Other Projects: Up Against It
- When Worlds Collide
- Parallel Lines
- Free, Male, and Twenty-One
- The Smell of Money
- The Smell of Money (Waltz)
- If I Have To Be Alone (Up Against It version)
- Up Against It
- Life Is A Drag
- Lili's Address
- Love In Disguise (Up Against It version)
- In The End
- Maybe I'm Better Off
- From Hunger
- We Understand Each Other
- Entropy
- The Finale
When worlds collide, the best of us
Won't be here with the rest of us
They'll drop before the paint has dried
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
The young today, I must confess
Have lost the path of righteousness
By settling for something less
The smarty pants, they fail to see
The posture of morality
Is just like common currency
That's the way it works for me
So I dress like a brushing bride
Because my every move is sanctified
By claiming God is on my side
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
When worlds collide, the virtuous
Will have to take the shuttle bus
But we in limousines shall ride
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
These kids today, they have no pluck
Don't know the value of a buck
They think all politicians suck
But managing economies
Is one of my best qualities
Especially to friends like these
I can favor the ones I please
And if the mandate should be denied me
Then there's always something kept aside
If you have grease then you can slide
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
When worlds collide, the devious,
The cunning, and mischevious
Will mourn the moral men who died
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
The youth today, I must relate
Have not learned to appreciate
The pleasures of the city-state
They waste themselves on drugs and sex
And boogieing in discotheques
I'll take them by their bleach-blond necks
And conscript those I don't reject
Then I'll serve them butchered and fried
For our commander can sleep satisfied
While someone's licking one's backside
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
Kindred spirits moving along the spiral
I can see you up on another level
It's too great a fall
And I can't reach you to pull me higher
But I don't seem to get much closer or any more far
What would you tell me, if I could hear you speaking?
If you could touch me, how would I know the feeling?
I just can't imagine
But I try to do it anyway
I wish I was moving faster, I wish you'd drift back
But it just wasn't meant to happen
Very soon I'll have to
Face the fact
Some things never come together
Parallel lines running on forever
And you can't turn back
There is never any starting over
Parallel lines never do cross over
It's a challenge
Gotta make myself remember
Facing the truth, well, that doesn't mean surrender
What is bravado and how much is a force of will?
I know that the world is full of opposites that attract
But unless we ignore the physics
Very soon we'll have to
So I send you the gift of empathy
If you'd once in your life acknowledge me
I have visualized so thoroughly
That when I think of me I think of we
Can't face the truth
It means that we must surrender
Understanding won't satisfy the hunger
It whittles away at the destiny we fulfill
And like an animal running wild
You can't call it back
And it's just gonna make it harder
When it's finally time to
It's like a train that's stuck running on a track
Parallel lines running on, running on, running on
We're free
We're male
We're twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
It's not enough to be twenty-one and free
It's not the same as male and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
This is such a fine distinction
The career that we've begun
I just made twenty-one
I'm old enough to run
For congressman or clerk of the public works
Or dogcatcher or something just as dumb
If I should choose to run
I make no exaggeration
Just a statement of the facts
Now I'm second generation
And I am manly to the max
And no one can decree
Just who I have to be
The choice is up to me
And if I could be anything, I'd be
Male and twenty-one
It's nice to be a man
I use it all I can
I never had a choice for a higher voice
But I have to say I'm glad to be a man
Since this is what I am
Sigmund Freud may have a crisis
With his own identity
But there's nothing wrong with me
Because I enjoy being a boy
And all that it will say upon my resume'
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
If I could change
Change anything, everything
Everything in the world
Then I would make
Half of the world
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
And I don't believe in heaven
What a let down it would be
And I hope there's not a hell
But there must be a God 'cause He made me
Free, male, and twenty-one
There's got to be a God 'cause He made me
Male and twenty-one
Free, male, and twenty-one
My boy I say you're unaware of
Things that I am unaware of
The things they say behind one's back
That you suspect but aren't quite sure of
Don't say you haven't noticed
The smell of money is all about me
I just can't rid myself
Of it's overpowering bouquet
My inner beauty cursed with obscurity
By a scent that can't be washed away
I don't know who you think I am
But if I'm who I think I am
Then there's no cranny I've examined
Taints the air where ere I am
But don't say you haven't noticed
The smell of money wafts all about me
It neutralizes any other odors I convey
Best friends won't tell me
They know I'm suffering
With a scent that can't be washed away
The stench of money
Is reeking off of me
A mix of cheap cologne
Weasel pheromone and rotted grave
Thank dad and mommy
I'm filthy, stinking rich
So I can say to you "Piss off"
I bathe, I bathe
The smell of money
Like flies and honey
Appeals to something
More immediate than mere foreplay
And now if you're hungry
This one is on your mind
The aroma takes my will away
Who does this young man think he is?
Who needs this turgid love he gives?
For though he strives to please me
He can't hit the spot like fifty G's can
How can I help but notice
The smell of money
It makes me runny
I want a man whose been endowed
And is preparing to pay
And if you're tipsy
It even smells like love
The aroma takes my will away
It takes my will away
The aroma takes my will away!
