Armageddon Blues |

ARMAGEDDON BLUES

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ARMAGEDDON BLUES

My brain’s clogged up, so are my eyes
My ears are numb from hearin’ so many lies
It’s so upsettin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

Fancy coffee in the cup, funny money in the bank
Sendin’ children off to war to fill up the tank
It’s got me sweatin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

I turn on the TV, see the devil from Hell
Turn on the radio, he’s on there as well
It’s so upsettin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

The world’s on fire, the air is hot
Take my children to the school, pray they don’t get shot
So many tears sheddin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

Along comes The Man, says you gotta lay down
You can die in a fight or become part of the ground
It’s got me sweatin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

Sorry ‘bout the family, that’s just the way it is
Torture and slavery, it’s all part of the biz
So many tears sheddin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

All the leaders great and small have pledges a war without an end
And they never will surrender, long as they got life to spend
It’s got me sweatin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

The world’s been coming to an end for ten thousand centuries
Why can’t we get the job done right? Maybe then we all can get a little peace
No more bloodsheddin’
I got the I’m-a-gettin’ bored of Armageddon Blues

BIG DEAL!

You wash your hair
And you brush your teeth
And you fix your clothes
So you look real neat
You smile at yourself in the mirror
And then you turn out the light
And you walk out of the door
At six o’clock at night
You go and you meet your friends
And you think you’re really cool
Then maybe you go out to a bar someplace
Or maybe you go shoot some pool

It’s a real big deal
It’s a real big deal
It’s a big damn deal
Big deal!

You go to a bar with your friends
And you have a couple of beers
And you think you’re really rolling now
You think you’re really in gear
And you walk down the street with your friends
And you laugh at everyone
Because you think that everybody is a loser
And you think you’re number one
Then you pick up some girl at a party
And you take her home and tell her stories about your life
And you think you’re a poet-philosopher
You think you’re really wise
Then you get so drunk you don’t even make any sense anymore
You get so drunk you can’t even stand up on your own two feet anymore
And you pass out and fall asleep across the table
With your beer bottle in your hand

It’s a real big deal
It’s a real big deal
It’s a big damn deal
Big deal!

The next morning you wake up
And you put on a brand new shirt
And you get in your car and drive down to
The place where you work
And you walk down the hall to your office
And you sit behind your desk
And somebody hands you a bunch of pieces of paper
And you sign them with your pen
And you think you’re really respectable
Because you’re wearing a suit and a tie
You think you’re really exceptional
You think you’re a really great guy

You’re a real big deal
You’re a real big deal
You’re a big damn deal
Big deal!

LOW DISHONOURABLE MEN

They meet in boardrooms every day
Just to play their games
Low dishonourable men
With low dishonourable aims

When you think the world is changin’
But then it doesn’t, that’s because
They’re the ones in charge of
Ensuring that it never does

They got too much invested
In keeping things the way they are
With themselves in the driver’s seat
And everybody else pushin’ the car

They’re traitors to the human race
They’re an evolutionary disgrace
Low dishonourable men
With low dishonourable aims

They want to pollute the earth
They want to pollute the sky
If there’s a nickel in it
They’ll even watch a baby seal puppy die

They don’t care about you
Except to get you pick up the check
But they really hate your grandchildren
It’s their world they’re trying to wreck

Liars, criminals and thieves
And killers of precision
Hustlers, con men and cardsharks
All wrapped up in the robes of religion

They’re traitors to the human race
They’re an evolutionary disgrace
Low dishonourable men
And low dishonourable dames

They want to start a war
As long as they don’t see any action
They’ll even invade a country
Just to see what happens
They want to kill for oil
They want to drill for oil too
So they can speed up global warming
Till we’re all livin’ in a toxic stew

Might be the guy in power
Might be the man in the business suit
Might be the lowly slave rowing the boat
Thinkin’ he’s bein’ cute

They want to take food away from the hungry
Give it to the ones who are stuffed
Take away from the have-nots
Give to the have-more-than-enough

They’re destroying the miracle of life itself
But hey, that’s okay!
Because everybody just lets them do it
As they apologize for gettin’ in the way

They’re traitors to the human race
They’re an evolutionary disgrace
Low dishonourable men
With low dishonourable aims

They’re traitors to the human race
They’re an evolutionary disgrace
Low dishonourable men
And low dishonourable dames

EASY MONEY

Take a look around the world, tell me what you find
One man workin’ with his back, the other with his mind
You got one guy livin’ on the street, sleepin’ in the rain
Another in a king-size waterbed, it’s never gonna change
Some people look around the world and see a tragedy
I look and see a money-making opportunity

Easy money, out there for the takin’
You can sleep your life away or be out there makin’ bacon
It’s a land of opportunity, there’s room for you to break in
Jump out of your easy chair, give yourself a shakin’
Easy money, waitin’ to be taken

