This cold war's goin hot tonight An atomic bomb's been dropped in fright A mushroom cloud is rising with sun and Armageddon's never been this fun Potential energy has gone kinetic From a static state to one more frenetic Atoms bashing atoms, pictures crashing off the walls It's the end of the world and we're having a ball Skyscrapers no longer scraping the sky They're decomposing, they're lying in state Civilization, well, it's had a good run But now Newton's laws and molecules will reign A tropical storm is gaining might A hurricane is brewing in the night Say goodbye to lovers, labors, lives, and luxuries This storm will get them all, but it won't get me A batter is putting pine to pitch A waist-high curveball murdered like a snitch The seams are bursting and the hide is flying loose Like all our dreams that we'll never pursue Skyscrapers no longer scraping the sky They're decomposing, they're lying in state Civilization, well, it's had a good run But now Newton's laws and molecules will reign And all the cars will turn to ash on the freeway And the mighty redwoods will finally have their day When Newton's laws and molecules will reign

Leavin my home on a hot Highway 50 night Headin east through the Sierras to go bathe in some neon lights I made some promises that I can't keep, The folly of youth, yeah, words are cheap Now I'm yelling "I don't!" every night when I'm lyin in bed asleeep So I'm goin to Reno To bury my ring My man, what does he know? He doesn't do anything As my boiling resentment Turns to simmering rage Great Expectations reads more like Bleak House as time yellows the page Got too many days left to be spending 'em this close to the grave I dropped out of school so I could go and be a wife He gave me his hand and he covered up my eyes The roof over my kitchen blocks out the stars Even a convict gets some time in the yard White picket fences ensnare the same as black iron baaars So I'm goin to Reno To bury my ring My man, what does he know? He doesn't do anything As my boiling resentment Turns to simmering rage Great Expectations reads more like Bleak House as time yellows the page Got too many days left to be spending 'em this close to the grave The biggest little city well it's lovely this time of year Trees line the Truckee, the casinos fill you full of beer Leanin over the bridge on Virginia Street A tear hits the water, didn't think I'd weep Drop that fucker in the Truckee watch the current drag it down to the deep Yeah I done went to Reno And I buried my ring Beneath those cold Truckee waters Can you hear my heart sing? Now I got me a paper Says my life belongs to me Thought I'd lost my heart, but I got it back down on Virginia Street

I went down to the office To get a food stamp card Just waited in line, filled out some forms, I wouldn't say it was all that hard I answered some questions To prove how poor I am And I walked out of there With a swipable feast in the palm of my hand So jump on your bikes, friends, We're going to the grocery store Uncle Sam's buying So grab grab some more Broccoli and mushrooms, And field roast and tofu, Brandon's got steaks in the basket And kosher all beef hot dogs too Come on down to the food stamp BBQ The government is buying all the food It's only fair, I mean I pay taxes too Thanks for the grub Uncle Sam Two hundred dollars Can really go fast When you're feeding your friends And you aren't spending any cash Okay, that's not strictly true I had to front for the Pabst But at least since I live in Portland, Oregon I didn't have to pay a stupid fucking sales tax Come on down to the food stamp BBQ The US Senate is buying all the food It's only fair, I mean I pay taxes too Thanks for the grub Uncle Sam It's time to start, yeah, We're done getting ready Ruth Bader-Ginsburg Baked her famous apple brown betty George Bush is shotgunning Lone Star in the breakfast nook Richard M. Nixon is wearing An apron that says "Kiss the Crook" Come on down to the food stamp BBQ The Supreme Court is buying all the food It's only fair, I mean I pay taxes too Thanks for the grub Uncle Sam

I am not every man I am the only man In this post-Apocalypto wasteland we call modern life You're all just robots I'm not a robot I got my heart pumpin' oil and my sensors working overtime I keep my doors locked Got my pantry stocked Boarded up the windows, candles burning all night long I'm eating canned food, Dried, powdered bran food And I'm shakin and i'm shakin and i'mshakinandimshakin My TV hates me Fucks with my circuitry All the yellin and the cryin makes me think I'll lose my mind I can't watch Fox News They're always starting feuds Ignoramus necktie clones exploding in my ears I found all these talking heads So I threw them in the shed Now my backyard smells like cotton candy rotting on your gums I gotta quit watchin TV It's giving me epilepsy And I'm shakin and i'm shakin and imshakinandimshakin My wallet's empty Ain't got no currency Automatic teller telling me to go get lost I barely have a job, I'm a rusty worn down cog Grind my teeth until the blood gums up the machine I could use some company Someone to hunt with me Instead I'm standing behind storm doors hoping they don't storm on me I got my shotgun cocked, Empathy is switched to off And I'm shakin and i'm shakin and imshakinandimshakin

