|
1. CHRISTMAS IN FALLUJAH
It’s Christmas in Fallujah, to the victors go the spoils
We came to help the people, it’s not about the oil
I came here to Fallujah with presents in my sack
I bring the gift of freedom through unprovoked attack
That’s not the sound of reindeer up on your roof at night
We’re coming down your chimney with guns and blinding lights
I’ve gotta take your husband and I’d like to tell you why
But I can’t speak your language, I’m too overwhelmed to try
But Uncle Sam made a list, he’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get ’em right half the time that’s close enough
It’s Christmas in Fallujah, children snuggle in their beds
While the corpses of their parents dance around in their heads
Palaces and bridges, we burned them to the ground
‘Cause someone got a contract to rebuild the whole damned town
It’s Christmas in Fallujah, hear the bells begin to toll
I’m sorry about your mother, she’s somewhere down in the hole
We came here to Fallujah to win your hearts and minds
But when we bombed your building your family was inside
Don’t blame it on us soldiers, we’re only doing what we’re told
Never had a spoon of silver, now I’ve got a broken heart of gold
And I’m gonna have to live with all these nightmares that I’ve seen
Never taught to know the difference between Osama and Hussein
But Uncle Sam made a list, he’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get it right half the time that’s close enough
It’s Christmas in Fallujah, to the victors go the spoils
We came to help the people, it’s not about the oil2. M-16
I’ve got a nuclear submarine, I’m gonna ride it straight to Hell
I’ve got an M-16 that’s made by Mattel
Just a harmless little toy, to teach all us little boys
What it means to be a man, it’s all part of the master plan
They make the real ones too, paid for by me and you
I’ve got a horndog gene, I’ve stolen Pavlov’s bell
I’ve got an M-16 that’s made by Mattel
Me and my friends, we used to play army man
We liked to pretend we were fighting in Viet Nam
But we were only kids we didn’t realize the highly organized
Mechanism behind all the reasons why
We did the things we did
It’s called indoctrination, it happens all the time
We’ve gotta defend our nation so tell me where’s the crime
In sending the superfluous ones to get our dirty work done
With planes and bombs and guns?
Here, I’ll supply the ride
And what’s wrong with me making a shit load of money on the side?
You got a problem with that?
Ad hominem abusives might get past the angry throngs
You hurl your hail of hatred when their logic gets too strong
You’ve got investments to protect and the mob might break your neck
When they find out what you’ve done, they might crucify your only son
I’m constantly amazed at the evil done for greed
When you’re born without a conscience you can do just what you please
Cause guilt just holds us back and you have what we lack
It’s sad but no less true, at the center of the universe you know there’s only you
You own the tv stations and you own the airwaves too
Your reality is gonna be ours, there’s nothing we can do
From the day we left the womb, our job was to consume
And keep our big mouth shut
I’ve got a nuclear submarine, I’m gonna ride it straight to Hell
I’ve got an M-16 that’s made by Mattel
3. BETHLEHEM, PA
I thought I was a wise man, never did as I was told
An overbearing presence, stealing all her gold
Above my deep and dreamless sleep the blessed Mary lay
In the little town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA
With an open pack of camels sliding ’cross the dash
She never asked for anything, I gave her what she asked
No frankincense, no innocence, no love song serenade
In the little town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA
I didn’t have a reason to be so angst-ridden and blue
I didn’t have a direction and I didn’t have a clue
I played ‘Silent Night’ on a Marshall stack and got lost along the way
To the little town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA
The air was thick and heavy with the sultry scent of myrrh
In her second floor apartment there would be no virgin birth
So I rode across the desert, a falling star to light my way
From the little town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA
I didn’t have a reason to be so angst-ridden and blue
I didn’t have a direction and I didn’t have a clue
I played ‘Silent Night’ on a Marshall stack and got lost along the way
To the little town of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA4. INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ down the interstate highway
Goin’ goin’ goin’ almost anywhere
It isn’t the journey, it’s the destination
Right now I wanna be anywhere but here
Livin’ in the here and now and gettin’ nowhere
We’re programmed from day one that it’s a sin to go there
We’re told we need a grander house or a finer car
But the truth is that we don’t have time
To appreciate where we are
With the pedal to the floor and our eyes on the horizon
We trash the past, look forward to what comes next
Seems we never have the time for Sunday drivin’
When we live in a land of planned obsolescence
What do we expect?