I wanna buy a mansion, wanna buy a yacht
Sail around the world show everybody what I got
Tiger fur-lined toilet seats make the peasants drool
I wanna show the world I’m not anybody’s fool
Right now I might be on welfare but that don’t bother me much
I know which way the wind blows, know which buttons to push

For that easy money, out there for the takin’
You can sleep your life away or be out there makin’ bacon
It’s a land of opportunity, there’s room for you to break in
Jump out of your futon, give yourself a shakin’
Easy money, waitin’ to be taken

I wanna be a VIP, I wanna dress to kill
I wanna blow my nose with a fifty dollar bill
I’ll give some money away, to show you where I stand
To charity so you can see I really give a damn
They talk to you of love, they talk to you of freedom
Love is love and love is nice but you know you can’t eat it

Give me easy money, out there for the takin’
You can sleep your life away or be out there makin’ bacon
It’s a land of opportunity, there’s room for you to break in
Jump out of your couch, give yourself a shakin’
Easy money, waitin’ to be taken

They tell you to work hard and someday you’ll be a man
But you’ll never make a million with a shovel in your hand
You gotta hedge your bets, you gotta hide your tracks
If you don’t want to eat cockroaches in a corrugated shack
Right now I might be down and out, beggin’ on the street
But there’ll come a time when I’ll get mine and you’ll be beggin’ me

For my easy money, out there for the takin’
You can sleep your life away or be out there makin’ bacon
It’s a land of opportunity, there’s room for you to break in
Jump out of your bed, give yourself a shakin’
Easy money, waitin’ to be taken

Do what you want to do
Be what you want to be
But it’s money money money
Money money sets you free

WHERE YOU BELONG

See you on the subway, see you on the street
I see you in the movies and I see you on TV
Always runnin’ ‘round with a smile on your lips
Wigglin’ your fingers and shakin’ your hips
Always lightin’ fires, tryin’ to cause a big commotion
Assorted dull perversions, misspent emotion
Somebody’s grandma, somebody’s brother
Always leapin’ into bed with somebody’s mother

Nothin’s right and nothin’s wrong
But that don’t matter ‘cause it won’t be long
Until you’re right back down in the dirt where you belong

With your oversized head and your undersized mind
You were born to exploit every sickness that you find
Some people think you’re God but I know you’re just a fraud
You think my world’s a toilet bowl, hey buddy, thanks a lot
You sit behind your desk collecting your commissions
On sex, religion politics and the other drug addiction
Another walking time bomb with a jacket and a tie on
Another filthy liar with his face stuck in the mire

Nothin’s right and nothin’s wrong
But that don’t matter ‘cause it won’t be long
Until you’re right back down in the dirt where you belong

It’s so frightening, isn’t it exciting?
The whole world’s dying, tryin’ to change its luck
Everybody’ waitin’ just calculatin’
To separate some sucker from his hard-earned buck

Saw you goin’ around the corner, goin’ around the bend
With that squirming little sickening sack of shit you call your friend
Bubonic plague, malaria, necrophilia, psoriasis
There’s a market for it somewhere, all you have to do is find it
You say ‘Everyone’s a salesman’ as you pound upon my door
If everyone’s a salesman, who’s minding the store?
I know we all gotta make a livin’, I’m not tryin’ to knock it
All I ask is please just get your hand out of my pocket

Nothin’s right and nothin’s wrong
But that don’t matter ‘cause it won’t be long
Until you’re right back down in the dirt where you belong

WE OWN IT NOW

They got off the boat, they cleared the land
They displaced the Indian
They built a railroad across the continent
Sacrificed many a Chinese woman and man
They wrote some laws, they built some walls
And from their podiums they vowed:
We own it now

He was a farmer but the prices went down
He had it much harder than the ones in town
Couldn’t pay his bills so the banker man came
Took away his farm, he wandered off in shame
They stood with folded arms when he came back
To reclaim his plow
We own it now

From country to country it’s the same old thing
Your place at the table depends on what you can bring
You got to toe the bottom line
Or meet a fate of your own design
The ship of state has sailed
And written on the prow
We own it now

Went to my hometown, there was nothin’ goin’ on
But a bunch of people walkin’ around lookin’ for something to pawn
Poison in the river, smoke in the sky
All that was meant to make you live was now meant to make you die
I went to the country and I saw a tattoo
On the ear of a cow
We own it now

They levelled the mountains, they toppled the trees
They came for you, they came for me
By a dying lake, on a glass-strewn shore
A mangy dog sits lickin’ his sores
By the smoldering junkyard, by the garbage scow
A sign’s been hoisted up somehow
We own it now

Miles and miles of highway
Layers and layers of decay
A tiny planet floats in the vast nothingness
Resuscitation attempted without success
Dimly read are the words
With all the clarity a telescope allows –
We own it now

