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Hey brother christian with your high and mighty errand
Your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you're saying
Hey sister bleeding heart with all of your compassion
Your labors soothe the hurt but can't assuage temptation
Hey man of science with your perfect rules of measure
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather
Hey mother mercy can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?
I want to conquer the world
Give all the idiots a brand new religion
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil
Promote equality in all of my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye and a "god you must be joking!"
Hey mister diplomat with your worldly aspirations
Did you see your children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey moral soldier you've got righteous proclamation
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations
I want to conquer the world
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children
I'll do away with air pollution
And then I'll save the whales
We'll have peace on earth
And global communion
Your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you're saying
Hey sister bleeding heart with all of your compassion
Your labors soothe the hurt but can't assuage temptation
Hey man of science with your perfect rules of measure
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather
Hey mother mercy can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?
I want to conquer the world
Give all the idiots a brand new religion
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil
Promote equality in all of my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye and a "god you must be joking!"
Hey mister diplomat with your worldly aspirations
Did you see your children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey moral soldier you've got righteous proclamation
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations
I want to conquer the world
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children
I'll do away with air pollution
And then I'll save the whales
We'll have peace on earth
And global communion
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 02:18
"I Want to Conquer the World" as written by Brett Gurewitz
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Cultural history lesson: "Saving the whales" is a term applied to the foolish pursuits of bleeding-heart do-gooders who think they can "conquer the world," "improve this place," etc. It is a clue that at least some of the content of the song is ironic. (Simple definition of irony: when you say something but mean the opposite.)
More irony: "give all the idiots a brand-new religion." Do you think Bad Religion the band would consider a new religion of any stripe to be a good thing?
So is B.R. saying they don't care what happens? Not at all. They're criticizing the messianic complexes held by a) Christians, b) liberal do-gooders (Sister Bleeding Heart could also apply to a nun or Catholic charity worker, i.e., Mother Teresa type,) c) rationalists who have faith in science and technology, d)not sure who exactly "Mother Mercy" with her fecund loins represents, e) diplomats and government types, f) probably right-wing "moral soldiers." That is, the song addresses a wide gamut, including non-religious people.
The basic meaning is that no matter who you are or what you believe or how smart you think you are, you're and idiot and an asshole if you think you have the answers to all the world's problems.
I think this song genuinely shows the desire to have the power to improve the world. I have been given no reason to believe that the vocalist fears his ability to successfully change the world.
The chorus is mocking that kind of "fix the world" idealism, that it will be as easy as putting an end to poverty "with a quick wink of the eye".
So the verse describes the people that the chorus imitates and mocks.
I don't know where I read it, but I read a quote from Greg Graffin about this song, something like
"A jarhead came up to me one performance, after we ended with this song, and his eyes were bright and he was enthusiastic, telling me 'Yeah man I feel exactly the same way!' and I just couldn't believe he was that oblivious"
With a quick wink of the eye
And a "God you must be joking!"
if yur gonna put things into context and analyze, this is where to begin.
self-rightous people have these panaceas they come up with and.. its ridiculous...it wont work...
its showing the ignorance of perspectives..even the ones with good intentions..
and alot of the song could be just lashing out...
but ones who are so ambitious.. even though its impossible...if they could do these tasks would result in many of the same problems.
theyre deep meaning in this song im not sure i understand.