In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I am a common man, I use common words
This is no manifesto, this is no propaganda
95% of the world is third world
Take a look around, you might not like what you see
Yeah we're all comfortably living in a privileged society
Open up your mind and think outside of the box
Yeah, it's just a case of ignorance and benevolence
America's a privileged society. When it comes to other countries, we don't see the cultural beauty... we see famine, death, disease, poverty and war
which almost always involves US military. That is what most US citizens know about other countries,
is what they see on CNN and other television programming.
And yet here in our own country, unemployment is at an all-time high,
and thousands of businesses have gone bankrupt. Just look around, how many buildings do you see empty and policed? And here in America, disease, poverty and famine DO exist and it's not just in our ghettos anymore. It's now become a struggle for the middle-class to survive. Maybe if the poor in America had something for corporations and our government to profit off of, like oil, maybe then they would take an interest in problems here in America... or maybe they would just bomb us.
This is no manifesto, this is no propaganda
95% of the world is third world
Take a look around, you might not like what you see
Yeah we're all comfortably living in a privileged society
Open up your mind and think outside of the box
Yeah, it's just a case of ignorance and benevolence
America's a privileged society. When it comes to other countries, we don't see the cultural beauty... we see famine, death, disease, poverty and war
which almost always involves US military. That is what most US citizens know about other countries,
is what they see on CNN and other television programming.
And yet here in our own country, unemployment is at an all-time high,
and thousands of businesses have gone bankrupt. Just look around, how many buildings do you see empty and policed? And here in America, disease, poverty and famine DO exist and it's not just in our ghettos anymore. It's now become a struggle for the middle-class to survive. Maybe if the poor in America had something for corporations and our government to profit off of, like oil, maybe then they would take an interest in problems here in America... or maybe they would just bomb us.
Lyrics submitted by freehat17
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This song is supposed to be mocking America. America makes up roughly 5% of the world's population. So the Suicide Machines are saying that we view the rest of the world as inferior. It's no stretch at all to see that, implicitly, it's condemning the current administration.
But I think it really mocks those who mindlessly join the bandwagon of condemning the current administration. Of course it's absurd to say that 95% of the world really is third world. But this group loves to repeat statistics to each other. With no fact-checking, this quickly becomes a nation-wide (and even world-wide) game of "telephone." Funny how some "facts" get spread around that have no basis in reality. At least the WMD search was based on the best info available at the time. And when the real facts are presented, those who touted the false facts make up excuses (ala Dan Rather), just as they accuse the current administration of doing.
"When it comes to other countries, we don't see the cultural beauty" This is a hopeful line. It makes you realize that even though some people only make enough to get a meal or two a day their lives can still be happy an beautiful.