If I have to be alone
Then I should make my mind serene
After all you're born alone, you die alone
You might as well spend every moment in between alone
But if I have to be alone
Then it will be on my own terms
I can never talk about it, ever show it
Even though the world is watching while I squirm alone
And your bleeding heart friends say, "Isn't it sad?"
Then they go make love
While you go insane. Insane!
It drives you mad! Mad!
My mind, I love my mind
And if no one can feel the same
I'm a computer with a name
And I've got no one else to blame
If I have to be alone
And if nobody understands
That special creature that is me
And if they fail to see the me I see
Then no one else knows truly what it means
To be alone
Maybe once in a lifetime you lose your will
Then you can let down your guard
But they cower in fear. In fear.
It makes you ill! Ill!
My heart, my burning heart
And if no one will quench the flame
I'm not obliged to do the same
And then they'll have to share the blame
Because I have to be alone
Because I have to be alone
But I don't want to be alone
Can you hear it?
Ear against the ground and you'll hear it
I can tell a change when I hear it
We are tigers
Kings of jungles
Trapped in cages
We forget we once were free!
And the average swain
Would be contented in his chains
Were it not for complainers like me
Throw the book
I'm up against it
Up against the rules
Bring the experts
Up against them
Up against the fools
Bring on city hall
I'm against them all
Lamp of freedom
No, you can't change
Human nature
Wheels of power
Keep revolving endlessly
With a fanatical faction
A charismatic attraction
There's a piece of that action for me
Call the press
I'm up against it
Up against the flacks
Bring the shrink
I'm up against it
Up against the quacks
Revenuers
Up against it
Up against the tax
Name some names
And I'm up against them
Bullies, big and small
I'm against them all
All we need is some vitality
Like an [...] individuality
But I guess they [...]
[...] make it all alone
Bring the girls
I'm up against them
I'm up against their lips
Bring the boys
I'm up against them
Up against their hips
Bring the priest
I'm up against him
Up against that cross
Bring the mob
I'm up against it
Up against the boss
Bring the cops
I'm up against it
Up against the jaw
Throw the book
I'm up against it
Up against the law
Politicians, all - I'm against them
Fascist lackies all against the wall
Fist of freedom
Guns of freedom
Bring the lackies
Up against it
Up against the wall
Bring the bishop
Up against it
Up against the wall
Bring the chairman
Up against it
Up against the wall
Put the general
Up against it
Up against the wall!
Submitted for your inspection
The evolutionary erection
Of primitive man
But before we explore the question of his sense of style
We must point out his predilection
To cover his glands
Brothers, we've been led to believe
That between Adam and Eve
There was nothing to hide
Were it not for Eve's primal haste
Or a leaf strategically placed
Who knows what she'd decide
Eve and some guy named Clyde
That's why life is a drag
Life is just a pose in a rag
You can play the part of
Pusher or pastor
Of harlot or hag
Life is just a dressing game
Life is a drag
The argument can be rendered
All bodies are forcibly gendered
By how they are wrapped
And though popular opinion holds this
Makes us civilized
So much deference is attended
By what's in one's lap
History proves that
Who wears the pants is as much a mere circumstance
As a matter of time
Ultimately, why should we care
Where one buys one's lace underwear
If one is so inclined
Show me yours, I'll show mine
That's why life is a drag
Fashion is a long running gag
We can deck you out in sequins or spandex
A mohawk or shag
Who remembers unisex?
Life is a drag
It's a drag
What a drag
You can be a stag in a bag
They won't know until you're stiff
On a slab and they look at the tag
What you see is what you get
Life is a drag
Let's just say
We hereby conspire
That a change of attire
Is all part of the plan
Something that was so long suppressed
Starts to show when you wear a dress
And if clothes make the man
They can unmake the man
That's why life is a drag
Life is just a pose in a rag
You can play the part of
Pusher or pastor
Of harlot or hag
Life is just a dressing game
Life is a drag
It's a drag
What a drag
Fashion is a long running gag
Aren't you glad they found a way to look hip
When your butt starts to sag
Praise the Lord, designer jeans
What you see is what you get
Who remembers unisex
And who are you calling fag
Life is a drag
Puff we now ourselves with pride
Swelling outward far and wide
For God Herself is on our side
With heaven's plan for the motherland
"All right, all right ladies,
Settle down now, settle down"
Now, the usual formalities
Everyone, hold all your questions please
You'll all have your opportunities to
Shoot the breeze or cut the cheese
But upon this juncture I must state
How immensely you appreciate
The illusion of grandeur I create
When every trait I overrate
And every word gesticulate
In praise of the motherland
Puff we now ourselves with pride
Swelling outward far and wide
For God Herself is on our side
With heaven's plan for the motherland
"Quiet please, quiet, I'm still speaking"
Irregardless of to what we pledge
The electorate gives me the edge
And the boost to my ego that can't be measured
Ruling you is such a pleasure
Speaking of good taste in dames
I submit to you my list of names
Maybe some of them come up short on brains
But good at diplomatic games
And sycophantic without shame
I give you the cabinet
The privilege is strictly ours
To have you watch while we devour
The crumbs of presidential power
That we can grub from Lilly
She's got the wardrobe we adore
Her teeth are perfect, what is more
She knows what having friends is for
We're silly over Lilly,
Silly over Lilly
'Til we're ill, we'll sing it shrilly
Lilly is the nation's pride
And we love her like a mother
"You like me, you like me"
You don't know what this means to me
To be the one you run to see when
You need a mother
"All right, I feel good
I'm a [partridge?]
