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This song goes out to all the hopeless sinners,
With grave allegiances so meaningless and vain
The walking wounded,in a pageant of contenders,
Who balance on a rail of pain just for a pail of rain.
And everything, is barely mist- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
In my rectory of doubt I kneel to pray like one devout.
As time the great grey dreamless sleep of a modern useless modern God
Erodes away each storied day as wretched Adams with hell to pay.
Content upon a rail of pain for just a little rain.
And everything is dearly missed- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
There's an endless disposition and it doesn't mean a god damn thing.
There's space for a paper airplane race in the eye of a hurricane.
And if pigs could fly then surely so could I.
But this pedestrian knows better than to even try.
My divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly
And everything is dearly missed- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
All there is?
With grave allegiances so meaningless and vain
The walking wounded,in a pageant of contenders,
Who balance on a rail of pain just for a pail of rain.
And everything, is barely mist- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
In my rectory of doubt I kneel to pray like one devout.
As time the great grey dreamless sleep of a modern useless modern God
Erodes away each storied day as wretched Adams with hell to pay.
Content upon a rail of pain for just a little rain.
And everything is dearly missed- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
There's an endless disposition and it doesn't mean a god damn thing.
There's space for a paper airplane race in the eye of a hurricane.
And if pigs could fly then surely so could I.
But this pedestrian knows better than to even try.
My divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly
And everything is dearly missed- blood relations and bricks.
My expression, my confession
Add it up, extract a lesson more than this
Once again, like a bullet, as a friend tell me
Can that be all there is?
All there is?
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These lines seem to raise the most questions,
"There's an endless disposition and it doesn't mean a god damn thing.
There's space for a paper airplane race in the eye of a hurricane."
The disposition refers to human nature and how religion comes naturally to people. But this of course doesn't mean a god damn thing. The hurricane refers to the vast chaos of reality outside of the boarders of religion, however within the chaos there is space (very small space) wide enough to build organized interpretations of the true chaos of nature (religion). Deep in this symbolism Graffin cunningly compares the complexity of religion to that of a paper airplane race.
Brilliant!! Hahaha!
"And if pigs could fly then surely so could I.
But this pedestrian knows better than to even try."
This line facetiously describes the slippery slope of being religious.
"My divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly"
This line might be my favorite in the song. The butterfly symbolizes beauty within the chaos of nature. As an atheist, Graffin explains the disconcerting feeling that he has no divinity in the religious essence. However, he feels there is something else. He feels a personal divinity outside of the religious sense. But he cannot entirely grasp the idea as more than the beauty of a complexity within the godless chaos of reality (the colors of a butterfly). This confusion related to atheism, along with others that he addresses within the song, raises the question, "Can this be all there is?"
The thing this song really makes me think about is growing up as a kid and learning more and more all the things my parents told me were all lies... the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, Leprechauns... the list goes on. Why should God be any different? And I ask that as a serious question. There's no physical evidence that makes me feel completely confident about the existence a God. People make up so many things through-out history that get passed down and reinterpreted in so many ways. The idea of a God to meet in the after-life is such a comforting thing to help blindly push you through another day.
And the line "And everything is dearly missed" makes me think about how a part of me misses the comfort in those lies I grew up with. How things were easily explained through lies, or just didn't need to be addressed in my mind because they had simple answers with locked doors that didn't require opening. Part of me is glad I'm not that blind anymore, but that comfort is definitely gone.
The line "Can that be all there is?" leads me to contemplate is there just nothing when I die, and I no longer exist. It's depressing and confusing. It's like I'm running an equation in my head that has no answer. Being a programmer, I can see so many similarities to how people are just like complex programs, and that's just depressing as well.
It makes sense when I think about sleep and how parts of your brain shut down to de-fragment as I like to think of it. Dreams are often like false reality in my dreaming experience. And like my computer, if my G:/ drive is down or not connected, I can't access certain files so my computer world is not going to be all there. And it always amazes me how I often, in my dreams, I treat a false reality as an acceptable reality. It makes me feel like a computer without all my drives functioning.
But this is a great song! And I just love the fact that BR has been giving me so much to contemplate on for almost 20years now!
About the divinity part; I think it's a statement about being unable to have any serious impact. The singer's divinity, his best qualities, are caught in something "beautiful but small and very easily overlooked". As in "The message of peace the band tries to give is locked in a world [of music] that's beautiful, but will probably never really be noticed".
And yes, punk is so right... But like Anti-Flag puts it; "What have we done? You don't know. Untill you care. You never will". And even if you try to discuss about it with someone they won't be able to give better arguments than "punk sucks". If you like this and fancy harder stuff at times, look up "A Wilhelm Scream"... They're solemnly brilliant in their lyrics, and have great instrumental play as well, conveying somewhat the same message as Bad Religion.
it's worth pointing out that, again, as with most Bad Religion songs, it's not literally about religion. religion is more often a metaphor or serves as an example for the bigger meaning.
the verse between the 2nd and 3rd choruses is the most interesting and enigmatic and i wish i were able to make more sense out of.
"there's an endless disposition, and it doesn't mean a goddamn thing" - i guess that there's an endless order and structure to people's lives, but it's all really meaningless and insignificant
"there's space for a paper airplane race in the eye of a hurricane" - comparatively, paper airplanes are completely insignificant and powerless in relation to a hurricane, but they can still thrive in the eye of the hurricane, while the rest of the world is spinning and crashing down around it - metaphor for an individual's life i suppose
"and if pigs could fly, then surely so could i" - gofuckeryourself had a good interpretation i think - if greedy, ugly (on the inside), immoral ppl can succeed and seemingly "fly," then it would seem that surely so could anyone
"but this pedestrian knows better than to even try" - a pedestrian is someone who walks by foot, so obviously can't fly. however, pedestrian is also an adjective for something lacking inspiration or excitement. possibly a double-meaning.
"and my divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly" - no clue. i honestly thought it was "my debility" and either way i have no clue. thoughts?
there's a ton to each line of this song and i wish i could put it all together. i think everyone gets the overall idea though...
I agree with Safety, defintely. Great song.
I realize that that particular explanation sounds slightly Emo, but keep in mind that what separates Emo, as we know it, and Punk is that Emo deals with feeling sorry for yourself while Punk tried to put life in a perspective where you understand what is wrong and, in turn, figure out how to fix it.
poor brett never gets credit for his genious songs.