Subject: Culture

CARBON COPIES

Carbon copies, carbon, carbon copies...

Born with all the spit and polish

The family name could muster

Casting shadows in the light

Of the neighboring star cluster

The cobwebs of connections

Old money fuels that big head start

Your pick of prized professions

From corporate law to modern art

chorus:

Carbon copies, carbon, carbon copies and the numbers don't drop

Error, error, error upon error and the printer won't stop

Carbon copies, carbon, carbon copies pages black & white

Terror, terror, terror upon terror with no end in sight

bridge:

Carbon copy socialite

Imprinted with its pretty face

Such are the perks of taking breaths

At the right moment in time and space

Carbon copy business suit

Brain-dead brute gets a clothing line

Tailor-made to market the brand

Pushing hand-me-down white collar crime

Carbon copies, carbon, carbon copies...

Deep in all the grime and gravel

History's neglected kid

Playing catch up all your life

With Maslow's lofty pyramid

A mine field of directions

Sideline big plans for making good

Adult-like obligations

Weighing down a stolen childhood

(chorus)

bridge:

Carbon copy service job

Young lives fettered in retail chains

The nameless, faceless worker drone

Cheap labour as your life force drains

Carbon copy shooting spree

A copycat case of life gone wrong

Trials summed up in a sentence

To run consecutive life-terms long

(chorus)

fade out:

Carbon copies, carbon, carbon copies...

Error, error, error upon error...

BIBLE BELT GUN SHOW

Who knew putting up a fight

Meant putting on a show

One too many times in court

And now you've got to go

All crowd around the golden calf

Commander-dolt-in-chief

As he's led away in handcuffs

To their shock and disbelief

chorus:

Bible Belt gun show

It keeps them entertained

The politics that fools and tricks

The bored and addled brained

Bible Belt gun show

You showed them who's in charge

How fast you go from cult hero

To fugitive at large

Bible Belt gun show (Jesus in camo)

Bible Belt gun show (scripture meets ammo)

Bible Belt gun show (backwoods G.I. Joe)

Bible Belt gun show (Jehovah to bravo)

It was one long heart attack

From Clinton through Obama

Subjecting every tortured soul

To all your needless drama

Lashing twisted tongues

Grotesque legal contortions

Ratchet up the crazy

To unheard of proportions

Condemn the un-American

And make your little speech

As you peddle your religion

Borrowed from the Middle East

Guns going into Starbucks

On family Christmas cards

Popping up in campaign ads

Like victims in graveyards

(chorus)

You got the nurses, the teachers

The school boards on the run

What was it you were saying

Mister good guy with a gun?

You claimed it's for your self-defense

Claimed it's for protection

As you crowd around the ballot box

To shoot out an election

Got you foaming at the mouth

At their Pavlovian bell

A little neural programming

And you're angry as all hell

Boycott the social sites

Boycott the NFL

Drive those lizard-brain resentments

Into every gun they sell

(chorus)

CULTS & COSTUMES

A planet in search of an identity

That lingering phase of immaturity

We grow out of roles but the acting resumes

A planet of cults and costumes

Some ride out in packs joining leather clad gangs

Or grow into fictional vampire fangs

Some wield a guitar in the world of hair bands

Or buzz cut their skulls as some leader commands

chorus:

Products of fads and demo targeting

We fall prey to heroes of slick marketing

Fresh out of schoolyards and sheltered playrooms

We all choose our cults and costumes

Some play the role of militia recruits

Kevlar and camo and thick combat boots

Some copy the walk and the slang of street toughs

Or dwell underground wielding whips and handcuffs

Some cover their tracks, lugging camping equipment

To hide in the forest from worldly commitment

Some rule over flocks in imperious robes

Or tattoo and pierce from their toes to earlobes

chorus:

Products of trends and the spells on tv

We Bogart the first hat that fits to a T

Fresh out of patience for corporate boardrooms

We all choose our cults and costumes

bridge:

