Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Blacktop pavement cover me
Like a chemical reaction or a steamroller spreading randomly
There's a distant buzz and low frequency
It tickles my ear, rumbles under my feet
And it shakes the leaves off of every tree
Violently
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Institution on the hill
Like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor to unite a peoples' will
There's a shadowed stain on the west facade
It has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
And the descendants find it oh so odd
Oh so odd
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Grave memorial, hewn white stone
Like the comforting caress of a mother or a friend you've always known
It evokes such pain and significance
What was once is reduced to remembrance
And the generations pass without recompense
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Like a chemical reaction or a steamroller spreading randomly
There's a distant buzz and low frequency
It tickles my ear, rumbles under my feet
And it shakes the leaves off of every tree
Violently
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Institution on the hill
Like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor to unite a peoples' will
There's a shadowed stain on the west facade
It has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
And the descendants find it oh so odd
Oh so odd
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Grave memorial, hewn white stone
Like the comforting caress of a mother or a friend you've always known
It evokes such pain and significance
What was once is reduced to remembrance
And the generations pass without recompense
What pretension, everlasting peace
Everything must cease
Lyrics submitted by punkpirate
Cease Lyrics as written by Greg Graffin
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I believe the song is about degradation of the earth that supports our life. It's a closed system similar to a bacteria colony living in a Petrie dish that has exponential growth and will ultimately die. There's problems almost unfixable that momentum has some how brought us to a time of irrational thinking and "monkey" behavior. I want this, I make money, I don't care what happens via progeny. It's fucking crazy how accurate this song is to reality. It's a true tragic tale similar to silent spring. Rachel had it right and so does Greg. It's been an honor being able to give my thoughts on my favorite artists music because the Internet. Im 21 and somehow this guy has all the answers to life depicted in a song for me to unravel. He's an amazing individual that i draw a lot of inspiration from.