Lyrics for Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sw... as interpreted by ecureuil

Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sw... Lyrics
Next Thursday you're invited to watch Rising Tide's live coverage of a gala tribute in salute to Ronald Reagan. Host Haley Barbour joins special guest lady Margaret Thatcher in celebrating the former president's 83 birthday. Ticket's are 1000 Dollars a plate but you can see the event free on GOP TV.

Images of perfection, suntan and napalm
Grenada - Haiti - Poland - Nicaragua
Who shall we choose for our morality
I'm thinking right now of Hollywood tragedy

Big mac: smack: phoenix r: please smile y'all
Cuba, Mexico can't cauterize our discipline
Your idols speak so much of the abyss
Yet your morals only run as deep as the surface

Cool - groovy - morning - fine
(If white)
Tipper Gore was a friend of mine
(America)
I love a free country
(told the truth)
The stars and stripes and an apple for mommy
(for one day)

Conservative say: there ain't no black in the union jack
Democrat say: there ain't enough white in the stars and stripes

Compton - Harlem - a pimp fucked a priest
The white man has just found a new moral saviour
Vital stats - how white was their skin
Unimportant - just another inner-city drive-by thing

Morning - fine - serve your first coffee of the day
Real privilege, it will take your problems all away
Number one - the best - no excuse from me
I am here to serve the moral majority

Cool - groovy - morning - fine
(If white)
Tipper Gore was a friend of mine
(America)
I love a free country
(told the truth)
The stars and stripes and an apple for mommy
(for one day)

Zapruder the first to masturbate
The world's first taste of crucified grace
And we say: there's not enough black in the union jack
And we say: there's too much white in the stars and stripes

Fuck the Brady bill
Fuck the Brady bill
If God made man they say
Sam Colt made him equal

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  • 27 Comments
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hell_i_call_my_head
05-27-2002

Rated 0 
wow...how true.

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Cherub Rock
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
Such a brilliant indictment of America -- no wonder the album ("The Holy Bible") is still only available in America on import...

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MissD
08-30-2002

Rated 0 
It's not that nice about england either. Just about racism and the racism that is still present in our society. Focusing on America.

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blind_rockstar
08-30-2002

Rated -2 
itsweirdhowwhoevertheartistisorwhoeverpostedthissongdoesntknowwhataspaceisordoesntevenknowhowtousethefreakinspacebar

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ecureuil
09-05-2002

Rated 0 
This is the proper title. It's one word, not separate.

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Songmeaningsuser
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
Yes it is the proper, even the gramatically incorrect apostrophe.

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my nothing
11-19-2004

Rated 0 
ifricheyedwardsisthegreatestlyricistofalltimehowcomethemanicsarethemostunderratedbandintheworld

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my nothing
11-19-2004

Rated 0 
And by the way blind rockstar, we really don't need some fucking skater whose favourite band are one hit wonder thickheads commenting on what way the manics choose to have their song titles.

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the kitteness
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
I'm American, and I agree with all of this. America's gone to hell and I'm even ashamed to admit that I live here. I love this song, anti-America or not. The lyrics are brilliant, and I love the tune.

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richeye
04-14-2005

Rated 0 
Why IS the title like that? Is it simply because it would be REALLY long otherwise?
The song is about the lie that is the American Dream. Zapruder was the guy who caught the Kennedy assassination on film, exposing the corruption that still exists in the corridors of power in the U.S (if you believe the conspiracy theorists who claim that the FBI or CIA were responsible).

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my nothing
07-06-2005

Rated 0 
I love the title :)

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Citizens Sinful
12-28-2005

Rated 0 
I'd just like to add my ideas about the title...
I think it's also taking a hit at America. We (Americans) really have butchered the language, either by changing the spellings of words to be "different", or by saying something like (Don't take offense to this) "Yo homie! Sup my brotha?!" ...sorry, easiest example I could find. The title shows bad lingual skills that we've really attained, while still keeping a title that works for the song.

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orangebeaker
01-05-2006

Rated 0 
I'm not a big fan of this album but I do like this song, in particular the chorus:

"Cool - groovy - morning - fine
(If white)
Tipper Gore was a friend of mine
(America)
I love a free country
(told the truth)
The stars and stripes and an apple for mommy
(for one day)"

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fourganger
01-10-2006

Rated 0 
Conservative say: there ain't no black in the union jack
Democrat say: there ain't enough white in the stars and stripes

No difference between progressives and conservatives when it comes to the issue of race is what I think they're saying here. Interesting that they used Conservative instead of Republican, expands the song beyond being just America.

My fav bit is the bit about privilege, they're saying that most people don't care about social problems so long as they have their little comforts.

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richeye
01-10-2006

Rated 0 
America took action to suppress socialist - potentially communist - uprisings in Grenada, Haiti, and Nicaragua (and Chile, and Guatemala...), in case anyone was wondering what their relevance was.
And I've since discovered that the title was inspired by Lenny Bruce, a controversial American comedian who strongly opposed censorship. Info courtesy of www.manics.nl, if anyone's interested.

