The Decline

By NOFX

On The Decline

Released on November 23, 1999

104K Views

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[Intro: Eric Melvin]

Fuck no!


[Verse 1: Fat Mike]

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

[Verse 2: Fat Mike, Eric Melvin, El Hefe]

(Blame it on)

Human nature, man's destiny (Man's destiny)

Blame it on the greediocracy (Greediocracy)

Fear of God, the fear of change, the fear of truth

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


[Verse 3: Fat Mike]

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

Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt

There's a carcass of my second kill

Down, by the park (Whoa-oh-oh!), under stone, under pine

There's a carcass of my brother William (Oh-oh-oh!)

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?


[Verse 4: Fat Mike]

The Christians love their guns, the Church and NRA

Pray for their salvations, prey on the lower faiths

The story book's been read and every line believed

Curriculum's been set, logic is a threat

Reason searched and seized


[Instrumental Break]


[Verse 5: Fat Mike]

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

[Verse 6: Fat Mike, El Hefe]

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 someone's bitch

Don't think (Stay), drink your wine (Home)

Watch the fire burn (Be)

His problem's not mine (Safe)

Just be that model citizen

Ahh!


[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge: El Hefe, Fat Mike]

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


[Instrumental Break]


[Verse 7: Fat Mike]

(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

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, ahh!


[Instrumental Break]


[Verse 8: Fat Mike]

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 television's put a thought inside your head

Like 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–!)


[Guitar Solo]


[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 9: Fat Mike, Eric Melvin]

Place a wager on your greed, awager on your pride

Why try to beat them when a million others tried?

(We are the whore!) Intellectually spayed

(We are the queer!) Dysfunctionally raised


[Instrumental Break]


[Interlude: Fat Mike, Eric Melvin]

One more pill to kill the pain

One more pill to kill the pain

One more pill to kill the pain, living through conformity

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!


[Verse 10: Fat Mike]

(Lost!) Lost the battle, lost the war, lost the things worth living for

(Lost!) Lost the will to win the fight, one more pill to kill the pain

Na-na-na-na-na! La-na-na-na-na

Na-na-na-na-na! Na-na-na-na-na!

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


[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 11: Fat Mike, Eric Melvin]

(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

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?

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


[Instrumental Break]


[Outro: Eric Melvin]

(Hey!)

We are the queer! We are the whore!

Ammunition in the class war!

We are worker! We love our queen! (Hey!)

We sacrifice! We're soylent green!

We are the queer! We are the whore!

Ammunition in the class war!

(Hey!)