tell me where do you really want to be?

At the end of history?

Utopia is an opiated dream

What we want is an open society

One torn and frayed at the edges

With pages of imperfect changes

And every hallmark of rationality

Can’t you see?

Sweet children, Locke’s burden

Why did mother draw the curtains?

Free will is your dilemma, (what will the dust remember)

Tell me where do you really want to be?

At the end of history?

At the end of history nobody will be innocent

Of naked crimes against eternity

We're in the last second of our December

Tell me how do you want to be remembered

For generosity or a fucking monstrosity

Tell me where do you really want to be?

At the end of history?

AGE OF UNREASON

Just to think that not so long ago was a man who risked his life

He challenged all the lies offered as sacred truth just to cast a brighter light

The notion that we can live as one in perfect harmony

Requires a common sensibility to teach an intellectual capacity

That I believe is in the air

But everywhere is the ultimate act of treason

That so few could be aware that their nation’s heart is bleeding

And Oh! When the violence has begun

We decree the pen more mighty than the gun

But the fools believe, as one, in this unrepentant age of unreason

Just to think that not so long ago was a man who received the seal

He peddled blatant lies and brought back tyranny to divide his people with zeal

But we can live as one in perfect harmony

It requires a common sensibility to teach an intellectual capacity

That I believe is in the air

But everywhere is the ultimate act of treason

How so few can be aware that their nation’s heart is bleeding

As the child plays for fun

We desire to a the pen more mighty than the gun

Watch the fools believe, as one, in this unrepentant age of unreason

Now the darkness has begun

We decree the pen more mighty than the gun

But the fools believe, as one, in this unrepentant age of unreason

CANDIDATE

As I walk along this road

Paved with human kindness

I can never forget the price you paid

I'm an actor on a role

An artificial virus

I’m your daddy, I’m your disgrace

I say kid just move along

You don’t wan't it – don’t need it

Your politics just breed despair

I salute an empty flag of ancient tribalism

And trust me nobody cares

For I am your candidate

I am bloody lips and makeup

I’m your caliphate opioids and mutilation

A celebrity and my name is competition

I've come to bear your pain and I can make it go

Away, I'll make it go away, I’ll make it go away

Believers dupes and clowns I want you all to gather ‘round

To glorify ignorance and fear

I dispense misinformation to a post-truth generation

My darlings don’t shed a tear

For I am your candidate

I am bloody lips and makeup

I’m your caliphate opiods and revelation

An hermaphrodite in restrooms and service stations

I truly feel your pain and I can make it go

Away, I'll make it go away, I'll make it go away

FACES OF GRIEF

Broken engines of belief

Iniquity in stark relief

Red rabble of mendacity

(A cabal of psychopathy)

Grim bailiffs wait like minarets

While sister fends a mounting threat

In crucible of hypocristy

(A Greco-Roman tragedy)

Faces of grief

Rage is a key

Pain is a thief

Faces of grief

Rage is a key

Pain is a thief

Amidst darkness let us vow to insure her light will be remembered

Radicalized Evangelicals

Awash in promate chemicals

Bare shiny fangs for all to see

(A rictus of misogyny)

Obeisance to a maniac

The slavering lackeys stay on track

In this democracy's darkest hour

(A doctor dares speak truth to power)

Faces of grief

Rage is a key

Pain is a thief

Faces of grief

Rage is a key

Pain is a thief

OLD REGIME

Privilege from birth, abhorrence of work, obsessed with sovereignty

Aristocrats claim an exemption from the standards of democracy

A secret antipathy to justice and equality

And a tightly constrained definition of who is free

Old regime, smoke of history

Liberty still wafting in the breeze

The new aristocracy just smells like the old regime

They think that they can alter and sway which version of freedom reigns

If everything is subjective then what good is truth anyway?

A plutocratic strategy or technocrat conspiracy

Or a vision of utopia that only the besotten can see?

