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Stick The Fucking Flag Up Your Goddamn Ass, You Sonofabitch Lyrics
My father told me "Son it's futile to resist. You can topple the ideology but not the armies they enlist." I questioned the intentions of the boy scouts chanting "WAR!" "Well, that's the sound of freedom, son", he said (free to say no more). But wait a minute "dad", did you actually say freedom? Well, if you're dumb enough to vote, you're fucking dumb enough to believe them. Because if this country is so goddamned free, then I can burn your fucking flag wherever I damn well please. I carried their anthem convinced it was mine. Rhymeless, unreasoned conjecture kept me in line. But then I stood back and wondered what the fuck they had done to me. Made accomplice to all that I promised I would never be. You carry their anthem, convinced that it's yours. Invitation to honour. Invitation to war. Bette Midler now assumes sainthood. Romanticize murder for morale. Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree my friend and "Gee, Wally. That's swell!" Fuck the troops (Insert corny but relevant/ poignant catch phrase here).
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this song is about freedom, the military and politics.
the politicans preech but often this is just sweet talk/rethoric for votes and once there in power they do as they wish.
similar to this there is a culture amongst concervatives such as chris hannahs dad who talk of freedom when infact thier actions are directcly against it (i.e. cannot burn the flag even though their "pro-freedom" , they do not have the freedom to oppose only to obey, which is not true freedom.
Allow me to intersect for a moment, if I may, this entire song is about his failing faith in his government. He's brought up by his father to love and abide by the country and do what they tell you to do. If the country is so fucking free, then he should have the freedom to make the right or wrong choices, without feeling obligated to live by the systems' sanctions and disobedience.
Dissection: "My father told me son it's futile to resist, you can topple ideology, but no the army's they enlist. I questioned the intentions of the boy scouts chanting 'war!', that's the sound of freedom, son, he said, free to say no more" -
This ENTIRE opening line is his father telling him that, sure, you have the right and duty to question and sterilize your government, but there is no way in hell that you can topple over the military and the mighty brute-force that has been established by large and resistant government. The United States is the definite pun here. With the boyscouts he's merely attempting to explain that at a young age, we are brainwashing CHILDREN that the need for war brings about 'happy' changes; bullshit. This is similar to the Nazi movement in Germany, and definetely is brought up on their later album Potemkin City Limits, song "Die Jugend Marschiert", or the chant for the German children, meaning "Youth on the March".
The line "I can burn your fucking flag wherever I damn well please" is simply there to infuriate anyone, but as a badass 'stick it to you' to gain attention to the severity of what is being expressed. You have the right to burn the flag, but why are you ridiculed for doing so? Sure, we've been brought up to believe that it's wrong, but dammit, if the country is so free, then things that are no detrimentle to the survival of our citizen's should NOT be sawed-off and destroyed. Burning the flag is an insult, but you have the freedom to do it.
Fuck the troops to hell - This line created a lot of controversey, because some state that it's not the troops fault they are doing what they are doing. Some of them just have nowhere else to go when the system lets them down, middle-class and lower-class are often enlisting in the military to provide themselves with a better life, for a system that hates them. Well, it's the fact that acts of war commit 'murder', and Chris feels that a person killing another person is a murderer, that's why he says "tie a yellow ribbon 'round the oak tree my friend". Why should you tie a yellow ribbon around a tree for someone who murdered thousands of people before he, himself, was destroyed? That's their question, and I'm not touching it.
Anyways, GREAT SONG! LOVE PROPAGANDHI!
this song i so awesome
hehe oops, i meant this song is so awesome.
"Because if this country is so goddamned free, then I can burn your fucking flag wherever I damn well please" that is a wicked line.
Very nice
i'm so fucking in love with propagandhi this song is the best to rock out too... everything they say in it is so true
as an American I first thought these lrycis were anti-American, and I was like...but in America it is legal to burn the flag(but you wouldnt expect it.)
but than I remembered they're canadian, I hate how I never know which country Propaghandi is talking about.
this song is about freedom, the military and politics.
the politicans preech but often this is just sweet talk/rethoric for votes and once there in power they do as they wish.
similar to this there is a culture amongst concervatives such as chris hannahs dad who talk of freedom when infact thier actions are directcly against it (i.e. cannot burn the flag even though their "pro-freedom" , they do not have the freedom to oppose only to obey, which is not true freedom.
For some reason I like to think that he got grounded by his dad because of this song.
Don't get me wrong I love this band and this song. It's just a funny thought.