1. |
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Sweet sound distract me
From thoughts that I don't wanna think
If you don't throw me a line
I'll surely sink
Goodbye salvation
I want you out of my mind
If you go digging too deep
You won't like what you find
Road is long
I am weary
I just need
Someone to hear me
Road is dark
I am blind
Searching for nothing
That's what I'll find
Take a long hard look at yourself
Fear is forgotten
Freed from my ball and chain
Freedom is overwhelming
Awareness brings only pain
Well I wish that I knew nothing
Felt no need to shine a light
If I could stay in the dark
There'd be no need for sight
For all is rarely as it seems
Wrong can look a lot like right
Road is long
I am weary
I just need
Someone to hear me
Road is dark
I am blind
Searching for nothing
That's what I'll find
Take a long hard look at yourself
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2. |
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Some people seem to always be smiling
Some seem to not know how
Beauty hides in unlikely places
I think I found it now
Pretty posters of pleased people make you purchase
But the more we have, the less we are
Where’s Robin Hood
And his merry men?
It’s in times like these
That we need them
Is stealing from the rich really such a crime
When the hangman’s working overtime?
We wear rags and tatters
As the fat cats get fatter
And eat cold soup out of cans
While they got expensive dinner plans
There should be a tax that the poor could levy
’Cause the pyramid, well, it’s too top-heavy
And there’s so many kinds of people
We’re all trying to get along
But when push comes to shove
There ain’t no love and all compassion is gone
Come on fat cats, don’t you see?
You’re on the wrong side of history
And the more we have, ah, the less we are
I said the more we have, the less we are
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3. |
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All this reckless rhetoric, I just can’t ignore it
My body’s aching, and I’m going to scream
At the TV, you’d better believe me
This can’t be real, it must all be a bad dream
Of the past, the present just can’t last
Two steps forward, feels like three steps back
To the issue, why can’t they resist you?
When truth is dead, we get this instead
Politesse fights a losing battle against profanity
Free-ranging herds of rude people blinded by their vanity
Here I am again unsure of our sanity
Just a spectator contemplating the calamity
Contemplating the calamity
And I just can’t believe it, unable to conceive it
If this is normal, then I must be strange
Times to live in, I’m not into forgivin’
I want answers, I demand change
Up the tale ’cause lies never fail
Breaking news, now the news is broke
The bent rules won over the fools
Master of illusion, exploiting the confusion
Politesse fights a losing battle against profanity
Free-ranging herds of rude people blinded by their vanity
Here I am again unsure of our sanity
Just a spectator contemplating the calamity
Contemplating the calamity
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4. |
Talk Taboo
03:02
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Oh the blood, the blood
The blood on my hands
How could I hope to
Ever understand?
I’m your seed, your flower
The branch on your tree
I’m glad somebody found you
Did it have to be me?
Guilt should not lead to silence
Au contraire
Oh we must discuss
These are stories to share
It’s not because we don’t tell them
That they’re not there
I’m gonna scream, scream it
Loud and clear
Talk taboo
Because there’s no more fear
How did your world become a prison
From which you needed to be set free?
If you couldn’t, wouldn’t stay for yourself
God damn! Stay for me
Little darling how could you understand?
Daddy’s gotta go to the promised land
But I’ll see you there someday
Well I’ll see you there someday
Ah this feeling, it burns
I’m so full of grief
You’ve been stolen from me
But you’re also the thief
I do not blame you, how could I?
This isn’t your fault
The world’s gone mad
And this is the result
Guilt shall not lead to silence
Not this time!
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5. |
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Used plastic bags float around
Like leaves once did
Fighting over the same skies
Sold to the highest bid
Steam rises from the streets
From sewers and asphalt
Progress for the sake of it
The inevitable result
Buildings reach for the sky
Higher than trees would ever dare
Reaching up to the heavens
To see if God’s really there
Smog blots out the sun
Toxic clouds of our own creation
We destroy the earth
To enrich our nation
Concrete inferno
Where green once ruled
Fuel for the fire
Movement for the fooled
Streets like scars
Severed arteries across the cityscape
A dystopia for our egos
Built on nature’s rape
Untrusting strangers
Casting suspicious glances
Empathy goes home
While apathy dances
Empty eyes stare back
With indifferent false pity
No expectation, no destination
Waiting for death to hit me
Planes soar and cars roar
And no one hears my last breath
I can’t take this anymore
If this is life I welcome death
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6. |
She's out of Breath
02:35
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I welcome the rain like an old friend
It can wash away the pain
And maybe then, the wound can mend
And only the scar will remain
Rain, rain, won’t you stay?
The sun can shine on a happier day
Rain, rain, cleanse my despair
I’d be lost and confused if you weren’t there
I’ve tears in my eyes but this isn’t about me
I’ve a friend who’s seen hell, been through misery
I say I understand but I know that’s wrong
For I am weak, untried, and my friend is strong
Rain, rain, won’t you stay?