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children on stun
02-01-2006

Rated 0 
cherup the album isn't sold in import version if at all i don't even think the so called American version was ever officially released its only come out now as the holy bible box set and that includes the original with it and the manics aren't even very well known here they never tour here and have no radio play and to say that this song is Such a brilliant indictment of America is bullshit you have no understanding of american politics if you think that or think that America is the only country who has these problems

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Cherub Rock
02-08-2006

Rated 0 
Could you repeat, coherently, why it's bullshit to say this song is a brilliant indictment of American politics? And, actually, America IS the only country to have some of these "problems", i.e., they are the only superpower in the world and the only country to have systematically destroyed Socialist/Communist governments over the last half a century

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Omnicide
03-19-2006

Rated 0 
REFERENCES.

The title is a quote from Lenny Bruce and is most likely shortned to fit on the album cover. But that IS how it's spelt and it's NOT a potshot at American linguistics.

Grenada-Haiti-Poland-Nicaragua = all places where the US military have fought

Tipper Gore = For my fellow brits, she's Al Gore's wife and, long story short, she's the reason for those bloody 'Parental advisory' stickers on CDs.

Union Jack = UK's flag, in case you didn't know.

Moral Majority = movement of rich conservative christians that started around 1979 who believe in pro-life, censorship and the suppression of homosexuality. I'm sure Jesus would dissaprove of the cunts as much as most sane people do.

Zapruder = In case you've been on Mars for the last 50 years, this fella had hand-held camera footage of the Kennedy assassination. Back and to the left. Back and to the left....

Sam Colt = Gun manufacturer. The lyric is a popular saying.

Brady Bill = named after the fella who took a shot at Reagan and didn't finish the job, unfortunately. The bill legislated the five-day waiting period for guns in the US.

The higlight of the album to be sure, and yes, the sample IS an advert for a real event... the horror the horror.

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Madkal
04-28-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about the way America (especially Republicans) use their "morality to justify their actions. The line "Who shall we choose for our morality" expresses the notion of America forcing its will upon others because they think they hold the moral high ground. However, the Manics expose this hypocracy with the line "Your idols speak so much of the abyss/
Yet your morals only run as deep as the surface" which shows that while the idols (leaders) are preaching about the end of the world and how they do what they do to prevent the world from slipping into chaos, the real reason behind it is their own personal agendas, ie the moralaity is just surface ie superficial.

It is also interesting to look at how America has gotten involved in other countries mentioned in the song, and the song points out that America has its own problems (racial) that it choses to ignore. Perhaps a criticism on the instead of trying to fix everyone elses problem, try to fix your problems first.

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afbailey
11-08-2006

Rated 0 
Brady wasn't the guy who shot Reagan, he was a Reagan staffer who got hit and is now paralyzed because of his wounds. The Brady Bill is gun control legislation, but I'm not sure of the specifics of it. The guy who shot Reagan was John Hinckley Jr.

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BBBS
12-06-2006

Rated 0 
Big mac: smack: phoenix r: please smile y'all
Cuba, Mexico can't cauterize our discipline
Your idols speak so much of the abyss
Yet your morals only run as deep as the surface

a simple reference to river phoenix's overdose and what that does and doesn't mean to society in general. it speaks of a lack of understanding and empathy, and i would assume big mac refers to the disposable nature of pop-culture icons

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bigtitstina
05-14-2007

Rated 0 
Reminds me of the 9/11 conspiricies ..
Loose Change.
The more you watch
the MORE it makes sense.

"She has a look only a mother could give a child."
- Bush to the Queen.
ROFL. :)

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aladdinsane57
08-13-2008

Rated 0 
the last lines bother me; are they being sarcastic or do they really dislike gun control?

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egress
10-23-2008

Rated 0 
The last stanza is intentional. The Manics are saying that there shouldn't be gun control, hence "Fuck the Brady Bill" and "If God made man they say, Sam Colt made him equal". Fuck the Brady Bill because it was signed in the first place, making guns harder to get. They are saying Sam Colt's style of justice - shooting another man - makes man equal and man should have every right to get a gun and shoot anybody. In essence, guns become righteous vessels of justice for man.

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badstyle
01-13-2009

Rated 0 
The song title means what it says. It is based on the idea that if "white America", i.e. the political elite could just be honest and own up to it's own citizen's that it corrupt and looking after it's own interests then it would implode.

The reality is that a lack of gun control and available drugs in the poverty ridden areas of America means that the white elite don't have to watch their own backs - the poor can just appear to dwell in a cesspit of their own making.

The song wants to illustrate that America isn't the land of the free it claims to be - it wants to show that has developed into an apparent land of make-believe, fantasy, Hollywood and mass produced shite. Big Macs and the "American Dream".

At the begining the lyrics show that some people are prepared to pay $1000 for plates of food in celebration of people who did nothing to develop the country and litterally looked after their own endeavours and didn't give a toss for anything else. After all why should they? These elitists have got everything to loose by helping anybody else out, their world would just fall apart if they did, it would destroy their own personal "American Dream".

Just think about it...

On inspection the American Dream appears to be a highly self destructive philosophy that billions of people buy into through fear and fabrication.

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