1. |
Anaesthetised
04:22
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We’re all hooked up to stuff we think could mean something. We’re all just finding ways to pass the time. The balderdash and ballyhoo may help some of us make it through, but before the fall arrives there’s the decline. So start waking up, start waking up, start waking up.
This is the time, this is the place. These are the steps you never will get to retrace. Just so you know, here’s the surprise, the truth will hit you somewhere right between the eyes – you’re anaesthetised.
Whatever you get told is what you think you know. Whatever the newsreader says is fine. So look around and take it in, the end is about to begin, but you’ll be OK … just don’t step out of line.
This is the time, this is the place. These are the steps you never will get to retrace. Just so you know, here’s the surprise, the truth will hit you somewhere right between the eyes – you’re anaesthetised.
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2. |
National Anthem
04:26
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You never know what you may find out there. We’ve never lived through times like these. Not even sure that we can trust the air. We’re in the shadow of disease. Just listen out for what the leader says, take the advice follow the rules. Be careful with the thoughts that you express, because awkward questions are for fools.
Stay at home. Be afraid. Watch TV. Just stay safe. Keep buying stuff.
We’ll build a gallows in the public square, make an example, maybe two. And we’ll decide whatever you can share, we’ll pull the plug when that protects you. We are the truth we are your guiding light, we’ll tell you all you need to know. We are at war, but now the ends in sight, in weeks or months or years or so.
Stay at home. Be afraid. Watch TV. Just stay safe. Keep buying stuff.
Don’t ask the lawyer or the witch-doctor, don’t ask the newsreader or priest, don’t ask the teacher or the TV star. From north to south, from west to east, compassion has been weaponised. Compassion has been weaponised.
Stay at home. Be afraid. Watch TV. Just stay safe. Keep buying stuff.
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3. |
The saved and the sinful
03:37
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People gathering here to see how we ought to be living. People gathering here to see who we ought to be loving. People gathering here to see who we trust to let inside. People gathering here to see if we ought to be outside, if we ought to be outside.
See the numbers, fear the numbers, believe the numbers, those magic numbers. He rolls the bones when the moon is full, then the witch doctor decides who is saved and who is sinful.
People gathering here to see what we ought to be owning. People gathering here to see who we ought to be stoning. People gathering here to see who we ought to be saving. People gathering here to see which flag we ought to be waving, which flag we ought to be waving.
See the numbers, fear the numbers, believe the numbers, those magic numbers. He rolls the bones when the moon is full, then the witch doctor decides who is saved and who is sinful.
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4. |
Panel Show Prince
03:41
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I’m a fast and mean killing machine who’ll skewer any sucker. If you cross me, I’ll make you bleed. I’m a righteous motherf*cker. They know the punchlines in advance in the territory I’m slumming, where a quip for every circumstance will keep the payments coming.
Stay in your lane, stay in your lane, we’re just here to entertain. Why punch up when it pays better punching down?
This is my passion and my art, my dear sisters and brothers. If you don’t like my principles, well I just might have some others. Because I don’t lie awake at night, preparing my confessions. I just count the money in the bank and finger my possessions.
Stay in your lane, stay in your lane, we’re just here to entertain.
I’m the Panel Show Prince, a fast-talking hired clown. Why punch up when it pays better punching down? Why punch up when it pays better punching down?
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5. |
Build a bonfire
05:45
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We made the gods we needed to appease and purified ourselves against disease. She said the thing that none should ever say, so let us get the cleansing underway.
Build a bonfire, build a bonfire, build a bonfire.
So one by one, they started to appear. We never knew the threat was quite so near. They broke the sacred rule of quarantine and now, among the clean, walk the unclean.
Build a bonfire, build a bonfire, build a bonfire.
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6. |
Maybe you should drive
04:22
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The things we thought we knew have gone and this feels like a different place, nothing like home. Beyond the fog, something seems clear: the hands that work the levers of the machinery of fear.
So maybe you should drive.
We don’t know what we’re headed for. Perhaps it’s always been this way and we’ve always been at war. Maybe the day will soon arrive when we’ll agree that two and two and two and two makes five.
So maybe you should drive. The passengers are asleep or hypnotised.
Wake up, open your eyes. Maybe you should drive.
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7. |
Ugly Showbiz
03:28
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The queen of compassion waves from a balcony above the square. A crowd of idol worshippers have left their homes to gather there. What comes out of her mouth might sound so sincere and humbling. The message may be poison, but she makes it sound like medicine.