The core of ourselves can get buried so deep

Far too weighted down and neglected

We take our escapes to unhealthy extremes

To fit in and not feel rejected

Some slip into armor of scholarly tweed

A clever defense built with all that they read

Some come to regret the gang colors they've worn

And seek new respect in a clean uniform

We rummage wardrobes for respectable shirts

To cover the scars where our wounded pride hurts

Ashamed of ourselves and the humans we are

Sometimes our centered self wanders too far

(chorus)

CLICK & CLASH

Logging on and logging in

Your favorite soapbox for your vanities

When all at once you're treated to

Another onslaught of disparities

Here we click and there we clash

Combating storms of new conspiracies

She's a groomer, he's a fash

Is there no end to these rivalries?

chorus:

Clicking around in a click & clash world

Crawling with conspiracy theories

Another domain for hosting your pain

Streaming in the latest new series

Triggering nerves in a click & clash world

Mass targeting the weakest of links

Frustrated gamer, cringe echo chamber

Not caring what else anyone thinks

Trolling up and trolling down

Another day trading in expletives

Where foreign assets fan flame wars

And secret click farms sow false narratives

Here we click and there we clash

Caught in a web of animosities

Spinning zones for apps on phones

Planning platforms for atrocities

(chorus)

Clicking around in a click and clash world

And finding out the hard way

THE LINES OF SIGHT

The houses dot the landscape

Boundaries marked by fence and tree

The spaces that comprise

Our civilized society

A balance of organic charm

And uniformity

Nature and Humanity

At last have called a truce

And the houses stand in harmony

With the maple and the spruce

But underneath the tranquility

Under the days of sunlit rest

The faint but ever growing sound

Is a soul beating its chest

chorus 1:

Angles meet and lines converge

Patterns form and start to merge

Into the lines of sight

The houses hug the hillside

Borders flush, compact, and tight

A bright young girl with life in her veins

On a cold and rocky height

Surveys the hillside homes

In the early morning light

The person and the property

Are not to be defaced

But the lines that separate the souls

Are savagely erased

And every tear looks more like blood

And a chance to quench the thirst

For the carnivores of consciousness

Who are quick to move in first

(chorus 1)

chorus 2:

Shadows fall and shapes are freed

Colors run and start to bleed

Into the lines of sight

The houses line the lake shore...

WORLD WIDE SCALE

Changes must be made

On a world wide scale

Consequences weighed

On a world wide scale

Justice must be measured out

On a world wide scale

Understanding brought about

On a world wide scale

As displaced populations mount

And diplomatic options fail

chorus 1:

All the hopes our plans betray

And still we call for votes

All the lives our efforts save

While at each others throats...

On a world wide scale...

Tempers must be cooled

On a world wide scale

All resources pooled

On a world wide scale

Measures must be carried out

On a world wide scale

Understanding brought about

On a world wide scale

As bad blood boosts the body count

And diplomatic pressures fail

chorus 2:

All the problems we ignore

And still we want to solve

All the thoughts that we condemn

While screaming to evolve...

On a world wide scale...

Power must be shared

On a world wide scale

Unity declared

On a world wide scale

Progress - we must tabulate

On a world wide scale

Happiness - re-calibrate

On a world wide scale

As heart rate readings elevate

And diplomatic measures fail

(chorus 1 + 2)

Changes must be made

On a world wide scale

Paradise surveyed

On a world wide scale...

Hate and hunger ended

Life and limb defended

On a world wide scale...

ONLINE SUNSHINE

Some days should be shut down

Before they even boot up

Held by the scruff of the neck

Like a feisty newborn pup

Images cropped to wound the heart

Tweets to hurt the head

A love in danger of deletion

Like a what-the-fuck? forum thread

Such an online

Ray of sunshine

chorus 1:

Doesn't matter who you are or method of transmission

No one has to take your shit or digital derision

You can text it, you can phone it, you can fling it online

Over wifi, over 5G, in a fucking FaceTime

You're still not getting through

Sunshine

Try to have a digital life

On this or that social site

Keep a low profile so

A web of drama won't ignite

Click-bait for the hungry trolls

Out to have me for dessert

Every post erupts in flames

The whole site now alert

Such an online

Ray of sunshine

(chorus 1)

breakdown (crackled and whispered phoned message):