Old regime, smoke of history

Liberty still wafting in the breeze

The new aristocracy just smells like the old regime

An unabated tendency to tyranny is still in place

And the ancient nobility's complexion differs just in name

Old regime, smoke of history

Liberty still wafting in the breeze

A new season dawns with ominous prophecy

Yeah the new aristocracy just smells like the old regime

BIG BLACK DOG

We are alone

And all is one

The father daughter devil and son

They deal in art

The art of the deal

They sing Seig Heils in aisles of high heels

Big cyber-weapon little traitor in chief

He’s got a big black dog on a leash

One man’s grace is another man's bullet

Bullshit beams from the bully pulpit

No regret for the bounty they've taken

The pigs must feed on their rasher of bacon

Big cyber-weapon little traitor in chief

He’s got a big black dog on a leash

I'll be right here when I disappear

DOWNFALL

It’s never really clear when the end is near

Till you take a hard look in the rearview mirror and

I’m pretty sure we’re just running on fumes

No one really cares about the route

Beaches break down and the waves retreat

Are we stuck in some perpetual repeat?

Maybe we’re like massive cliffs of sand

Waiting for the plates to smash again

Downfall, gravity calls

Entropy makes fools of us all

Downfall, you can’t forestall

It’s proof there ain’t no invisible hand

No one ‘round here can contain their fears

So contented with false hope to soothe the tears

Faith is king while truth is on the lam

Disenfranchised scientists be damned!

Downfall, gravity calls

Entropy makes fools of us all

Downfall, it’s a natural law

And the judge don’t have no use for the witness stand

Downfall, it’s a natural law

Entropy makes fools of us all

Downfall, kill the guy with the ball

And make sure he can't get up to take a stand!

SINCE NOW

Since when was it just a fallacy of tainted memory (since when)

To believe that things were really all right?

Since when were the qualities of wisdom and knowledge (since when)

Equivalent to mere facts online?

Since when were the virtues of character and contect (since when)

More than just a popularity game?

Since when

Was the protocol of rational judgment not the same as blame?

Since now

It’s fucked up beyond all recognition, just a symptom of the time (since now)

You might call it modern cognition without a reason or rhyme

Since when

Was the platitude of honorable mention (since when)

Only a dishonor to behold?

Since when was being second only first among the losers just the same as getting old?

Since now

It's natural to feel unlucky, too many winners spoil the prize (since now)

So if you are on the bottom don’t you cry

Since when was history just a futile mission (since when)

Without a context to reveal?

Since when was lacking sense of place or social purpose the new deal?

Since now

It’s fucked up beyond all recognition, just a symptom of the time (since now)

You might call it cognition but don't ask why

Ask since when

WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS

Metamorphosis of living nature, unweathering the hands of time

Resonant vibrations set to a grand design

These are more than technological things

They’re promises of what tomorrow brings

Tranquility without conflict, potential free to find

Incalculable bounty randomly decentralized

These are more than sociological things

They’re promises of what tomorrow brings

Absolutions from the golden rule

Escape from earthly chattel and the grimmy hands of fools

These are more than words that the false prophet sings

They’re promises of that tomorrow brings

THE PROFANE RIGHTS OF MAN

Hostility to every living creature

Like gifted intellectual commands

Inalienable, it's not some moving feature

It’s foundation, a bedrock of the land

So it’s criminal, antithetical, inimical

To an enlightened plan

If you seek to make divisible

The principle of the profane rights of man

And so it turns, the bourgeoisie

The bastard child of democracy

Morphs into aristocracy

Demands advantage, it must not receive

But if the citizen will not stay its hand

The myth becomes a menace on the land

And it’s criminal, antithetical, inimical

Intelligence and knowledge are an ordinance

A constant check on privilege and wealth

Nurture it, provisioning a furtherance

Of fundamental democratic health

So it’s criminal, antithetical, inimical

To an enlightened plan

If you seek to make divisible

The principle of the profane rights of man