This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Early '95, well, we got the dough so we could diversify.
Had a lot of money up in bioweapons, which has low liquidity.
Sold a lot of kruggerands and rubles
To a bunch of really weird Swiss guys
And we were rocking.
Took a little while, but we finally got to get our groove on.
We were running weapons to a Cuban in Miami
That just kind of flaked on us
Then there was that time I called John Gotti up
And asked him if his fridge was running.
He can laugh about it now!
We can laugh about it now!
Finally broke it open with the telecom and real estate in Asia.
With a little luck, we nailed fur markets in South America.
Took a little longer with tin and amethyst in Zimbabwe.
A real old boys' network
Got nine satellites in orbit that helped coordination.
Opened up affiliates in Nagasaki, Venice, and Antananarivo.
Joe got caught on board a boat with seven tons of opium.
In a Singapore harbour - color us embarassed!
In the year 2000, the Plan is looking aces.
Got that crib in the Alps and Jason did buy that helicopter.
Gave a quarter mil to The Soundman Phil so he could run for Senate.
He lost in the primary,
But we still love him.
Got a little tip about a ginger ale company from Canada.
Getting run into the ground by a trust fund kid
That thought we could write songs.
Had a couple parties on his yacht and Eric kinda borrowed his girlfriend.
It's gonna be a very good year.
A very, very good year.
Had a lot of money up in bioweapons, which has low liquidity.
Sold a lot of kruggerands and rubles
To a bunch of really weird Swiss guys
And we were rocking.
Took a little while, but we finally got to get our groove on.
We were running weapons to a Cuban in Miami
That just kind of flaked on us
Then there was that time I called John Gotti up
And asked him if his fridge was running.
He can laugh about it now!
We can laugh about it now!
Finally broke it open with the telecom and real estate in Asia.
With a little luck, we nailed fur markets in South America.
Took a little longer with tin and amethyst in Zimbabwe.
A real old boys' network
Got nine satellites in orbit that helped coordination.
Opened up affiliates in Nagasaki, Venice, and Antananarivo.
Joe got caught on board a boat with seven tons of opium.
In a Singapore harbour - color us embarassed!
In the year 2000, the Plan is looking aces.
Got that crib in the Alps and Jason did buy that helicopter.
Gave a quarter mil to The Soundman Phil so he could run for Senate.
He lost in the primary,
But we still love him.
Got a little tip about a ginger ale company from Canada.
Getting run into the ground by a trust fund kid
That thought we could write songs.
Had a couple parties on his yacht and Eric kinda borrowed his girlfriend.
It's gonna be a very good year.
A very, very good year.
Lyrics submitted by Renzoku
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THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN GETS RICH-AH!
This is the song that first introduced me to the Dismemberment Plan, although the only line I could understand was "Joe got caught on board a boat with seven tons of opium."
trying to sing this song makes me quite tired.
you can tell this song was written without an ounce of effort or seriousness (being filled with whistles, bells, phone rings) and still manages to be very melodic
this song is completely insane. i love it.
totally worth it for the 'joe got caught aboard a boat with seven tons of opium' line. dig that funk bass.
It's really great live. When they do the "Joe" part, Travis bobs his finger accross the room and the crowd mimics. It's great.
this song rocks.
The songs about how they were going to be signed to some major record label with some big bands (which slip my mind at the moment) but were dropped before they were even signed. The song basically says that they would have been rich.