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marskelletor has it - this song is about the afterlife.

There's a place where everyone can be happy. It's the most beautiful place in the whole fucking world. It's made of candy canes and planes and bright red choo-choo trains, And the meanest little boys and the most innocent little girls, -idealises heaven as a perfection of this world, a playground for happy children

And you know I wish that I could got there. It's a road that I have not found. -greg wishes he could also believe this comforting fairytale

And I wish you the best of luck, dear. Drop a card or letter to my side of town. -you're free to pursue that fairytale but don't stop being my friend cause i don't follow you to those dreams, to the (religious) side of town

Because there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend, But baby I'm amazed at the hate that you can send and

• humanity shouldn't be fighting each other, we got bigger problems coming up fast, he's amazed that religion can hate so many with such fervour when they are supposed to be good for you. with tales of the heaven awaiting you, how did they get you to hate all the non-believers?

But baby I'm amazed at the hate that you can send and ... painted my entire world. But I... don't have the turpentine to clean what you have soiled.

• simple enough. religion/christianity has painted the entire world, redecorated it so it looks like what their religion tells them it should, and bad religion/the athiests/nonbelievers aren't strong enough to wipe that off and show people how it really is

There's a place where everyone can be right, Even though you remain determined to be opposed.

• that place is, of course, death, and religions are determined to be opposed to anyone who says that death is the end

Admittance requires no qualifications: It's where everyone has been and where everybody goes.

• it doesn't take prayers or blessings or a good life free of sin for someone to die. death is the same as pre-birth.

So please try not to be impatient, For we all hate standing in line.

• don't rush to your death like life is some sort of waiting line for entrance to heaven

And when the farm is good and bought, you'll be there without a thought,

• when you die you'll go to this place, and you'll have no thoughts, no consciousness.

And eternity, my friend, is a long fucking time.

• and you'll be that way (ie non-existent) for ever, stressing the length of eternity a word often bandied around

And I won't forget it

• he's not gonna just give it up anytime soon

To me this song has dual meaning depending on the way you interpret the lyrics.

Firstly I see this as a song about heaven. The first verse at first talks about the kind of cliched visions of heaven we have, it being a perfect place with "candy canes and planes and bright red choo choo trains", this line suggests its a nice place. Then in the 2nd part of the verse it talks about how he doesn't share this vision. The 2nd verse talk about how everyone seems to be in such a rush to try and get there "please try not to be impatient" and ends with the line that always haunts me "eternity my friend is a long fucking time" which to me means that, well try and imagine how long eternity is...you wouldn't want to spend an eternity anywhere, obviously not in hell but would you even want to spend it in heaven? I'd rather be alive in a shitty world than alive in a boring heaven.

I also see the song as a kind of reverse love song, which im pretty sure Brett has also said in an interview somewhere. It can be interpreted this way if you think of the song talking about a relationship instead of heaven, and the chorus makes more sense this way aswell.

Im not sure but i think this song is about religious propaganda, or even just government propaganda, but whatever it is its about someone "painting" his world with bullshit, and now its gonnna take a whole lotta work to get rid of it.

Also, Bad Religion quotes The Beatles' song "We Can Work It Out" (The Beatles' lyric: "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend. I have always thought that its a crime, so I will ask you once again")

this song is insane! i think its about all the lies the government tells you to get your money. the more lies, the harder it is to keep straight = painted my entire world, but i don't have the turpentine to clean what you have soiled.

YES I'M A CONSPIRACY THEORIST

it seems a lot simpler to me. seems like he's just amazed at how much hate a person can send when they're only going to die in the end.

They DO write about girls, just not frequently.

Anesthesia? 1000 Memories?

"You were the one, you were my everything", however, is not your typical relationship song lyrics. Writing songs about girls is not inherently evil, in and of itself...its boy bands and Avril Lavene that make it that way. Bad Religion sings about meaningful relationships...not skater boys or thong-thong-thong-thong-thongs.

Athiest does not mean loveless.

I think this song is mocking the feelings in this country that we and our society are perfect. I think Greg adresses this in the very first few lines of the song wherein hes basically saying that the rich veiw the society as perfect and he compares it to a childlike dreamland. The part where hes talking about mean boys and innocent girls i think he is mocking the gender roles in our society that boys are supposed to mischevous and violent but girls are meant to be proper and innocent. The part after that when hes talking about a letter i think hes saying that your world may be ideal but mine is not ("my side of town"). Then I think hes saying that the people whos lives are perfect (the rich and powerful) seem to be the ones who are full of hate and go out of the way to make others suffer. Basically thats what I think this song is about but like most Bad Religion songs this is very complex and I could be (and probably am) wrong.

I've loved Bad Religion since high school, but no matter what, i think of playing Tony Hawk in college and destroying everyone on my floor on the Philly level, haha. Great song, made even greater by the game. Hell when I saw BR 2 years ago they even said "Here's the Tony Hawk song!"

DazedZorro, your right Athiest doesnt mea loveless... soulless maybe (just kidding, i may one day become an athiest)

Seriously though I dont think this is a very thoughtful BR song, may just be beyond my mental capacity but based on the rest of your interpretations i dont think thats the case. It is however a decent song for BR which would be a great song by any other band