Bad Religion – Don't Pray on Me

"Don't Pray on Me" as written by and Brett Gurewitz....
A grizzly scene on my electron beam
Told a story about human rights
So all of Kings horses and all of Kings men
Had a riot for two days and nights
Well, the city exploded but the gates wouldn't open
So the company asked him to quit
Now everybody's equal
Just don't measure it

Well Hanson did it hester
And Mark David did it to John
And maybe Jack dit it to Marilyn
But he did it to South Vietnam
For beauty and glory
For money, love and country
Now everybody's doing it,
Don't do that to me

A bitter debate and a feminine fate
Fly in tandem like two precious babes
While the former gets warmer it's the latter that matters
Except on the nation's airwaves
And custodians of public opinion stay back after vainly discussing her rights
Lay hands off her body
It's not your fucking life

Now I don't know what stopped Jesus Christ
From turning every hungry stone into bread
And I don't remember hearing how Moses reacted
When the innocent first born sons lay dead
Well I guess God was a lot more demonstrative
Back when he Flamboyantly parted the sea
Now everybody's praying
Don't prey on me


Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by Mellow_Harsher, hep, Adoniran

"Don't Pray On Me" as written by Brett Gurewitz

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, MOTHERSHIP MUSIC PUBLISHING

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Don't Pray on Me song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • +2
    General CommentI think hes trying to say, Everyone over the years have prayed to god as an excuse for their own mistakes, but what Bad Religion is trying to say is not to turn them into ssome stupid excuse for something that happens to then or someone they know. THIS SONG FUCKIN RULES
    ThE GlOWiNg?on September 01, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Commentthe lyrics are missing a part
    soul_doubton September 01, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI love it too, the last verse especially, but can someone explain to me why, even in the CD booklet, the second verse isn't listed? Greg sings so fast, ennunciates (sp?) so poorly, and uses such a vocabulary that I can never quite tell exactly what he says. Help me out on this, please, because this is what I hear:
    A bitter debate
    and a feminine fate
    lie entangled like
    two precious babes
    While the former gets warmer
    It's the latter that matters
    Except on the nation's airwaves
    Custodians of public opinion (???)
    aqrwhvbcvbzvcx discussing her rights
    Lay hands off her body
    It's not your fuckin' right (life?)
    loserdorkon June 17, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti'm a christian and i love bad religion, and this song. It's pretty damn witty, and the folk kinda style of the song is fun too. The bible for the most part is a bunch of padding and garbage, but BR hits the Jesus part wrong. His purpose wasn't to cure hunger, or save the world "literally". But hey, the rest of the song works.
    ShesMyAlcatrazon June 26, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General CommentJesus' purpose is irrelevant. If you could make an unlimited amount of food, it'd probably be nice if you did.

    This is one of my favorite Bad Religion songs.
    Securitron5kon June 19, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentA bitter debate
    and a feminine fate
    lie entangled like
    two precious babes
    While the former gets warmer
    It's the latter that matters
    Except on the nation's airwaves
    And custodians of public opinion state fact
    After vaguly discussing her rights
    Lay hands off her body
    It's not your fuckin' life!

    That's the lyrics to the second verse. I think the meaning of this song is pretty self-evident.
    DA-Spongeon November 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentActually, it's probably "lie in tandem" not entangled.
    DA-Spongeon November 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThx for printing out the missing bits of the lyrics. I couldn't find them anywhere else on the web. You guys ROCK! As for the lyrics: They are pretty clever, at leas so far as I get them. The first stanza probably refers to songmeanings.net/…; at least that's how I understod it. What puzzles me though are the allusions to Hanson, Hester, Mark David, John, Marilyn. Are all of them actual people, if so who is meant (full names &/or short bio, plz!) and what is the link between them (i.e. what did they do)?
    Lepra Messiason March 25, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think the implication is that each of those people f*&ked the other one... Hanson and Hester are fictional characters from the scarlet letter, mark david is the guy that killed john lennon, jack kennedy maybe killed and definately screwed marilyn monroe and he screwed south vietnam - i'll let you google the specifics as i'm sure you're quite capable :) - oh and i agree, this song is the bomb
    whelkinon March 27, 2005   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General CommentI believe that the allusions you guys are talking about are examples of people "preying" on others. Of course, this song is based around the homophones "prey" and "pray" so clearly "did it" is a euphemism of "preyed on". It's interesting that two of the examples are specifically violent whereas the other two are sexual. It's a bit of a stretch, but Graffin is collectively addressing US foreign policy, murder, and the oppression of women.
    Alannon December 18, 2005   Link

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