Can’t remember any place I’ve ever been to
I’ve got a short term memory, it wasn’t meant to last
And yesterday’s headlines aren’t worth getting’ into
Livin’ on mini mart food and fossil fuel
Fillin’ up and burnin’ out fast
I’m gettin’ tired of this interstate highway
I’m gonna take the back roads for awhile
Forget the road signs, I’ll go my way
I wanna steeer clear of the miracle mile
Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ down the interstate highway
Goin’ goin’ goin’ almost anywhere
It isn’t the journey, it’s the destination
Right now I wanna be anywhere but here
5. STRANDED
Modern day Neanderthals living in a cave
If Frank Lloyd Wright could see this blight
He’d roll over in his grave
We’ve got cookie cutter cubicles scattered on the plain
There’s trouble on the corner of Lonely Street and Main
I’ve been stranded, stranded, that’s how I feel
I’ve been branded and handed a really raw deal
Now my home town America has lost it’s appeal
Since the vinyl-clad gavel has landed, I’ve been stranded
The invention of the motor car is partially to blame
For the extinction of the village and the disjointed tracts that came
No neighborly conversations over garden walls
Just catatonic customers shuffling through the malls
You can’t walk to anything, you always have to drive
That’s great if you’re GM or Exxon, it keeps them both alive
But we humans are the losers with all this open space
Got no sense of community, got no sense of place
I’ve been stranded, stranded, that’s how I feel
I’ve been branded and handed a really raw deal
Now my home town America has lost it’s appeal
Since the vinyl-clad gavel has landed, I’ve been stranded
6. BACK TO 1999
Living in your living room on a tattered dime store chair
The pungent smell of Kentucky bourbon perforates the air
And the thick, red velvet curtains, they keep out all the light
You don’t even know what week it is, or if it’s day or night
Once upon a time you had a family to love
And an upwardly mobile lifestyle that you were so proud of
Twenty long years in the factory, twenty years of punching the clock
You dumped it all into a portfolio of MCI and Enron stock
Surrounded by your souvenirs of failure and despair
You retreat inside of your own world like you don’t seem to care
You wish you had a time machine ‘cause that might change your life
You wanna go back to 1999
Though desperate and penniless you still had your work
Till the factory moved to Mexico and your luck got even worse
That’s when the drinking started, that’s when she said goodbye
And took your two boys with her, and something snapped inside
Now you’re sitting in the darkness with a blank stare on your face
Just imagining those strangers who brought you to this place
But they keep on getting richer and sleeping every night
On a bed made of your labor, it just does not seem right
Surrounded by your souvenirs of failure and despair
You retreat inside of your own world like you don’t seem to care
You wish you had a time machine ‘cause that might change your life
You wanna go back to 19997. CHRISTMAS TREE
You chose me above the rest, you drove me in your car
You took me home and you laid me down
And you crowned me with a star
You put me in a perfect place, surrounded me with light
You told me I was beautiful
And kept me warm on a winter’s night
And I feel like a Christmas tree, I feel like a Christmas tree
Christ, child, you don’t know what you’ve done to me
I feel like a Christmas tree
I finally felt peace on earth and good will to all men
You threw presents at my feet
And showed me off to your family and friends
You stared at me for hours and hours
With love light in your eyes
I felt just like a prince of peace in my garlanded disguise
And I feel like a Christmas tree, I feel like a Christmas tree
Christ, child, you don’t know what you’ve done to me
I feel like a Christmas tree
One gray day you stripped me bare
And you threw me out in the cold
No vestige of my dignity
Face down in the mud and the snow
Now I pine for you every night
Since you put a hole in my heart
You set me up and you cut me off
I was doomed from the very start
And I feel like a Christmas tree, I feel like a Christmas tree
Baby you don’t know what you’ve done to me
I feel like a Christmas tree 8. DECEIVED
When I was just a little boy
Santa Claus came and brought me some toys
At the age of seven I got wise
I asked “Mommy and Daddy, can reindeer really fly?’