Meet Michael Denisovich One rough and tumble son of a bitch The hardcorest Communist the Komsomol had ever seen He grew up praising Lenin's name His mecca was Karl Marx's grave And November 7th was his favorite holiday Then Hitler came knocking on his door They called it the Great Patriotic War And in a furor of fealty he fought for his fatherland With a gun in his hand and a knife in his boot He always knew just when to shoot He killed fifteen fascists in his first four months on the front It snowed in Moscow on December 29th Of the year 1939 Those flakes they just kept falling down, Millions piled up on the ground And they hardly ever even made a sound Back home at a party and he got a laugh When he made a joke about Comrade Stalin's mustache But he didn't know his friend was informing for the NKVD In the middle of the night they came knockin' on his door Barely gave him time to get his pants off the floor As his wife kept screaming "This must be a mistake!" They threw him in a dank, windowless room Beat his face til it turned all black and blue Crushed his nuts with the heel of a shiny leather boot They said "Sign this, we don't care if it's true We can do whatever we want with you If you confess, we'll go easy," well he did, they gave him 25 years No trial, no jury, no chance to set it straight Just sentenced under Article 58 Anti-Soviet agitation and capitalist sympathy At the train loading up for the prison camp He was prodded and whipped up the loading ramp Packed in so tight like a horse into a bottle of glue You think smashing rocks every day for 12 hours sound rough? Try doing it when they don't feed you enough To keep the meat from melting off your bones when it's 20 below The beatings hadn't stopped at the interrogation, No, lucky if he got off with just an abrasion From the butt of the gun of the guard for working too slow When his wife tried to send a letter to him Those clever foxes, you know what they did? They said "Prisoner denied the right of correspondence" I think that what they meant to say Was "Prisoner denied the light of day Because we put a bullet in the base of his skull three years ago" This story may have been fabricated But don't go thinking it's been exaggerated Like it could never happen here to an American like you Oh, fathers and sons, and mothers too All thrown into our own gulag stew 'Cause the NSA found all the bad shit we do

I've felt as poor as a patient's prognosis When he comes face to face with a terminal diagnosis And he's praying to Jesus or Allah or Moses Ain't no one there to hear him in his room filled up with roses I'm just as broke as a rusty ten speed With spokes made of wishes, asleep in the weeds Where I planted a garden, but the crows ate the seeds And if you take one step closer, they're gonna make you bleed My pockets are empty as a merry go round That's covered in poison in the bad part of town Surrounded by snipers that shoot those kids down And except for the spinning it don't make no sound Poverty, poverty, Shoulda got an accounting degree Poverty, poverty, Who the hell studies Russian history? Poverty, poverty, Shoulda got an accounting degree Poverty, poverty, Who the hell studies Russian history? I may not have much but there's this hot air balloon Where we can ditch all our coin purses and shoot for the moon Up above the cornfields we'll hold hands and spoon Wave down to the ants, we'll see 'em again soon Poverty, poverty, Shoulda got an accounting degree Poverty, poverty, Who the hell studies Russian history? Poverty, poverty, Shoulda got an accounting degree Poverty, poverty, Who the hell studies Russian history?

Growing up you must have been so full of joy Playing in the grass with your puppies and your toys So much ahead of you as a toddling young boy What went wrong? You went off to school with big dreams and high hopes Just like all of use you didn't know the ropes The kids would laugh at you, they thought you were a dope Kids can be so cruel Charlie, Charlie Manson What happened to you? Charlie, Charlie Manson Ooo ooo eee ooo They turned their back on you so you turned yours on us Threw up a shell, a defense to adjust Plotted your revenge on a society that was fucked You formed a cult You led those girls, directionless, and held them by the hand As no one looked out for you, you looked out for them Together, you all shared in something, a plan You killed some folks Now you are in jail you're never getting out You just got hitched, I heard, but the honeymoon's in doubt You're a clever guy though, you'll figure something out Ooo ooo eee ooo

When I woke up this morning My alarm clock was snoring But I couldn't climb out of my bed Limbs tired and heavy They were pinned under a Chevy And my bedsheets were made out of lead The source of my ennui Is this meteorology Got me cooped up like cattle in a shed And I'm starting to wish I were dead All this drippin and a-droppin on my head Has got me flippin and a-floppin Like a bottle-nosed dolphin Who's trapped in a tuna fish net I'm starvin for my friends But this rain it never ends And I'm slowly growin more and more insane I've been talkin to the walls Holdin tea parties with dolls But the conversations are dull and inane I resolve to break free Pray those drops don't swallow me Or they'll drop me in a shallow muddy grave Sometimes you just gotta be brave But this drippin and a-droppin on my brain Is the clippin and a-cloppin Of a cavalry stalkin Their prey runnin scared out on the plains The rain stung my eyes I was flung from my bike And I tried to break my fall with my face As my life passed before me Seemed like God might abhor me So I started humming the tune to Amazing Grace He sniffed the bullshit in my story Shipped me off to purgatory And denied me his loving embrace But hey, at least I finally left my place Now I got a drippin and a-droppin out in space It's the tickin and a-tockin of a jailhouse clock Whose hands are always losing a race