From home or road

My little smartphone warrior

It's digital euphoria

Delete, resend

It's half pretend

My little message courier

The lines are getting blurrier

chorus 2:

Doesn't matter who you are or method of transmission

No one has to take your shit or digital derision

You can text it, you can phone it, you can fling it online

Over wifi, over 5G, in a fucking FaceTime

You're still not getting through

Remember who you're talking to

You still got work to do

On you

Sunshine

LAWS OF EMOTION

No brave deed to pull a trigger

No brave deed to throw a brick

Early Man could start a fire

Any ape can swing a stick

No brave deed to vanquish foes

By lining them up in unarmed rows

For all the backs they want against the wall

The one in China couldn't hold them all

This is crazy

This is totally insane

Words of fire fan the anger

Tempers rise to fever pitch

Generations primed for contest

Egos scratch that violent itch

No brave deed to vanquish foes

By lining them up in unarmed rows

For all the backs they want against the wall

The one in China couldn't hold them all

This is crazy

This is way beyond insane

This is no way to live

With access to a brain

chorus (X2):

So tell me the laws of emotion

What do we have a right to feel?

And how do we know our reactions

Are in response to something real?

All these eyes that lash out blindly

All these hearts that hate on sight

There's inter-species rivalry

But in our own can't be right

No brave deed to vanquish foes

By lining them up in unarmed rows

For all the backs they want against the wall

The one in China couldn't hold them all

This is crazy

This is tearing us apart

This is no way to feel

With access to a heart

(chorus)

VIEWER DISCRETION

Tripping over themselves they granted a god

Unlimited access to our souls

Promising Heaven but delivering Hell

Confession of sins as the camera rolls

It's Judgment Day come rule on Earth

But uncensored and more televised

This world they've created is Heaven x-rated

And viewer discretion is advised

chorus:

Inundated by conspiracies online

In a useless information age

Strangulated via digitized grapevine

Killing time in a cold-blooded rage

They cling to a stage where a god can judge us

Without our approval or defense

Where according to some what would Jesus do

Is pass judgment under false pretense

And it's Judgment Day, make no mistake

Now in session and secularized

This world they've created is Heaven x-rated

And viewer discretion is advised

(chorus)

Secret conversation

Lurid escapade

(And the camera...)

Useless information

Picked up and relayed

(And the camera rolls)

SHADOWS OF STEEL

A city with a city

An island in a sea of concrete

As far below the captains in cars

Navigate the street

Luxury hotels

Exclusive upscale homes

Teeming residential

And commercial building zones

Dangerous designs

Sky high skylines

chorus:

Building on such a grand scale

Some wouldn't think it wise

Who are they to make a sale

And affect so many lives?

Some have said it helps to spread

And strengthen business ties

The arguments go on and on

While steel still fills our skies

A city within a city

A mountain in an engineered chain

As high atop the kings of the hill

Laugh and sip champagne

A shimmering high rise

Has blotted out the sun

And casts a shadow on

A decaying city slum

Executive suites

Rooftop retreats

SUPERVISION

When our children make us proud

It's the values we imbue

But when they shame the family name

There was nothing we could do

We claim credit and control

If they get the right results

Children until they snap and kill

Then we try them as adults

chorus:

Our supervision was always somewhat blurry

It's supervision on the verge of going blind

No time to focus, adults are in a hurry

Another problem child far too gone to find

They need our expert guidance

And constant supervision

But when they make a big mistake

It was solely their decision

We oversee their actions

We command them to obey

But claim no voice in their wrong choice

When the trial's underway

(chorus)

Their growing minds don't know enough

To dress or fix their meals

And yet they're held accountable

For life and death ideals

And haunted by the memory

Of a baby in their lap

You think these model parents would

Even ask to take the rap?

