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Stranger Than Fiction Lyrics
A febrile shocking violent smack and
the children are hoping for a heart attack
tonight the windows are watching,
the streets all conspire
and the lampost can't stop crying
If I could fly high above the world
Would I see a bunch of living dots spell the word stupidity?
Or would I just see hungry lover homicides,
loving brother suicides
and olly olly oxenfrees, who pickaside and hide
The world is scratching at my door
My morning papers got the scores,
the human interest stories, and the obituary
Cockroach nape and rattling traps,
How many devils can you fit upon a match head?
Caringosity killed the Kerouac cat,
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
In my alley around the corner
there's a wino with feathered shoulders
and a spirit giving head for crack and he'll
never want it back
There's a little kid and his family eating
crackers like Thanksgiving
and a pack of wild desperadoes scornful of living
The world is scratching at my door
My morning papers got the scores,
the human interest stories, and the obituary
Cradle for a cat, Wolfe looks back,
How many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemmingway cracked
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
Life is the crummiest book I ever read,
there isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots
Pictures to shock and characters an
amateur would never dream up
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
the children are hoping for a heart attack
tonight the windows are watching,
the streets all conspire
and the lampost can't stop crying
If I could fly high above the world
Would I see a bunch of living dots spell the word stupidity?
Or would I just see hungry lover homicides,
loving brother suicides
and olly olly oxenfrees, who pickaside and hide
My morning papers got the scores,
the human interest stories, and the obituary
How many devils can you fit upon a match head?
Caringosity killed the Kerouac cat,
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
there's a wino with feathered shoulders
and a spirit giving head for crack and he'll
never want it back
There's a little kid and his family eating
crackers like Thanksgiving
and a pack of wild desperadoes scornful of living
My morning papers got the scores,
the human interest stories, and the obituary
How many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemmingway cracked
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction
there isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots
Pictures to shock and characters an
amateur would never dream up
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
sometimes truth is stranger than fiction....
"Life is the crummiest book i ever read, there isn't a hook, just alotta cheap shots, pictures to shock, and character and amateur would never dream up!" - I think, one of the best bad religion quites of them all! Sums up life to a tee!
I think Brett said that caringosity is a made up word that joins caring and curiosity. Awesome song!
Yeah, I tried looking that word up in multiple dictionaries after this album came out, found nothing.
Yeah, I tried looking that word up in multiple dictionaries after this album came out, found nothing.
Kerouac is Jack Kerouac, the author of the novel of On the Road... among other things.
Can anyone explain "cockroach naps and rattling traps"?
"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the...
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the strange real life cruelty of the human race.
"Caringosity" is an example of the sort of word that Jack Kerouac like to invent in his novels, though I don't know if he used that particular word. His novels, by the way, were only semi-fictional, his own strange life with strange people is transparently visible within them. Technically, he was killed by liver failure brought on by alcohol abuse, but it has been said that the worst of his drinking was caused by his sorrow over the death of Neal Cassady.
"Cradle for a Cat" refers to Vonnegut's book "Cat's Cradle", another example of bizarre fiction.
I think SpiralArchitect is right, that "Wolfe looks back" refers to "The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test," Tom Wolfe's "nonfiction novel" about his time "on the bus" with the founders of the psychedelic era. It fits in the song because Wolfe's true experience was plenty strange without adding any fiction.
This shit is why I love Bad Religion. You could teach a collegiate course in 20th century literature without ever leaving this song. The fact that they pack it all into a hot punk harmonyfest is just gravy.
Throughout the song Graffin mentions famous authors; Hemmingway, Kerouac and Wolfe. All three were noted for writing about normal people. The examples that come to mind immediatly are Hemmingways Nick Adams stories. They are simple stories about a young man going to war and coming home.
Throughout the song Graffin compares these 'normal' stories written by some of the greatest authors of the 20th century to what you read in the news. Child abuse (first and second line), lovers quarrels turned deadly, unexpected suicides, homelessness, drug abuse and alcoholism.
Graffin is saying that some of the news stories you hear sound like they are written by an amateur fiction writer because they are almost unbelievable.
yeah what he said
Definately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hell yeah
this song is fucking amazing. it's extremely well written, and i'd have to say that stranger than fiction is my favorite bad religion album that i own. brett gurewitz and greg graffin are two of the greatest song writers ever