So you've been to school for a year or two
You think you know it all
In daddy's car, thinkin` you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl

Play ethnicity jazz
To parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Bragging that you know

How the brothers feel cold
And the slum's got so much soul
It's time to taste what you most fear,
Your piss and shit won't save you here

Brace yourself, my dear.....
Brace yourself, my dear.....
It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough kid but it's life

Holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife
You're a star-belly sneech,
You suck like a leech

You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch
So you can get rich
But your boss gets richer off you

You'll work harder,
With a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers 'til you starve

Then you head's skewered on a stake
Now you can go,where people are one
Now you can go,where they get things done

Brace yourself, my dear.....
Brace yourself, my dear.....

It's a holiday in Cambodia
Where people dress in black
Holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll conform or crack

Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot..........
Holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what your told
Holiday in Cambodia
Where the slum's got so much soul


Lyrics submitted by xEarthx

Holiday in Cambodia Lyrics as written by Jello Biafra Bruce Slesinger

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Holiday In Cambodia song meanings
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3 Comments

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    General Comment

    This version of Holiday In Cambodia is way better than dead kennedy's version of this song.....Awesome song....You should hear it

    xEarthxon June 09, 2002   Link

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