Taco Bell and Lone Star Beer We're not big on fancy dinners round here Ain't got no money, ain't got no fear Just Taco Bell and Lone Star Beer Came down to Austin to see my man Tenfold Defrost some memories that have grown a little cold Xbox and poker chips, a bag of weed We'll hit the town tonight until our knuckles bleed I'm a fool with my money I'm a fool without I think I like acting funny But I keep on keep on havin doubts I tried to live like other folks for one night I'm on vacation, ain't that my right? I exercised it, now I'm down to twenty bucks So it's Taco Bell for breakfast and Lone Star Beer for lunch I'm a fool with my money I'm a fool without I think I like acting funny But I keep on keep on havin doubts Think I'm a thinker but I couldn't figure out How to see the Austin people talk about We'll do it right next time I'm here Just please god, no more Taco Bell and Lone Star Beer

I hear that train a-comin Yeah it's rollin round the bend And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when I'm stuck in Portland, Oregon And time keeps draggin on And that train keeps a-rollin On down to Beaverton When I was just a youngin' Back when mama called me boy I thought guitars and microphones Were just some fuckin toys Then I saw a band in Reno Just to see them live And those guitars and microphones They took over my mind I bet there's rich folks drivin In their fancy hybrid cars To their houses in the West Hills Where their shoes don't fall apart Well, I'm sure it's lovely livin But I'm not sure that it's for me But the older that I get The more I know uncertainty If I ever get a real job A white collar, 9 to 5 Hope I don't lose my shit Strangle my peers with their neckties The judge'll stare me down, "Boy, I'm sending you away" On down to Folsom prison A long vacation out of state

I am lost, who's got the map, which way is north? How the hell did I get so off course? I had it all plotted out but now things have gone south Like a drug cartel dismemberment A serious pain in the neck I was a child and I had a home God damn if that ain't a long time ago Oh to hold onto a place, plant your heels in time and space But life is such a series of vector Motion plus direction And the stars, well, they aren't any help Can't blame 'em, they got so many atoms to weld They just float there and glimmer and slowly grow dimmer As the sky turns from torchlight to tar 'Cause we're all just drifting apart SOS, clasp my hands, paging god But he's busy with the priest, TV preachers, and frauds Whose silver tongues wag while they pass round a bag For you to throw in what you own What are you supposed to do if your broke? It's a good thing I can laugh at my own jokes 'Cause I better get used to being alone

I am a man, a family man Of decent means I got a wife, two kids, a suburban home And hope and dreams Thought I'd build a little nest egg Send my kids off to school, Hit that silver anniversary, take a Mediterranean cruise But we had one too many fights, Some things can't be unsaid She took the kids to her mom's, found another man And she left me for dead So I'll ride, ride, ride, I'll ride the rails And when that train gets to where I don't know I'm goin I'll start livin for myself I am a man, a career man I'm wedded to my job I'm on a sturdy rung of the corporate ladder And I'm headed to the top I always check my e-mail And I make eighty calls a day I kiss my boss's ass for the chance to pass him I really earn my pay But they found this guy in India Who will work for half as much Threw me out on the street with just the shoes on my feet And said "We'll be in touch" So I'll ride, ride, ride, I'll ride the rails And when that train gets to where I don't know I'm goin I'll start livin for myself I'm a woman, I'm smart as hell A recent graduate I got A's in my classes studying journalism Yeah I really know my shit I'm doing this for the people Tell their stories to the world Where there's trouble and strife that'll be my life I'm an action kind of girl But every time I interview It's with a sleazy, slick-haired slob He says "You look qualified with your hips and your tits But how are you at sucking cock?" So I'll ride, ride, ride, I'll ride the rails And when that train gets to where I don't know I'm goin I'll start livin for myself I am a man, a homeless man Clothed in tattered rags Get my sleep on a bench, my dental work from a wrench And my food from garbage bags It hasn't always been like this I paid rent with my paychecks But you're a step away when you haven't saved And get hurt in an accident I hobble around the city parks Til they picked me up for vagrancy Threw my ass in a cell and they beat me to hell And they slapped me with a fee So I'll ride, ride, ride, I'll ride the rails And when that train gets to where I don't know I'm goin I'll start livin for myself I am a man, an American man I'm just your average Joe I'm Willy Loman, I'm Billy Pilgrim, I'm everyone you know Exxon-Mobil's got record profits But I can't afford a gallon of gas I'm getting laid off while the boss is paid off Say goodbye to the middle class So I'll ride, ride, ride, I'll ride the rails And when that train gets to where I don't know I'm goin I'll start livin for myself