She cares for you and wants to keep you safe, yes each and every day. If that means never leaving her, I guess that’s just the price you’ll pay. Do people get what people want or do people get what they deserve? She’s the people’s champion, she says; some people have a lot of nerve.
Now you might think it’s something cool to witness. Or you might think that you could choose to miss this enlightenment, or rapture of the witless. But whatever else this is, it’s ugly showbiz.
Feel the holy glow and move up towards the light. See her putting on a show while she’s hiding in plain sight.
Now you might think it’s something cool to witness. Or you might think that you could choose to miss this enlightenment, or rapture of the witless. But whatever else this is, it’s ugly showbiz. Whatever else this is, it's ugly showbiz.
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8. |
Muzzle Up
04:08
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You won’t have a leg to stand on, you can’t join the club until you muzzle up, muzzle up. Train your kids to feat the future, cross the road avoid the lepers, muzzle up, muzzle up.
And all the things you learn to do or learn to tolerate, wear you down like you’re under a spell. You give consent and then deny each step along the way to the state of cowardice in which you dwell through the lies you tell.
We’re all in this thing together, keep it safe we’ll live forever, muzzle up, muzzle up. Careful of the air you’re breathing, watch the news and keep believing, muzzle up, muzzle up.
And all the things you learn to do or learn to tolerate, wear you down like you’re under a spell. You give consent and then deny each step along the way to the state of cowardice in which you dwell through the lies you tell.
Get on your knees and muzzle up. Get on your knees and muzzle up.
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9. |
Sleepwalker
03:55
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What have they got to hide? We’re all safe, there’s no downside.
There are no missing links when all you ever think is what you’re trained to think.
Go sleepwalker, slow sleepwalker, sleep sleepwalker, stay asleep walker.
So block out the noise around, get set for the latest crackdown.
If all you ever hear is what they’ll let you hear, the bad stuff disappears.
Go sleepwalker, slow sleepwalker, sleep sleepwalker, stay asleep walker.
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10. |
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So it seems the war is over, or it’s just about to start. I can’t remember who we’re fighting now and I no longer have the heart to try and tell these sides apart.
I try to pay attention, to keep up with the news, but then again, upon reflection, maybe the fantasy that we can choose leaves the sweetest and the sorest bruise.
We live on a rock that is floating in space, where power is traded but never replaced, so all that is changed is the shape of the face.
And all you need to comprehend is when to bow and say ‘Amen’ because President Again is president again, again.
When the first to stop applauding is the next to disappear, you’d think we’d take it as a warning, a signal that is bold and clear in a climate of control and fear.
We live on a rock that is floating in space, where power is traded but never replaced, so all that is changed is the shape of the face.
And all you need to comprehend is when to bow and say ‘Amen’ because President Again is president again, again. They’re reading out the names of the people no-one will defend, because President Again is president again, again.
We’re all addicted to distraction, we’re all just scrolling through our phones. Here on the downside of inaction, the bird of liberty has flown from a future that has been postponed.
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11. |
You see me and I see you
03:40
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Amid the blether and the babble, we miss each other in the noise. Sometimes the absence of connection reflects the presence of a choice about the labelling and the othering we all are tempted now to do.
Perhaps we’re better off in wondering – Can you see me? Can I see you?
But when we open up the channels and find our way to some good place beyond the fuss, the fluff, the flannel … we meet each other face to face. And there, we find ourselves some meaning, something inside we know is true:
Into each other’s pain we’re leaning, when you see me and I see you.
You see me and we connect the dots between our feeling and cognition. I see you and I accept who you are here and now, without condition.
This is a place of understanding, a sacred spot in which to dwell. But how the message might be landing? Sometimes that may be heard to tell. But I know we’ll find a meaning, something that’s deep and dear and true:
Into each other’s pain we’re leaning, when you see me and I see you.
Yes I know we’ll find a meaning, something that’s deep and dear and true:
Into each other’s pain we’re leaning, when you see me and I see you.
Into each other’s pain we’re leaning, when you see me and I see you.
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The Eisenhowers Glasgow, UK
The music of The Eisenhowers presents an eclectic mix, inspired by the likes of Elvis Costello, David Bowie, The Kinks and Steely Dan. Following 2021's critically-acclaimed 'Judge a man by the company he keeps', the new album. 'Nudge Unit Blues', represents something of a departure, featuring, as it does, a somewhat dystopian take on recent events. It's still about the tunes, though! ... more
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