They came out of the jungle with a calculating brain
Which allowed them to scramble to the top of the food chain
Slaughtering everything in sight with a machete
Turning the environment into confetti
Just so they could sit with all their hoodlum friends
Atop a hill of skulls and avow
We own it now

GUNPOWDER + MONEY

Baby don’t you worry, baby don’t you cry
We’re gonna beat this thing, by and by
Got all the lovin’ anybody could stand
Got all the lovin’ in the palm of our hand
What’ve they got anyhow, that makes their days so sunny?
Gunpowder + money

The Indian man lived here, then the white man came around
Indian man gonna live here and the white man won’t be found
Funny how the most dangerous thing, they never seem to fear it
A proud determined heart, a dedicated spirit
They might be laughin’ now but someday it won’t be funny
Gunpowder + money

Gunpowder and money go together like a sister and a brother
Gunpowder and money, can’t have one without the other
Everywhere I look, everything I see
Is ruled by gunpowder, money and pornography

Man on the platform talkin’ ‘bout freedom
Everybody needs somethin’, somethin’ to believe in
You can listen to the words or you can watch the action
Take a look around you if you want to know what’s happenin’
You’ll see what they believe in, it ain’t the Easter bunny
It’s gunpowder + money

Gunpowder and money go together like a father and a mother
Gunpowder and money, if you want one you better get the other
Everywhere I look, everything I see
Is ruled by gunpowder, money, and mediocrity

Armies of liberty are comin’ to your town
They’re gonna set you free or put you in the ground
They think they got the might because they are right
But they just believe they’re right because they got the might
Better watch your mouth, don’t let your tongue slip, honey
Gunpowder + money

THE BLACK DONNELLYS

Undercover of the night
Down a dark country road
The men walked in no moonlight
And they bore a heavy load

Of farm tools and shovels
And one of them had a knife
They were heading to a farmhouse
To take a family’s life

In the farmhouse down the road
The family had turned in
Never knowing in their sleep
That their sleep would never end

It was sad, it was bad
The night The Black Donnellys went down

They’d been nothing but trouble
For twenty years or more
Some say it was ancient feud
Brought here from Ireland’s shore

The father James Donnelly killed a man
In a dispute over land
He served seven years
In the Kingston pen

When he got out his sons were operating a stagecoach business
Where they kept the competition in line
By slaughtering their horses,
Setting carriages on fire

Some say they weren’t guilty of all they were accused of
Some say they did more than anybody knew
But anyone who might’ve testified
Was too terrified to

Still it was sad, it was bad
The night The Black Donnellys went down

The people of the town of Lucan
Decided to send a hint
They set the Donnellys’ barn on fire
But the Donnellys hung in

The sheriff decided to arrest the two Donnelly brothers
Accompanied at his side
By a mob who’d blackened all their faces
So they’d not be recognized

They came to the farmhouse, Tom Donnelly opened the door
Resisted arrest, and cried
As the mob fell upon him
And beat him till he died

His father, James Donnelly, came to help
They hit him with a spade over the head
And knocked him to the floor
And kicked him till he was dead

The mother Johanna Donnelly came to see what was going on
They beat her to death too
And their niece, Bridget Donnelly, who was visiting from Ireland
Heaven’s gates she soon knew

Then they set the house on fire
And it burned all night till the sun appeared
Then they picked up the Donnelly’s skulls from the ashes
To keep as souvenirs

It was sad, it was bad
The night The Black Donnellys went down

Everybody in the town of Lucan
Knew somebody or was a friend of a friend
Or was themselves a member of that mob
But you’d never know it to look at them

They had a trial at which no-one was convicted
Nor was anyone ever intended to
‘Cause anyone who might’ve testified
Was too terrified to

They had another trial to settle up the matter
No-one was convicted there either
It was a crime without a criminal
A slaughter with no slaughterer

Now everyone who was in that mob is dead
And the ones who remembered them have faded away
No-one’s around to object or take offense to
The new museum with a gift shop in the foyer

But some people say they see the ghosts waiting for justice
Floating above the fields
Some say a horse won’t walk past the Donnelly homestead
After the midnight bell has pealed

My father used to say that everytime one of the mob died
A Donnelly relative would appear in town
And go to the funeral and stand by the graveside
And spit on the coffin as it went down

It was sad, it was bad
The night The Black Donnellys went down

IPPERWASH

It was a burial ground on the shores of Lake Huron
The government borrowed from the Natives during World War Two
Sayin’ “We need this land to train our forces on
When the war is over we’ll give it back to you”

Fifty years after the war had ended
The Natives wondered when the government would honour its vow
When they realized the answer was never
They decided that the time was now

Dudley George lived with his cousin in a trailer
In the park they’d made the burial ground into
They occupied the land in peaceful protest
In hopes the government would do what it said it was gonna do