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,
I,
I am coming,
I am coming to California to kill you I,
I am coming,
I am coming to rape and murder your family you,
You can try and run,
But there's nowhere left to hide.
I will follow the sun as it sets in the west
It will lead me right to you.
3000 miles and in L.A.
I can't wait to see the look on your face
As I put my gun up to your temple,
Pull the trigger that sends you back to hell.
You butchered my art and only to save a dollar,
Are you ready to die my friend?
Are you ready to confront the end?
Like Helter Skelter
And son of Sam.
By the days end you'll know who I am.
I spill your blood on the Hollywood Boulevard.
I won't rest until your headless.
You should have known
I would leave you helpless and alone.
You were born to be a dead celebrity.
I am coming,
I am coming to California to kill you I,
I am coming,
I am coming to rape and murder your family you,
You can try and run,
But there's nowhere left to hide.
I will follow the sun as it sets in the west
It will lead me right to you.
3000 miles and in L.A.
I can't wait to see the look on your face
As I put my gun up to your temple,
Pull the trigger that sends you back to hell.
You butchered my art and only to save a dollar,
Are you ready to die my friend?
Are you ready to confront the end?
Like Helter Skelter
And son of Sam.
By the days end you'll know who I am.
I spill your blood on the Hollywood Boulevard.
I won't rest until your headless.
You should have known
I would leave you helpless and alone.
You were born to be a dead celebrity.
Lyrics submitted by Harry Manback
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Ooo, this song gives me goosebumps! It's a great song tune-wise and one of the best LA hating songs like Aenema by Tool!
wow, graphic lyrics.
i sorta think this song is about people exploiting his music and making it shit...all i have to go on is where it says "you butchered my art and only to save a dollar." i don't know, i just think Todd is sick of people trying to suck money out of musicians
I think this song is about plagarism...
"You butchered my art and only to save a dollar, "
"You were born to be a dead celebrity."
Just a few of the lines that hint that someone plagarized his work and he is really pissed off about it, I guess.
I'm with HarryManback, I think it's about Hollywood/Celebrity in general, for "butchering his art" by dumbing-down art into cheap and easy enertainment [commodities].
Most of the comments here fill in the whole picture. This song was written with the old show Farm Club in mind, that let underground bands a chance to be heard on tv. This is where System of a Down got a good amount of exposure, and in return helped Dog Fashion Disco in theirs. DFD got the chance to be on Farm Club, but they ended up being cut into the show's outro/roll credits and it was cut-and-paste verses of the song, not to completion... "Butchered my art, and only to save you a dollar." But in general you can see a discontent with the Hollywood and surrounding scenes, being so superficial fueled by money, not emotion. A side project of DFD, Polkadot Cadaver has a song that also hooks into this theme again "Bring Me the Head of Andy Warhol." If you haven't heard them, and like DFD, you are missing out.