The Decline

"Where are all the stupid people from? And how'd they get to be so dumb? Bred on purple mountain range Feed amber waves of grains To lesser human beings, zero feelings "

• our governernemt is slowly brainswashing us, feeding us on patriotism and masking the bad things about our nation. It's also brings up the idea that everyone seems so brilliant in school, then when they get out into the real world, they're are suddenly stupid.

"Blame it on Human nature, mans destiny (mans destiny) Blame it on the greediocracy (greediocracy) Fear of God The fear of change The fear of truth "

• These are the things that we should blame for the degeneration of the American nation, and their result, a fear of truth and change. Also, the line "man's destiny" is a mangling of the term manifest destiny - the idea from the pioneer period that it was America's job to settle everywhere we could. The greediocracy is what our democracy and capitalism has given us, a system in which everyone is in it for themselves.

"Add the Bill of Rights, subtract the wrongs There's no answers Memorize and sing star spangled songs When the questions Aren't ever asked Is anybody learning from the past? We're living in united stagnation"

• the bill of rights, subtracting the wrongs gives you nothing. This is another section about how we're brainwashed into never asking questions,m but singing along to the national songs

Father what have I done? I took that 22 A gift to me from you To bed with me each night Kept it clean Polished it well Cherished every cartridge, every shell

• The American facination with weapons, also a comentary on the idea of our parents screwing us up in our childhood

"Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt There's a carcass of my second kill Down, by the park, under stone, under pine There's a carcass of my brother William Brother where, have you gone to? I swear, I never thought I could I see so many times They told me to shoot straight Don't pull the trigger, squeeze That will insure a kill A kill is what you want A kill is why we breed"

• The government creating killing machines, telling young men that their purpose in life is to kill anyone who disagrees with us, even our own families, also, interesting that it was his second kill.

"The Christians love their guns The church and NRA Pray for their salvations Prey on the lower faiths " -The fact that even if our government is supposed to seperate church and state, it still isn't. The powerful majorities in America are still abusing the minorities. also, they pray for their own salvation, serlfishly not thinking of everyone else

"The story book's been read And every line believed Curriculum's been set Logic is a threat Reason searched and seized "

• A modern day inquisistion, any ideas that are contrary to the government's arte sought out. The brainwashing begins in childhood, and don't anyone dare to question it.

"Jerry spent some time in Michigan A twenty year vacation, after all he had a dime A dime is worth a lot more in Detroit A dime in California, a twenty dollar fine "

• The inconsistency of drug laws in America, and (since NoFx is a major advocate of legalization) a comment on how they should cease to exist. A 20 year vacation is a jail sentence. An interesting note - this set begins 4 minutes and 20 seconds into the song - 4:20

"Jerry only stayed a couple months It's hard to enjoy yourself while bleeding out the ass Asphyxiation is simple and fast It beats seventeen fun years of being someones bitch "

• Jeryy was either killed in prison or killed himself, probably the latter. - It beats being someone's prison bitch and getting fucked in the bum.

"Don't think (Stay) Drink your wine (Home) Watch the fire burn (Be) His problems not mine (Safe) Just be that model citizen "

• This is governments message to only think of oneself and be apathetic. Also - the baground vocals say "Stay home be safe" - this is basically saying that there are subliminal messages everywhere.

"I wish I had a schilling (For each senseless killing) For every senseless killing I'd buy a government America's for sale And you can get a good deal on it (A good deal on it) And make a healthy profit Or maybe, tear it apart Start with assumption That a million people are smart Smarter than one "

• An Anti-murder and Anti-death penalty statement. If he bought the government, he would make a new one, and it would be basically anarchist, because a million people (the population of america) are smarter than one (the president)

"Serotonin's gone She gave up, drifted away Sara fled, thought process gone She left her answering machine on The greeting left spoken sincere Messages no one will ever hear "

• Seratonin is the substance in your body that makes you happy. So if seratonin is gone, you are depressed (fat mike takes anti-depressants)

"Ten thousand messages a day A million more transmissions lay Victims of the laissez faire Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns A hundred decibels turns to one One bullet, one empty head Now with Serotonin gone "

• All these voices complaining to the governmwnt, going unheard. Laissez faire is a governmental principle which entails a "hands off" government. This eventually leaves only one escape, suicide, a bullet in a head empty from years of brainwashing.

