In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
And there's a sucker born every few seconds suppling an empty bottle
Capital at full throttle pushing us through pot holes
It asks nothing, it takes everything
With the sword in your stomach it asks "are you hungry"?
Is the water free of pesticides and Prozac?
Do you want to dance under the watch towers of the RNC, or will you skim the papers
And forget those who were tortured
In front of a TV, watching fascism in its final throes
Their pasty fingers strangle the planet to feed a dragon
I know how it feels to feel nothing
From drugs I've taken, years they've stolen
Half the world still on them
And I'm not out to make friends or even a difference
Times are changing back and all that's left is aesthetics
Make the words count call out the ground beneath your sneakers
Sneak through the borders without a visa
Bury your money in secret don't loose sleep if you're helpless
I'm not pissing in the wind
I'm pissing in the pond
Get out the pool
The chlorine stings my eyes
And the middlemen are little men whittlin' my prophets to a pittance
When they dinnerin' with other middlemen
Holding i-phones to the sky for the modest mouse of the future
And I can't afford to pay my taxes or get a taxi from the airport
So I admit I come of bitter
Cuz life has handed lemons, but I helped to grow those lemons
In hopes that I could show those lemmings
A million ways to starve to death in third world USA
When atlas shrugs we'll chop the trees and build our homes this way
I've been dying on my feet since the day I learned to walk
A trail of ash is in my wake and on that day I earned that chalk
Don't think to hard but don't act too quickly
Just cuz everybody's fuckin' me don't mean they out to get me
I gave kidneys, they handed kidney stones
That's how it goes simply
The thankless rule us their tanks encircle us
We beg for food or the kids will die in front of us
And you know he don't bless us
Although the grace of his rays will always blaze us
And I don't cool of in that pond, I loose sleep
Say music journalism is shallow, but thats too deep
You hold a mirror to a junkyard and call it an import
In todays economy man, we don't need imports
We need real talk y'all pick that low hanging fruit
And when the revolutions comes man I'll know who to shoot
Fuck a mash up when we crash up I'll know who to blast up
You know it's violence when the real record gets passed up
The world is dumb, don't you remember in 'Nam?
Intelligent songs every time you turned the radio on
Those days are gone, so I'm pissing in the wind for Tupac and Biggie, for Pete Seeger and Woody
And for the riot police, this urine's for you
And for the journalists who act like police, this is for you
And for the bands that sing like police, this is for you
Your band is a bland vision, but that ain't nothing new
Capital at full throttle pushing us through pot holes
It asks nothing, it takes everything
With the sword in your stomach it asks "are you hungry"?
Is the water free of pesticides and Prozac?
Do you want to dance under the watch towers of the RNC, or will you skim the papers
And forget those who were tortured
In front of a TV, watching fascism in its final throes
Their pasty fingers strangle the planet to feed a dragon
I know how it feels to feel nothing
From drugs I've taken, years they've stolen
Half the world still on them
And I'm not out to make friends or even a difference
Times are changing back and all that's left is aesthetics
Make the words count call out the ground beneath your sneakers
Sneak through the borders without a visa
Bury your money in secret don't loose sleep if you're helpless
I'm not pissing in the wind
I'm pissing in the pond
Get out the pool
The chlorine stings my eyes
And the middlemen are little men whittlin' my prophets to a pittance
When they dinnerin' with other middlemen
Holding i-phones to the sky for the modest mouse of the future
And I can't afford to pay my taxes or get a taxi from the airport
So I admit I come of bitter
Cuz life has handed lemons, but I helped to grow those lemons
In hopes that I could show those lemmings
A million ways to starve to death in third world USA
When atlas shrugs we'll chop the trees and build our homes this way
I've been dying on my feet since the day I learned to walk
A trail of ash is in my wake and on that day I earned that chalk
Don't think to hard but don't act too quickly
Just cuz everybody's fuckin' me don't mean they out to get me
I gave kidneys, they handed kidney stones
That's how it goes simply
The thankless rule us their tanks encircle us
We beg for food or the kids will die in front of us
And you know he don't bless us
Although the grace of his rays will always blaze us
And I don't cool of in that pond, I loose sleep
Say music journalism is shallow, but thats too deep
You hold a mirror to a junkyard and call it an import
In todays economy man, we don't need imports
We need real talk y'all pick that low hanging fruit
And when the revolutions comes man I'll know who to shoot
Fuck a mash up when we crash up I'll know who to blast up
You know it's violence when the real record gets passed up
The world is dumb, don't you remember in 'Nam?
Intelligent songs every time you turned the radio on
Those days are gone, so I'm pissing in the wind for Tupac and Biggie, for Pete Seeger and Woody
And for the riot police, this urine's for you
And for the journalists who act like police, this is for you
And for the bands that sing like police, this is for you
Your band is a bland vision, but that ain't nothing new
Lyrics submitted by Ru1ner
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