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Repeater Lyrics

You say I need a job
I've got my own business
You wanna know what I do?
None of your fucking business
But now I'm lying here
And I'm knowing that business
I had a name, now I'm a number

1,2,3, repeater
Repeater
1,2,3, repeater
Repeater

Down by law
I've got this nasty habit
When I need something
I just reach out and grab it
Once upon a time, I had a name, I had a way
But to you
I'm nothing but a number

1,2,3, repeater
Repeater
1,2,3, repeater
Repeater

You hear something outside?
It sounds like a gun
Stay away from that window, boy
It's not anyone that we know
Only about ourselves and
What we read in the paper
Don't you know ink washes out
Easier than blood?
But we don't have to try it
And we don't have to buy it
So decide, decide, decide, decide

1,2,3, go
Repeater
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Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

yeh repeater +3 is still the best album even though its over 10 years old

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

one word: nice

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

Repeater and 13 Songs are both good all the way through . It is about not becoming part of the nameless and faceless society around us.

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

brilliant song, I can always find a mood to listen to it and not want to switch it off.

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

the prison system, how we treat repeat offenders..."now im a number" "i just reach out and grab it" "you saw i need a job"....etc...

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

opps typo....saw=say

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

I think this is about the crack war in DC. Repeater is a reference to a gun. Furthermore, "ink washes out easier than blood" is likely a stab at the press' exploitation of the situation.

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

I think it's more about gangs and gang violence and people who are in gangs are just statistics to the system. I think the last part is about how the media exploits gang violence for fear mongering purposes(Fox News would probably be the obvious example.)

Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

The title Repeater is a play on The Beatles' album Revolver. Instead of revolution we have repetition.

@Jack Pine @hinthint

Interesting thoughts on the title referring to the Beatles from Jack Pine and a gun from hinthint.

I always interpreted the song as about the prison system, as others have mentioned and assumed that "Repeater" was a reference to repeat offenders. And the "1,2,3" part either refers to the revolving door of a prison system with a a sky-high recidivism rate, or (2) the three-strikes laws that have been proven to be utter failures (and struck down by the Supreme Court last year for good measure).

My Interpretation
Cover art for Repeater lyrics by Fugazi

The lyric "dont you know ink washes out easier than blood" is [for lack of a better word] rad. Fugazi is a great band more people should listen.