(chorus)

PERFECT UNION

"We the people" are not free enough to understand

Those three little words

Unity is not means for exploiting the working class

Like stampeding herds

It's not a chain for shackling

The life of an independent man

All minds seek liberty

In order to achieve a plan

...And in order to form a more perfect union

We the loving are not brave enough to contemplate

Our own solitude

Loneliness is not a claim upon the love of another heart

No matter how viewed

It's not a cage for capturing

The heart of an independent mind

All need equality

In order to respond in kind

THE WORLD IS GETTING AWAY

Sunlight threw suspicion on the moon

Then the stars were blamed

Someone pointed a finger at the gods

And the universe was framed

But the world, the world is getting away

Oil implicated

In a world wide scheme

Everyone a victim

Of a hijacked dream

Zombies we circle the block

Like hands on the face of a clock

Life's a tattered suit

That just don't fit

We slowly waste away

Growing into it

Shoppers just doing time

In life's frozen check-out line

chorus:

The world is getting away

From the scene of the crime

And leaving shards of evidence

In shattered lives behind

The world is getting away

Giving all of us the slip

Like an omen to a clueless crew

Abandoned by the ship

Poisonous cloud

Building in the air

Handy-man planet

In need of repair

World full of carbon emission

Less than in live-in condition

Demographic born

To sweat and slave

Busy being mommy's

Little live-in maid

"Daddy said pick up the slack

And finish before we get back"

(chorus)

On the sea of extinction

Where wind and tide begin to shift

Under sky as thin as ice

Another species set adrift

FUCK THE WORLD

What if there were no rivals to face?

No worldly threats or wars to be won?

What if there were no calls of distress?

Nor any need at all for a hero to come?

How would you pass your days?

Without such submissive praise?

Could you coolly co-exist?

Or would you resist and...

chorus 1:

Fuck the world

Fuck humanity

Anything to prove

Your masculinity

Fuck the world

Got to show them you're brave

Need a nemesis to fight

And a damsel to save

Even if it's digging your own grave

What if there were no cries for justice?

No discontents or crime to control?

What if there were no spies to suspect?

Nor any need at all for a border patrol?

How would you ever breathe?

At which nothing you could seethe?

Would you shrivel up and die?

Or shout at the sky and...

chorus 2:

Fuck the world

Fuck civility

Anything to shield

Such vulnerability

Fuck the world

Got to always play rough

Need an enemy to hate

And to always look tough

Even if inside you've had enough

Customized crisis, over-blown urgency

Yet another emergency made for you…

Dog whistle whisper, raw animosity...

Any slur or atrocity will do...

Fuck the world

(chorus 1 + 2)

THE DYNAMO

Breathless from the run

We eyed the atmosphere

All above condensing and churning

Two hearts, we flee as one

So freshly driven from

Our prisons of silence and yearning

I can hear the low-pitched hum

Feel the built up momentum

Of the dynamo toiling and turning

The school day flows and nobody knows

Of our brazen truancy

So many ways to release the days'

Pent-up energy

Scale the rocky hill

Adrenaline is high

Pass the ancient mill

Decrepit and run dry

The dead leaves clog the floor

Of the dried up river bed

The foreman's by the door

Of the grey utility shed

She can feel the low-pitched hum

Sense the built up momentum...

chorus:

Our eyes are galvanized

By the gleaming power source

And the music of mechanics

Wields a mighty force

New found energy

Unlimited and free

Applied thermodynamics

Works its worldly course

The old foreman says "The world won't be the same"

As we bid goodbye and brace to brave the rain

Electric flashes charge the skies

In a fusillade of spears

The lightning echoes on her eyes

Then thunder in my ears

Stately power lines

In dynamic pose

Trace our headlong flight

To where the power goes

On the outskirts of the town

The company linemen pause

For a hearty, homespun round

Of rainy day applause

(chorus)

The old foreman sees the price of progress high

And the impact on society so large

Now we market electricity to buy

When the beating of our hearts is free of charge

I can hear the low-pitched hum

Feel the built up momentum…

makeituntrue.com

Somehow I knew in the cold cyber night

One day I'd visit a grave site...

