WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR‽

“No, his mind is not for rent

To any god or government,

Always hopeful yet discontent,

He knows changes aren’t permanent,

But change is.”

Rush - Tom Sawyer

"Sexual violence doesn't start and end with rape

It starts in our books and behind our school gates

Men are scared women will laugh in their face

Whereas women are scared it's their lives men will take"

Idles - Mother

I cried the first time I heard this song.

"I walk a lonely road, the only road that i have ever known"

Did you ever wonder why we had to run run for shelter when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath the clear blue sky?

Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In an aeroplane over the sea

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

Time - Pink Floyd

Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!!!

Pull up rockin', smack a racist in the face
Jet out, and leave 'em screamin' in the place
I come straight from the heart, you come straight from hate
And if you’re threatenin' someone I ain’t gonna sit around and wait
I just smacked two cops, I’m waiting to see what the case is
Because my hands automatically smack people who are racist

• 2 Mello, Pull Up

For me it's probably:

"Don't you do it
You're not even you yet"

I first heard Otep's Perfectly Flawed when I was early in transition and deeply suicidal. I'd already been hospitalized for it a couple of times. And then I heard this song and felt like it was speaking right at me. I'm still alive. Still depressed and working on it, but alive with the intention to continue. I don't know if the song actually helped or if it was all the other things I've tried, but it still resonates fondly for me so I'm comfortable calling that lyric my favorite.

FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!

The moment that I let go of it was the moment I got more than I could handle. The moment I jumped off of it was the moment that I touched down.

Thank U - Alanis Morissette

Strangers passing in the street by chance two separate glances meet and I am you and what I see is me.

Echoes - Pink Floyd

As a child, an easy listening radio station soothed me to sleep. It kept the monsters at bay. I would not unpack nor understand the psychological abuse I suffered at home for decades. The song now reminds me that a late bloomer can still be beautiful. Crushes me to death every time.

It's the heart, afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying

That never learns to live

Fun fact, the woman who wrote this song, Amanda McBroom, also played JAG Capt. Phillipa Louvois in the incredible Star Trek: TNG episode Measure of a Man

Play me online
Well you know
That I’ll beat you

If I ever meet you,
I’ll Ctrl+Alt+Delete you

All About the Pentiums, Weird Al

As soon as you're born, they make you feel small  
By giving you no time instead of it all  
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all  

A working class hero is something to be  

They hurt you at home, and they hit you at school  
They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool  
Till you're so fucking crazy, you can't follow their rules  

A working class hero is something to be  

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years  
Then they expect you to pick a career  
When you can't really function, you're so full of fear  

A working class hero is something to be  

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV  
And you think you're so clever and classless and free  
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see  

A working class hero is something to be  

There's room at the top they are telling you still  
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill  
If you want to be like the folks on the hill  

A working class hero is something to be  

Pretty much everything from Aesop rock.

Here an example.

Death wish from day one, I wake up and it rain blood

Raincheck these fuck shows, I'm donezo, my brain's mush

Drumroll, I might piss straight, loose tooth in my spit shake

Every possible Futurama come trooping out of his pill case

Every time I look up from the paper I see animals exhibiting irregular behavior

Even though I know that it's a warning I am back on my old shit again like any other morning

Every time I peek out from the corner Birds are flying belly-side-up, fish are walking out the water

Even though it seem legit I'm right here til the season dip

I ain't seen shit I ain't seen shit

“Don’t let the sunshine fool you” Townes Van Zandt

Also:

I fell in love again that time that you said
"Fuck every cop who ever did his job!
And fuck every bank that never got robbed!
And fuck all the other banks, especially mine."

• Wingnut Dishwashers Union

I have squandered my resistance For a pocketful of mumbles Such are promises All lies and jest Still a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest

If this is paradise

I wish I had a lawnmower

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them:
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

"And it's your face, I'm looking for, on every street".

That one will haunt me for the rest of my life. For reasons similar to Knopfler's.

