This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Skin dance back-a-the condo
Skin heads getting to school
Beating on blacks with a baseball bat
Racism back in rule
White trash picking up Nazi flags
While you was gone, there was war
This is the west, get used to it
They put a Swastika over the door
Under the God, under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God, under the God
Ten steps into the crazy, crazy
Washington heads in the toilet bowl
Don't see supremacist hate
Right wing dicks in their boiler suits
Picking out who to annihilate
Toxic jungle of Uzi trails
Tribesmen just wouldn't live here
Fascist flare is fashion cool
Well, you're dead, you just ain't buried yet
Under the God, under the God
Under the God, under the God
As the walls came tumbling down
So, the secrets that we shared
I believed you by the palace gates
Now the savage days are here
Under the God
Under the God, under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God, under the God
One steps into the crazy, crazy
Crazy eyed man with a shot gun
Hot headed creep with a knife
Love and peace and harmony
Love you could cut with a knife
Under the God, under the God
Under the God, under the God
Skin heads getting to school
Beating on blacks with a baseball bat
Racism back in rule
White trash picking up Nazi flags
While you was gone, there was war
This is the west, get used to it
They put a Swastika over the door
Under the God, under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God, under the God
Ten steps into the crazy, crazy
Washington heads in the toilet bowl
Don't see supremacist hate
Right wing dicks in their boiler suits
Picking out who to annihilate
Toxic jungle of Uzi trails
Tribesmen just wouldn't live here
Fascist flare is fashion cool
Well, you're dead, you just ain't buried yet
Under the God, under the God
Under the God, under the God
As the walls came tumbling down
So, the secrets that we shared
I believed you by the palace gates
Now the savage days are here
Under the God
Under the God, under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God, under the God
One steps into the crazy, crazy
Crazy eyed man with a shot gun
Hot headed creep with a knife
Love and peace and harmony
Love you could cut with a knife
Under the God, under the God
Under the God, under the God
Lyrics submitted by jezebelle1982
Under the God Lyrics as written by David Bowie
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Technically, this is a Tin Machine song, but since Bowie was part of that band and this is included on his Greatest hits album, I guess it counts. (Snort) This is probabily Bowie's most political song, I think.
A song about the impossibility of life in the modern age of rampant christian and muslim fundamentaslism. It's not a matter of "whether" they will destroy our planet with nuclear war in the name of 2,000 year old superstitions... just "when" it will happen. Anybody who has children must now consider the probable possibility that their children will not live a full life because of these nutjob a-holes, like Pat Robertson or the authors of the Left Behind books. There WILL be nuclear war... not because it's prophecized (as these idiots would have you believe in their fear-mongering books) but because people believe these books and pastors and will think dropping bombs and torturing "heretics" is fulfilling the prophecy and serving their "god". It's truly tragic.
Wish the OP would have put things into proper spacing rather than "wall of text" that is so common among the 14 year old denizens of teh interbutts.