The sun can shine on a happier day
Rain, rain, cleanse my despair
I’d be lost and confused if you weren’t there
My friend lives a life cursed by death
She smiles like an angel and laughs till she’s out of breath
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7. |
Tempered Pulse
02:02
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8. |
What Owns Who
02:07
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If I’m never happy with what I have
Then I’ll never be satisfied
I’ll go in circles till it drives me mad
Greener grass on the other side
If I never know what I’ve got till it’s gone
Do I even know a thing?
If I can never decide if I’m right or wrong
What good does the question bring?
If I’m always searching for something new
Will I ever let anything grow?
The future isn’t always something you do
Sometimes you gotta let time flow
If I’m never living in the here and now
What’s the point of possessions anyway?
And what owns who? Your stuff owns you
And that’s a game I’m not gonna play, ah no
Some people say: “You gotta be satisfied!
Love what you got and enjoy the ride”
But I can’t seem to take their advice
’Cause what I don’t have always seems so nice
I’m gonna quit complaining and fix my ways
Dirty rascal instead of king
If I’m never happy with what I have
I’m better off without anything
Well, the more we have, the less we are
The less time we have to be
So, let go of it all
Only then can you be set free
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9. |
This Backwards Town
03:05
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We got cops on the streets
With quotas to meet
And bums in the slums
With no warm place to sleep
Politicians with missions
Like bringing down the debt
Forget your little issues
Our budget is set
We got hopeless souls
Sleeping in lost holes
Hiding from the long arm of the state
And macho police
To make crime cease
When all they know is hate
And it's upside down
This backwards town
But it's the same the world over
You go to work nine to five
Thank the government you’re alive
And follow every order
Goons tripping on power
Leaves a taste quite sour
Robbing poor people
With paper and pen
Tame dogs for the masters
In peacetime or disasters
They've become pawns
To prove that they're men
And it's upside down
This backwards town
But it's the same the world over
You go to work nine to five
Thank the government you’re alive
And follow every order
We should start it all again
It’ll all be clearer then
See the same sights with new eyes
Find new truths, forget old lies
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10. |
Eye Of The Tantrum
02:07
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11. |
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Bring me to the place where all things sleep
I’ve been going on for too long, I’m in too deep
The sun is rising, all over again
If I could clear my mind, maybe I’d pass out then
It’s been a long time coming
But not long enough for me
It’s been a long time coming
It’s time to be set free
Bring me to the place where beauty goes to die
And the truth lies in tatters so we can live the lie
Meditate on misery, all that long lost potential
And on the depth of sorrow, which is exponential
It’s been a long time coming
But not long enough for me
It’s been a long time coming
It’s time to be set free
Bring me down to the dungeons, chain me to the wall
The chains will rust until they break but you can’t break my resolve
Bring me to the gallows, take your time to tie the rope
But when the trap door opens, it’ll be the rope that broke
It’s been a long time coming
But not long enough for me
It’s been a long time coming
It’s time to be set free
It’s been a long time coming
But not long enough for me
It’s been a long time coming
It’s time to be set free
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12. |
Teach Me Humility
03:10
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This story has taught me nothing I don’t already know
That lives pass by so quickly though time can seem so slow
And I could spend an eternity wandering, lost, no need to be found
And I can accept no less than certainty, I’m certainly nowhere bound
Now I’ve stared a dying man in the eyes
Felt his life drain as we said our goodbyes
Now I’ve seen life in all its fragility
Break into pieces to teach me humility
Now I know what it is having no feeling
Numb as the executioner, sharpened steel still gleaming
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13. |
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Sousa said: “Play for the dead
Blow your horn for the nation”
I say: “Put your gun away
Marching band’s your station”
I try and understand why
Soldiers have to go to war and die
Can’t we find the enemy
And hum a hymn or sing a lullaby?
War starts when the music stops
There’ll be peace when the beat drops, not bombs
And we’ll all get along
We should spit rhymes not hate
Why kill when you can educate? Not bombs
And we’ll all sing along
You laugh but lines on the staff
Are much better than lines in the sand
Borders, following orders
I know I’ll never understand
It’s not that I’ve forgot
Wagner and uniforms
It’s just that I can trust
Lennon and new societal norms
War starts when the music stops
There’ll be peace when the beat drops, not bombs
And we’ll all get along
We should spit rhymes not hate
Why kill when you can educate? Not bombs
And we’ll all sing along
Forty-five caliber vinyl live
Off the wax or out the barrel?
Nice sound or six feet underground
Holy war or Christmas carol?
I stand to salute the band
Live music or live ammunition?
Just dance, get into a trance
Sing’em into submission
War starts when the music stops
There’ll be peace when the beat drops, not bombs
And we’ll all get along
We should spit rhymes not hate
Why kill when you can educate? Not bombs
And we’ll all sing along
And I’ve suspended reality just for this song
Pretended we could all get along
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Lucas Choi Zimbel Montreal, Québec
Lucas Choi Zimbel can croon on for hours with a smile on his face and a skip in his step about how we are all going to hell in a handbasket. You’ll be smiling and dancing too, until you realize that you are celebrating death and taxes. You may then need to procure yourself another stiff drink and hey, why not one for the fellah on stage? He’ll take a double. ... more
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