"Requiem For Dissent"



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"



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 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"



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"



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"



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"



If you're discontent to know you 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 AL 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"



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 scare 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 and 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"



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
Do 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 just how 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 read 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
That dream that hounds 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 just how 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"



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, re-program 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"



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"



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"



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

"The Devil In Stitches"

Angels fall down without warning
Cherry lipstick on their teeth and all dangerous curves.
She had a bulletproof mind and big pawn-shop eyes
And nothing you could say would get to her.

So don't look homeward angel from that rumble seat.
I can strum twice and make it all go away.
We'll tap every last drop until that beating stops
And let the Devil come join us dancing...

Across that yellow sun,
We'll run,
Because the Devil in stitches only has his fun
Performing for the chosen one.

We can run.

She was living on the edge of a knife.
His head was filled with restless ghosts.
It's so easy to love a bringer of destruction.
She said, "Darling, I love you madly."

Black tear-stained cheeks behind your shattered window,
Praying for a song to save her life.
I had a paperback crime running straight down my spine,
So let the Devil come join us dancing...

Across that yellow sun,
We'll run,
While the Devil in stitches goes and has his fun
Performing for the chosen one.

We can run wild in the street,
Like a formal procession of love and deceit.
I will carry you home like a body from the wreckage.
Here's your punch-drunk cupid, knocked clean out of his senses.

I know he drove her out to the brink.
That's where they stood and looked out.
But then he made a decision.
That's where they made a division.

Declaring war on the weather,
A reckless pact with forever.
So come on and sing,
Sing hallelujah right now.

"Won't Somebody"

Out in the cold like a bundle of coal
Little packets of darkness wanting to glow

Well there's nobody home and there's a wreck in the yard
Well maybe they're coming back
If we wish really hard
If we wish real hard now

Won't somebody please come up with something
'cuz Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working
And all of the rest are really down in the ratings
So everyone is gonna keep on waiting

Waiting for peace at the end of the street
Back behind our apartment and in passenger seats
Just a moment of bliss amid all of the waste
The despair and oblivion of our precarious race
It's ours to face now

Won't somebody please come up with something
'cuz Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working
And all of the rest are really down in the ratings
So everyone is gonna keep on waiting

Now I know nothing lasts forever
So we might as well wish for a goddam fix of this toxic changing weather

Now tell me won't somebody come up with something
'cuz Jesus just don't seem to be impartially working
And all of the others can barely stay in the running
But everyone is still right here waiting

Won't somebody please come up with something
Won't somebody please come up with something
Won't somebody please

"The Resist Stance"

Seeds of rebellion lay outside your front door
If you nourish them and water them they'll grow into a healthy "what for?"
And if revolution isn't what's in store, how can you care anymore?

It's a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift
In the spirit of resistance you gotta hold your grip
Lest the state of your resolve makes you quickly devolve to a fundamentalist

You're an archetype that they can pin to the wall
When you cling to your convictions like a farm animal in its stall
Never thinking of the bigger world outside, as they take you for a ride

It's a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift
In the spirit of resistance you gotta hold your grip
Because passion unabated can be readily conflated with belligerence

It's a dangerous slip and a conscientious shift
In the spirit of resistance you gotta hold your grip
And the verdict won't be kind, cuz they're desperate for a viable alternative.

Take a stance. The resist stance.
Take a stance. The resist stance.
Take a stance. The resist stance.
Take a stance. The resist stance!