"The man who used to speak Performs a cute routine Feel a little patronized Don't feel bad They found a way inside your head And you feel a bit misled It's not that they don't care, yeah "

• the people who used to spak out are now like little puppets. The government treats us as if we're just a little stupider than we are.

"The television's put a thought inside your head Llike a Barry Manilow, jingle I'd like, to teach the world to sing In perfect harmony A symphonic blank stare, yeah It doesn't make you care (make you care) Not designed to make you care (make you care) They're betting you won't care (you won't...) "

• Television is the ultimate brain washing tool - the perfect way to make Americans unquestioning and apathetic.

"Place a wager on your greed A wager on your pride Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?"

• Another comment on our apathy in speaking up. We are all just a little too scared of the government. The goverment can use our greed against us. and they know they can trample our pride if they give us enough to sate our greed

"We are the whore Intellectually spayed We are the queer Dysfunctionally raised "

• The whore of Babylon, the Biblical symbol of ultimate corruption and sin. We are also the queer, who have no place in our society. NoFx is a big proponent of gay rights.

"One more pill to kill the pain One more pill to kill the pain One more pill to kill the pain Living through conformity "

• once again - a reference to anti depressants, even if we don't want to conform, we have to, and the easy way to ignore it is through substance abuse.

"One more prayer to keep me safe One more prayer to keep us warm One more prayer to keep us safe There's gonna be a better place "

• The hope that religion gives us. but, it's just another form of the pill in the previous set.

"Lost the battle, lost the war Lost the things worth living for Lost the will to win the fight One more pill to kill the pain "

• we lost the fight for our true rights with the government. Now we have to winthe fight with ourselves before we can fight again.

"Na na na na na La na na na na Na na na na na Na na na na na "

• Just a meaningless little ditty, the kind of thing the government would like to hear all of us whistling

"The going get tough, the tough get debt Don't pay attention, pay the rent Next of kins pay for your sins A little faith should keep us safe "

• Debt can also be heard as dead. We are being sidetrackewd from watching the government to the endless scrabble on ward and upward. religion offers a quick fix.

"Save us The human, existence Is failing, resistance Essential, the future Written off, the odds are Astronomically against us Only moron and genius Would fight a losing battle Against the super ego When giving in is so damn comforting "

• Someone need to stand uop, but they would have to be too stupid to see the danger, or so smart as to have gound a way to win. Why fight when we can sit at home and watch inane TV shows?

"And so we go, on with our lives We know the truth, but prefer lies Lies are simple, simple is bliss Why go against tradition when we can Admit defeat, live in decline Be the victim of our own design The status quo, built on suspect Why would anyone stick out their neck? " -We know what's goinging on, but we let them brainwash and lie to us. It's our fault that they can do it to us. Everyone needs to meet the status quo. No one wants to stand up.

"Fellow members Club "We've Got Ours" I'd like to introduce you to our host He's got his, and I've got mine Meet the decline"

• "if I'm, happy, and you're happy, why should we question anything?

"We are the queer We are the whore Ammunition In the class war We are worker We love our queen We sacrifice We're soilent green "

• Two of the most scorned members of our society, but none of us are any better. We're just like ants, with their hive mind. Mindlessly serving the purpose of soemone whjo doesn't care for the individual at all. Soilent green was a movie about the government providing free food, which turned out to be made from corpses.

"We are the queer We are the whore Ammunition In the class war" Just repition that the government is using all of us and making us fight each other to draw attenton away from it's own actions.

If yo0u look at the jacket design for this CD, it is the same as for a video by Pink Floyd, called the Wall, I believe. If you watch the video as you listen to the Song, you'll notice an interesting effect.