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Nothing comes easier than madness in the world today
Mass paranoia is a mode not a melody
Yeah I'd like to watch all thousand cable channels but there's nothing on
And my high speed connection's monitored daily by the pentagon
These things are seldom what they seem
I'm not inclined to enjoy my dreams
Won't go away
No Peace and No Friends
We Trace the mortal edge with no defense
To State the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense and No Guide
Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense
We are the prey and culture is the predator
I'm running out of time where conditions are positional
Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity
There's got to be a way to overcome this grim reality
Is there an option left for me
I'm not immune to despondency
There's no way
No Peace and No Friends
We Trace the mortal edge with no defense
To State the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense and No Guide
Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense
There's a signpost on the corner
And it keeps everybody safe
We were all made in the shade
And your mother's in the kitchen
Where she's patching all the cracks in the wall
We never had to care in the world
Too much to sacrifice
It's hard to recognize
Just a compromise of purely deadly alibis
It's combinational
The pressure so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense
Nothing's plainer than the madness in the world today
I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
I seek initiatives in matters that are black and white
So I'll construct this sound defense
Mass paranoia is a mode not a melody
Yeah I'd like to watch all thousand cable channels but there's nothing on
And my high speed connection's monitored daily by the pentagon
These things are seldom what they seem
I'm not inclined to enjoy my dreams
Won't go away
No Peace and No Friends
We Trace the mortal edge with no defense
To State the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense and No Guide
Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense
We are the prey and culture is the predator
I'm running out of time where conditions are positional
Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity
There's got to be a way to overcome this grim reality
Is there an option left for me
I'm not immune to despondency
There's no way
No Peace and No Friends
We Trace the mortal edge with no defense
To State the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense and No Guide
Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right
I won't resign before the struggle ends
So I'll construct this sound defense
There's a signpost on the corner
And it keeps everybody safe
We were all made in the shade
And your mother's in the kitchen
Where she's patching all the cracks in the wall
We never had to care in the world
Too much to sacrifice
It's hard to recognize
Just a compromise of purely deadly alibis
It's combinational
The pressure so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense
Nothing's plainer than the madness in the world today
I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
I seek initiatives in matters that are black and white
So I'll construct this sound defense
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"Mass paranoia is a mode not a malady."
"Mass paranoia is a mode not a melody" - mode, meaning a form, so hes saying mass paranoia is a way of life and often irrational and without structure, unlike a melody which has rhythm
"Yeah I'd like to watch all thousand cable channels but there's nothing on And my high speed connection's monitored daily by the pentagon" i think here he is mocking people for being to paranoid, i doubt he really thinks these things are true and is just scrutinizing peoples paranoia
"These things are seldom what they seem
I'm not inclined to enjoy my dreams" saying that nothing is as it appears, theres always some hidden message or meaning in randomm things, again i think hes mocking peoples paranoia, acting as if you should be paranoid about everything, even your dreams
won't go away
"No Peace and No Friends" our paranoia isolates us and is constantly on our mind
"We Trace the mortal edge with no defense" paranoid about dying and how everyday we "trace the mortal edge" and could die, with nothing that can stop it
"To State the obvious
This world is perilous for us" this world is dangerous due to the constant threat fear of death
"No sense and No Guide ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right" theres no guide (god) and no sense (order) so whats the point of living?
"I won't resign before the struggle ends So I'll construct this sound defense" he wont give up on life, and he is constructing this defense, not sure what the defense is though.. i dont know if he means god? like as in people are ignorant and use god as a defense to make sense of the world?