Sky not a roof Ground not a bottom

Grötüs - Brown

Majority rule doesn't work in mental institutions

We should kill the president.

From "Kill the president" by Barnaby Jones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jdzfHvCI8

For some reason it just really seems to resonate with people

"We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky"

From the song Stories of the Street by Leonard Cohen. That first album is poetry put to music.

Scatman John, Scatman's world:

[Verse 1] Everybody's talkin' something very shocking Just to keep on blockin' what they're feelin' inside But listen to me brother, you just keep on walkin' 'Cause you and me and sister ain't got nothing to hide Scatman, fat man, black and white and brown man Tell me 'bout the color of your soul If part of your solution isn't ending the pollution Then I don't wanna hear your stories told I wanna welcome you to Scatman's World

[Verse 2] Everybody's born to compete as he chooses But how can someone win if winning means that someone loses? I sit and see and wonder what it's like to be in touch No wonder all my brothers and my sisters need a crutch I wanna be a human being, not a human doing I couldn't keep that pace up if I tried The source of my intention really isn't crime prevention My intention is prevention of the lie Yeah, welcome to the Scatman's World

I don’t have a single favourite, but a few recent favourites, from my current favourite artist, Jesse Welles:

“I still don’t know what living costs, but I can tell you what I spent”

“A bird in its cage loves the song that it sings”

“As the golden rod fades and short are the days, I wish I could pause ‘em somehow”

“I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, then again it could be the train”

He’s got a ton of great political lyrics too but I felt that would be better in a different comment or post. Check him out, especially his two newest albums (Masks Off and Devil’s Den).

We suffer... but why?

The simple narrative taught in every history class Is demonstrably false and pedagogically classist Don't you know the world is built with blood? And genocide and exploitation The global network of capital essentially functions To separate the worker from the means of production And the FBI killed Martin Luther King Private property's inherently theft And neoliberal fascists are destroying the left And every politician, every cop on the street Protects the interests of the pedophilic corporate elite That is how the world works (really?) That is how the world works Genocide the Natives, say you got to it first That's how it works

How the world works - bo Burnham

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup

Such a funny juxtaposition from the Beatles.

The best version is "Across the Universe" from Let it Be... Naked

Around the world

Around the world Around the world Around the world

Around the world Around the world Around the world Around the world

Around the world Around the world Around the world Around the world

Around the world Around the world Around the world Around the world

• Daft Punk, Around the World

Let me take your hands

I'm shaking like milk

"I get the news I need on the weather report. Oh i can gather all the news I need on the weather report. Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile."

Simon and Garfunkel - The only living boy in New York

I wish life was that simple!

The greatest thing you'll ever learn

Is just to love and be loved in return

One that has stuck with me lately was "mistook sign for signified."

Our hopes and expectations,

Black holes and revelations.

Starlight by Muse

All creatures born are born to die / but before then survive / some creatures born they never live / but still they are alive

Gwar - Biledriver

And evolving from the sea Would not be too much time for me To walk beside you in the sun

"The Sad Punk", The Pixies

In the context of the whole song it's particularly poignant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVpFug2p00

"Hamlet" by the group "Wise Guys". The whole song text is a very good summary of Shakespeare's text. Actually better than something I've seen being used in schools. And, of course, with a twinkle in the eyes.

I'm not here; this isn't happening 🎵

Relatable lines from Thom Yorke in Radiohead's "How to disappear completely" off of Kid A.

Based on a true story.

"If you're after getting the honey, then you don't go killin' all the bees"

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros' Johnny Appleseed

That's stuck with me since my early 20s.

"It's Never Been a Fair Fight" from Craig Finn

They said there weren't any rules But there were so many goddamn rules They said that they'd be cool But there were so many goddamn rules

If the cops shut down the shows Just remember that we tried And I'll meet you at the place we crashed In 1999 If you're still staying there I'll take that as a sign That the drugs all ganged up on you It's never been a fair fight

Growing up in the punk scene and losing a lot of friends, the whole song really hits me hard.

Where veterans dream of the fight, fast asleep at the traffic light