Cast in a cold light

Eyes that evade

Trapped in a cruel world

Faults on parade

Somehow I knew...

Exiled spirit

Troubled outcast

Future in doubt

Long and tortured past

Somehow I knew...

chorus:

No sailing off into the cyber sea

No editing of your icon

No hyperlink from reality

No makeituntrue.com

Somehow I knew in the cold cyber night

One day I'd visit a grave site...

Cold-hearted people

Eyes that find fault

Relentless laughter

Daily assault

Somehow I knew...

Broken and battered

Spirit war-torn

Raging inside

Like a North Sea storm

Somehow I knew...

(chorus)

bridge:

It's a haunted message board

You're a frozen cyber ghost

Sometimes I return

And reread your final post

Searching for a clue

That would have made it all untrue...

KEEP YOUR COOL

All those years and drugs you took

The schoolyard bullies went off the hook

Medicate the victims who protest?

But not the thugs who target and molest?

"Someone show the latest chump

Our psychological garbage dump

Make sure our new friend gets the royal tour

Let's see how much their psyche can endure"

chorus 1:

Character assassins mixed within our ranks

Won't let the little misfits play

The epitome of cool but they can't realize

"The bully" is an old cliche

Voodoo doll of the spirit -

The cool kids curse - the misfits fear it -

Separate the ones who've had enough

"It's just some insignificant kid's stuff"

All year long they wear the tags

Of psychological punching bags

Analyze the ones about to snap

"The guidance counselor's fed up with your crap"

(chorus 1)

chorus 2:

Character assassins mixed within our ranks

Won't let the little misfits play

The epitome of cool but they can't realize

"The bully" is a dead cliche

"The bully" is a dead...

Keep your cool

I don't want to learn that in school

I don't want to learn...

Keep your cool

And if I have to learn that in school

If I have to learn that in school

Then I don't want to learn...

tag verse:

And we'll never call on ourselves

And we'll never open our eyes

Until the "gun" word shows up on a list

Of back-to-school supplies

abrupt fade out line:

Character assassins mixed within our ranks...

SUBSCRIPTION

didn't order all the pain and the fear

didn't order a single shedded tear

i have yet to see a victim-less day

on this planet we call civilized

didn't order all the scandals and schemes

rogue principalities and two-bit regimes

daily doses of the bloodiest scenes

we've prerecorded and televised

pre-chorus 1:

didn't order a peace treaty signed

when a hand shake should have sufficed

didn't order the prospects for peace

so extravagantly over-priced

pre-chorus 2:

didn't order the cameras to close in

when countless could have been saved

didn't order the heroes to hang back

when waters could have been braved

chorus:

cancel my subscription -

it's a world of contradiction*

this was not your ads description

i ordered paradise!

cancel my subscription to this life

cancel my subscription to this...

didn't order all the terrorist cults

lives led astray and the fatal results

children caught up in the crimes of adults

brainwashed to pray and praise suicide

didn't order all the racist dot coms

psychotics tinkering with homemade pipe bombs

lone assassins quoting scripture and psalms

to prove their actions were justified

(pre-chorus 1+2)

(chorus)

the tension only breaks

when a dream within awakes

and the human spirit takes

a new form

irrationality

floats like so much loose debris

carried clear across the sea

in a storm

didn't order all the bubble-gum pop

mass market divas and gangster hip-hop

updated versions of the same old crop

of vaudevillian song and dance routines

didn't order all the crime on tv

turned entertainment for the citizenry

i'm not a lawyer so why should i be

so transfixed on countless courtroom scenes?

(pre-chorus 1+2)

(chorus)

*Line substitutes.

First, second and third run-through of chorus:

1rst: It's a world of contradiction

2nd: It's a world of dereliction

3rd: It's a world of mass affliction

COPYRIGHT

All songs are copyright protected. The right of Michael Centra to be identified as the author of these works has been asserted by him in accordance with Copyright, Design and Patent Acts.

All rights are reserved. No part of any lyric published may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means without the permission of the author.