"We are the prey and culture is the predator" we have no control, even our culture is a threat to us, it seeks to rid us of our autononomy and individuality
"I'm running out of time where conditions are positionnal" hes running out of time to make up his mind whether or not peoples sates of mind are fixed or can change
"Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity" doubts about humans being able to change leave him pessimistic, reluctant, and corrupted
"There's got to be a way to overcome this grim reality" self explanatory
"Is there an option left for me" again self explanatory
"I'm not immune to despondency There's no way" even he isnt immune to this sense of hopelessness and despair and is looking for a sign that would make him optimistic about our world
"There's a signpost on the corner and it keeps everybody safe" the signpost is god, a signpost tells you where to go, guides you, god supposedly guides you through your life, hes saying that most people look to this signpost because theres really no other way to make sense of things
"We were all made in the shade" with god we will all be fine, "mad in the shade", god gives us this illusion that theres nothing wrong with the world and we'll all be fine as long as we look to god
"And your mother's in the kitchen where she's patching all the cracks in the wall" i think mother is relgion, patching the cracks in the wall means that religions try to find a way to explain and justify all of the bad things (cracks) in the world (wall)
"
"We never had to care in the world" again the religion "mothering us" telling us we dont need to have a care in the world, nothings in our control, so just leave it to god
"(no shame)Too much to sacrifice
(and no lies)it's hard to recognize
(just plan)Just a compromise
(??)of purely deadly alibies
(??)It's combinational
(Design)the pressure so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense"
i think this last part is from the perspective of someone weighing a life with god vs a life without god, a life without god brings shame due to the fact that we are responsible for our own actions, but this is to much to sacrifice, with god there will be no lies, because god is the ultimate "truth and power", with god theres a plan, but without god theres no plan, just what humankind does to each other (compromise, deadly alibies are basically bad things that will happen because we left things up to god and didnt take responsibility, its combinational, meaning that there is no one ultimate power(god) and that without god things are a combination of what everyone does, not just one supreme beings plan, without design the world seems so intense so he will use this defense, which is god
(no way)Nothing's plainer than the madness in the world today
(no sign)I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
(no break)I seek initiatives in matters that are black and white (no sence)
So I'll construct this sound defense
the whole song was kind of this debate about whether a life is better with or without god, and this last part of the song is the character basically regressing back into this narrow minded state, and embracing god as his defense to make sense of things
understanding it..
a point in life you reach; where you realize the severity and the sharpness of the minds edge internally... that comes with thinking along these lines so many walk along and others cant see..
its hard to put it into words
trying to discern from the clusterfuck of the world what your being told and bombarded with
and take on this unbearable weight on yourself.. the means of intelligence...
eventually if your smart enough you realize its you against Hell...
The Defense.. is you.
FIRST! This website is for posting what you think the song means,
not if you like it compared to other songs Bad Religion has made,
or if you like it in general. Its great that you think their songs
are great, but if you didn't and or don't like them, why would you
go look it up, and comment it, right? Its okay that you write it,
but I'm more than positive people come here to read about a meaning
rather than:
"I love this song! This band is the best!" ,or, "Ugh! This band sucks."
whichever way you see it.
Thanks, now with that out of the way, I can
move on.
This is what I think of the song part by part:
"These things are seldom what they seem"
-> "things" as in reference to possibly how the government controls
most of the activities we do throughout the different times of the day.
EX. the times we watch something on TV, and the the types of websites we
can or cant visit etc.
-> "seldom what they seem"
well, "seldom" means "rare", "barely", and "not often", and "seem" means
"how things appear". So if we put that together, we get, "rarely we see
how things appear." Which to me translates to how we don't see how the
government or the higher power controls us cause we don't want to believe
it.
-> "This world is perilous for us"
Easily saying that the world is a hazardous place to live in.
-> "Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right"
Greg scoffs at how people "love" the world and admire it so much that
they are blinded by everything that is corrupt and horrid in the world.
-> "I won't resign before the struggle ends"
To me, he is saying how even though things might be hard right now, he
wont give in to yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows "madness". Not only
would he, but many others hopefully as well until the problem is resolved.
-> "Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity, There's got to be a
way to overcome this grim reality"
The "shadows of a doubt" part before the comma is frankly simple, it says
how people are reluctant to help and provide their services to aid, because
of fear that the higher power would crush them down in their attempts.
