So, you've been to school
For a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car
Thinking you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl

Playing ethnicky jazz
To parade your snazz
On your five-grand stereo
Braggin' that you know
How the niggers feel cold
And the slum's got so much soul

It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
Brace yourself, my dear

It's a holiday in Cambodia
It's tough, kid, but it's life
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Don't forget to pack a wife

You're a star-belly snitch
You suck like a leech
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch
So you can get rich
While your boss gets richer off you

Well, you'll work harder
With a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers
Till you starve
Then your head is skewered on a stake

Now you can go where the people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need, my son...
What you need, my son...

Is a holiday in Cambodia
Where people are dressed in black
A holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll kiss ass or crack

Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot

It's a holiday in Cambodia
Where you'll do what you're told
It's a holiday in Cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul
Pol Pot


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Holiday in Cambodia Lyrics as written by Jello Biafra Bruce Slesinger

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Holiday in Cambodia song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    I think there's something a lot of you are missing.

    The consensus is this song is talking about people who think they know what the worst part of the world is really like and how to fix it, but really their clueless. And there's an implied "not like me, I'm clued in." there.

    You're not.

    Okay, there's a small chance you really know what it is to suffer like in a Cambodian labour camp, but since you seem to have internet access and still be alive, the odds are poor.

    The mistake here isn't not knowing what it's like in the third world. The mistake is thinking you know.

    As for those of you who think this is about how your damned rich, white oppressors wouldn't survive in a place like the Cambodia of the 70s... You'd hardly fare any better.

    You can't be hard enough to survive something like that. Something like that can break your body as surely as a bullet and there`s about as much you can do about it.

    Disease and starvation kill people. It doesnt matter if you think your a badass because you live in a dirty apartment and your neighbor got shot. It doesnt give you any special kind of protection.

    Surviving or dying in a situation like that isn`t even something you can predict. It's like the shipwreck stories where some skinny lil bugger hangs onto a piece of debris all night until someone rescues him while the big, tough guy beside him froze and slipped into the water after only half an hour.

    A soft-bodied early twenties college student who's never gone more than twelve hours without eating in their life might survive while someone who's had plenty of bones broken in fights, struggled with drug addiction, and been in and out of jail might die.

    And if you think someone needs to be sent to one of those camps just because you find their racial/economic/educational/whatever group distasteful... If you really think that... then you're the fucking monster. You're the person idealists enlist in armies to fight, and you're the monster pulling the strings to create a war for them in the first place.

    Tamaranison November 23, 2007   Link

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