Am I In Sync?

Steve Taylor

(Steve: I don't know Woody.
Are you sure you've got this think hooked up right?
Woody: Listen man, music is my life.
Steve: Alright. Two, three, four
Hey! What are you doing? What's goin' on?
Woody: Sorry.)
Synthesizer rock ruled Jessica's feet
As a slave to that ubiquitous beat
Visions of the big screen danced in her head
'In a matter of time' she said
Jessie never got her Hollywood role
And the pogo nights have taken there toll
She can do the monkey off o' the cuff
But her mind had a missing link
Am I in sync?
Paint a picture on a subway train
Carve my name in a video game
Am I in sync?
Out looking for the camera crews
Sell my soul for a second on the evening news
Am I in sync?
Live 'til the bubble pops
Hold my breath when the big one drops
Am I in sync?
Immortality is what I'm buying
But I'd rather be immortal by not dying
Laboratory rats made Roger a fink
And the laws of science drove him to drink
Working for the taste of public acclaim
And a cure that bore his name
Nobel prizes would have been nice
But he lost his mind to renegade mice
Roger traded dreams of 'Man of the Year'
For an understanding shrink
Am I in sync?
Paint a picture on a subway train
Carve my name in a video game
Am I in sync?
Out looking for the camera crews
Sell my soul for a second on the evening news
Am I in sync?
Live 'til the bubble pops
Hold my breath when the big one drops
Am I in sync?
Immortality is what I'm buying
But I'd rather be immortal by not dying
(Steve: Alright. Let's try it again.
Woody, what are you doin'?
You told me you knew how to use this thing.
Woody: Sorry.)
(Steve: Alright. Get it right this time. Three, four.
Yeah now that wasn't so hard was it?
Woody, what's goin' on?
Woody: Sorry.
It's this machine.
You can fix it in the mix.
Listen, I kinda like it.
Have you ever heard of, uh, poly-rhythms?
I hear Bowie's gonna do this on his next album.
Steve: What a relief.)


Lyrics submitted by Cherub Rock

Am I in Sync? Lyrics as written by Steve Taylor

Lyrics © CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP, Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing

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Am I In Sync? song meanings
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2 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment
    This guy is to be respected for the shit he got away with under the guise of "christian rock". His lyrics carry more weight today then they did in the early 80's. Was he a "tongue-in-cheek" prophet? No, he's just a guy who read his Bible.
    dwatts13on March 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning
    In a nutshell, the song is about screwed up priorities. More specifically, it's about how people are at their most pathetic when they're working to make themselves immortal. The key to this one is the Woody Allen paraphrase at the end of the chorus: "I'd rather be immortal by not dying." The preceding parts of the chorus are about foolishly trying to achieve that mortality through things that won't last. "Paint a picture on a subway train" evokes the image of artwork that will speed by so quickly that nobody will see it, and that will be cleaned off in short order. "Carve my name in a video game" is more interesting; this was the Atari era, when most game creators weren't even credited and the games themselves were simple little pong clones. "Live 'til the bubble pops" isn't just eerily predictive - the late 80s suffered an economic downturn much like the current one (although quite a bit shorter.) "Hold my breath when the big one drops" is a dated reference; it refers to the Cold War fear that, at any moment, the world could be annihilated in surprise nuclear attacks. The verses are the more interesting part, in my opinion. The first tells of a dancer who dreams of becoming a Hollywood star. She never gets her big break, and since she devoted her whole life to dancing and never worked to better herself in other ways she finds herself worse off. The second verse is about a scientist working to cure a disease, not to help the sick but to make himself famous. Unfortunately, he isn't good or lucky enough to achieve his dream, and the failure literally drives him mad. Please, Steve Taylor. I'm begging you. There's so much more for you to say, and nobody else to say it. Please record another album.
    Shrikesneston May 24, 2012   Link

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