And the second part after the comma means that together as one we can find
a way to get over the fact that the higher power cant keep our mouths shut,
our heads low, or our ideas for a better life in our heads. We have to join
together to make this change everyone hears about, singers sing about, and
politicians "preach" about.
-> "There's a signpost on the corner and it keeps everybody safe"
Signposts on corners often mean "yield", "Children at play", etc.
The rest is understandable and can be interpreted in very easy ways.
My compliments to Securitron5k, chiefhky29, and to johanvanwyk for
actually depicting what the message was behind the song.
Trace - a surviving mark, sign, or evidence of the former existence, influence, or action of some agent or event; vestige: "traces of an advanced civilization among the ruins."
Mainly i think the song goes about how everthing in sosciety is being kept up by rules and how anything is done to keep ppl from abying to those rules. So i think "we trace the mortal edge with no defense" means that they are trying to find some sign of any mortality in todays life with no specific "hiden" reason and then backs it by saying "To State the obvious, This world is perilous for us" (aka there is no more morality).
Bad Religion ftw.
FIRST! This website is for posting what you think the song means,
not if you like it compared to other songs Bad Religion has made,
or if you like it in general. Its great that you think their songs
are great, but if you didn't and or don't like them, why would you
go look it up, and comment it, right? Its okay that you write it,
but I'm more than positive people come here to read about a meaning
rather than:
"I love this song! This band is the best!" ,or, "Ugh! This band sucks."
whichever way you see it.
Thanks, now with that out of the way, I can
move on.
This is what I think of the song part by part:
"These things are seldom what they seem"
-> "things" as in reference to possibly how the government controls
most of the activities we do throughout the different times of the day.
EX. the times we watch something on TV, and the the types of websites we
can or cant visit etc.
-> "seldom what they seem"
well, "seldom" means "rare", "barely", and "not often", and "seem" means
"how things appear". So if we put that together, we get, "rarely we see
how things appear." Which to me translates to how we don't see how the
government or the higher power controls us cause we don't want to believe
it.
-> "This world is perilous for us"
Easily saying that the world is a hazardous place to live in.
-> "Ain't it beautiful to be alive Yeah right"
Greg scoffs at how people "love" the world and admire it so much that
they are blinded by everything that is corrupt and horrid in the world.
-> "I won't resign before the struggle ends"
To me, he is saying how even though things might be hard right now, he
wont give in to yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows "madness". Not only
would he, but many others hopefully as well until the problem is resolved.
-> "Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity, There's got to be a
way to overcome this grim reality"
The "shadows of a doubt" part before the comma is frankly simple, it says
how people are reluctant to help and provide their services to aid, because
of fear that the higher power would crush them down in their attempts.
And the second part after the comma means that together as one we can find
a way to get over the fact that the higher power cant keep our mouths shut,
our heads low, or our ideas for a better life in our heads. We have to join
together to make this change everyone hears about, singers sing about, and
politicians "preach" about.
-> "There's a signpost on the corner and it keeps everybody safe"
Signposts on corners often mean "yield", "Children at play", etc.
The rest is understandable and can be interpreted in very easy ways.
My compliments to Securitron5k, chiefhky29, and to johanvanwyk for
actually depicting what the message was behind the song.
also i dont think he's saying it isn't beautiful to be alive, he's mocking everyone for not appreciating what we have.
also, the song as a whole i think he really typical in content for bad religion, not in a bad way though. he's bsaically saying how easy it is to br driven crazy by our surroundings
"we trace the mortal edge with no defense" that line is great lyric. its open for interpretation too. i mean i guess the "mortal edge" would be death obviously. and with no defense meaning theres nothing we can do to escape death. i don't no waht he means by "tracing" death with no defense though. anyone?
(No shame) Too much to sacrifice
(No lies) It's hard to recognize
(Just black) Just a compromise
(And white) of purely deadly alibies
(?) It's combinational
(Design) The pressure so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense