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.
Inflammable material, planted in my head
It's a suspect device that's left two thousand dead
Their solutions are our problems
They put up the wall
On each side, time and prime us
Make sure we get fuck all
They play their games of power
They cut and mark the pack
They deal us to the bottom
But what do they put back?
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
They take away our freedom
In the name of liberty
Why can't they all just clear off
Why can't they let us be
They make us feel indebted
For saving us from hell
And then they put us through it
It's time the bastards fell
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
I tell ya, question everything you're told
Just take a look around you
At the bitterness and spite
Why can't we take over and try to put it right?
Please don't believe us
Don't believe us
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
We're a suspect device if we do what we're told
But a suspect device can score an own goal
I'm a suspect device the Army can't defuse
You're a suspect device they know they can't refuse
We're gonna blow up in their face!
It's a suspect device that's left two thousand dead
Their solutions are our problems
They put up the wall
On each side, time and prime us
Make sure we get fuck all
They play their games of power
They cut and mark the pack
They deal us to the bottom
But what do they put back?
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
They take away our freedom
In the name of liberty
Why can't they all just clear off
Why can't they let us be
They make us feel indebted
For saving us from hell
And then they put us through it
It's time the bastards fell
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
I tell ya, question everything you're told
Just take a look around you
At the bitterness and spite
Why can't we take over and try to put it right?
Please don't believe us
Don't believe us
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
We're a suspect device if we do what we're told
But a suspect device can score an own goal
I'm a suspect device the Army can't defuse
You're a suspect device they know they can't refuse
We're gonna blow up in their face!
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Suspect Device Lyrics as written by Gordon Archer Ogilvie Jake Burns
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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well, since slf came about in northern ireland in the late 1970's, so this song is probably about the violent conflict between nationalist (mostly catholic) and union factions (mostly protestant).
"They put up the wall"
referring to the peace lines, a series of walls separating catholic and protestant neighborhoods in several cities in northern ireland.
"They take away our freedom In the name of liberty Why don't they all just clear off Why won't they let us be They make us feel indebted For saving us from hell And then they put us through it It's time the bastards fell"
I'm not sure which side they're taking, nationalist or unionist. it could go either way or even neither way.
Neither way. They object to the system and the endless fighting and the authority and the self proclaimed heroes who do nothing for the people they claim to be fighting for. Wasted Life goes into more detail.
Stiff Little Fingers pretty much thought paramilitary organisations on both sides, the Army and the RUC were all as bad as each other.
@russrebellion SLF resolutely took neither side in the Troubles - they were neither Unionist nor Republican. Their stance was that the whole thing was a stupid meaningless fight that ruined the lives of a generation of Northern Irish people.