They sat me down in my room
And said ‘promise not to tell the other kids at school’
My opened eyes were filled with tears
How could they lie to me all those years?
Now I know that I was deceived
How I wish that I could believe
It takes more than childhood stories to save me
Set me free
I thought I knew just who you were
Until that night I saw you with her
She had her hand upon your knee
You never laughed that way with me
So many years of living a lie
Your innate id too strong to deny
An existential hit-and-run
No way to repair the damage done
Disillusion and sadness are the very first steps
To ultimate truths that are anyone’s guess
The more we learn and change and grow
The more we realize we don’t know
It’s easy to believe in Santa Claus
Or to take the yellow brick road to see the Wizard of Oz
Pay no attention, don’t use your brain
Live in illusion, feel no pain
Now I know that I was deceived
How I wish that I could believe
It takes more than childhood stories to save me
Set me free
9. SOLDIER'S JOY (Instrumental Traditional)10. WHY?
There’s blood on the highway in front of a house
Metal name tags and a speeding black car
So full of wonder, he wanted to run
But this time he didn’t get far
When Maria came home she screamed and she ran
The second she stepped off the bus
And she cried to her father as her tears soaked the ground
Asked ‘Why would God take him from us?’
This is the question asked many a time
When our soldiers return from the war
Mothers’ hearts broken, no matter which side
Leaves us fumbling and wondering what for
We kneel on the grass as the preacher recites
The verse about ashes and dust
And we crumble together as our tears soak the ground
Ask why would God take him from us?
When we are children we’re taught how to pray
To keep us from fear and alarm
For the Lord to watch over us every day
To bless us and keep us from harm
But in a world without reason there's no guarantee of the promises made on the cross
We all know the answer, it’s the question that’s flawed
Why would God take him from us? 11. ARMAGEDDON FOR SALE
Genesis is playing a melancholy tune
The lamb lies down on Broadway but the lion lied to you
George had a revelation on a frosty Christmas morn
Arise ye sons of Satan, it’s time to be reborn
Armageddon for sale
Mr. Woodrow Wilson had himself a chore
To convince his pacifist people to support a bloody war
So he used some propaganda and it worked all too well
And young boys were recruited to serve their time in Hell
Manipulate the people, manipulate the facts
Use the farce of freedom to justify your acts
Send in all your weapons and your contractors too
That’s democracy in action, the joke is we’ll still vote for you
Where’d you get that money? Who’d you have to blow
Away to silence protest, a way to silence hope
Big profits in the short term and the market’s looking good
With terrorists responding in ways you knew they would
With the cold war chill abating in the collective mind
If you didn’t see this coming you must have been blind
‘Cause greed is still the valley where the river of money runs
Drowning us in sorrow from another smoking gun
Armageddon for sale
12. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (WOODY GUTHRIE)
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
From the sparkling sands of His diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me
The sun came shining and I was strolling
And the wheatfields waving and the dustclouds rolling
And the fog was lifting and a voice came chanting
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me(Hidden bonus track) PLASTIC ILLUMINATED SNOWMAN
I feel like a plastic illuminated snowman
Whose 40 watt bulb has just burned out
With no light to warm this empty shell of a man
My legs are gone and my head is bowed
My legs are gone and my head is bowed
I feel like a plastic illuminated snowman
I came to life right out of the mold
And now I’m out here all alone in this living Hell of a land
I’m growing brittle and growing old
Growing brittle, growing old
There was a time when I thought that I was crazy
I thought I should love the falling snow
But now I find I only look like what they made me
Can’t seem to be a jolly happy soul
I feel like a plastic illuminated snowman
Whose 40 watt bulb has just burned out
She lit a candle in our window, I’ll never understand
Little Boy was falling through the clouds
Little Boy was falling through the clouds
There was a time when I had a wife and baby
Where they disappeared to I don’t know
But I saw a blinding light, then it all got kind of hazy
In my dreams it doesn’t seem so long ago
And I feel like a plastic illuminated snowman
Whose 40 watt bulb has just burned out
I got a dose of gamma rays that day in Japan
And basked in the glow of American fallout
I basked in the glow of American fallout
I basked in the glow of American fallout (c)2005 American Fallout Records
|