I'm ready to take you all on
First question please"
Tell us the end, tell us the end
Can you confirm the rumours goin' 'round?
For the record, one time being
Terms of truth are being spread around
"All right, all right, settle down buddy
Are you ready to get an answer to your questions:
Yes, yes, no, maybe, no,
Maybe, not a wink, I wasn't there,
I don't recall, the dog ate it.
Now I certainly hope that clears up the air
And we can get on with important business now"
Tell us prime minister
Tell us prime minister
For the record
One time, prime minister
Sources state
That the Archbishop's hiding some
Thing of interest
Something of interest
Sources state
Maybe you're just a puppet of
Special interest
Some special interest
Special interest
Some special interest
We would like to know your posture please
On the hard line's platform policies
Like providing free to all the nation
Mandatory mass castration
For the sake of common decency
The Judeo-Christian society
Wants to guarantee a pregnancy
To anyone past twenty-three
Tell us prime minister
Tell us prime minister
We've fresh ugly rumors going 'round
For the sake of party unity
I've some photographs you'd like to see
Puff we now ourselves with pride
Swelling outward far and wide
For God Herself is on our side
With heaven's plan for the motherland
All right ladies, settle down now
Sometimes things fall apart
That's God's love in disguise
And when I break your heart
That's my love in disguise
When you awake in pain
It should come as no surprise
I'm not sure I care
But it still must be there
My love in disguise
And all you want are sweet lies
I see my problem now
Her love was in disguise
Some fear that won't allow
Her love to shed this guise
Ian, don't be a fool
Look what she's done
She'll do it again
Pale, pure, and virgin things
So frail, it turns from my eyes
It hides while I become
So hurt my heart is numb
When love is in disguise
The best you have is sweet lies
Ian she'll be our downfall
Don't believe your eyes
Lies! And she'll leave you all alone
Possessiveness and jealousy
We recognize easily
That which we claim to prize
No one can recognize
The poor young sap is unaware of
Things that we are all aware of
The knife she hides behind her back
Misery! He gets his share of
The flowers must pollinate
The beasts are forced to mate
Woman and man decide
Yet we're not satisfied
God's love is in disguise
And all we want are sweet lies
Sweet lies
Long live the glorious revolution
Sacrifice!
Christ-like sacrifice!
Pass that cup to me
I will bear the price
If the puny and insignificant
Are to have a glimpse of peace
Then someone much like I myself
Almost exactly like I myself
Must rise above the rabble
By helping them to their knees
As this is how I see myself
I might as well anoint myself
For the greater good of us all
You'll thank me in the end
For the loss of the weak and small
You'll thank me in the end
Though it may seem painful at first
You'll thank me in the end
And you'll wonder how things could get worse
You may not reach the end
Speak my name as your last breath is spent
When you were lost in your ignorant haze
And afraid of the dark
I led you out again!
When you dreamed that God was love
And life was a lark
I woke you up again!
For my sacrifice
Who will bear the price?
The extraordinary problems
That occur from day to day
Require somebody like myself
Let's say exactly like I myself
So that ordinary labors
May proceed with least delay
So we've elected me myself
Since we can think of no one else
When you're in the mood to complain
You'll call me in the end
Then for things that I'll do in your name
You'll blame me in the end
But if I use the right choice of words
Your family and friends
You'd betray like a cowardly turd
Then refuse to watch the end
Then we'll go through the whole thing again
And when I'm standing astride your backs
With my head in the stars
You'll take me in the end
While I'm bending you over and
Screwing you hard in the arse
You'll love me in the end
Pass that whip to me
Let us raise the price
Sacrifice!
Never knowing love
Just so you can believe a power above
This is my sacrifice!
You'll thank me
You'll thank me in the end
You'll like me in the end
You'll love me in the end
You'll praise me in the end
You'll thank me
Maybe I'm better off
If I never leave this cell
Maybe I've lived enough
In a world as free as hell (just as free as hell)
Where you keep on thinking
While it's stinking
You enjoy the smell
And you lick the bowl as well
Love's out there
They tell you
They sell you anything to make you happy
Then it all just turns to crap
So maybe I'm better off
Than I was when I was young
Now that I know the cost
When you try to love someone
Guess I'm better off
In jail at thirty-one
What about all my friends?
Now I won't have to watch them die
And every time they sell out
I won't be there to question why
They can get so high
On the butts they're kissing
While they're pissing
'Way each other's lives
As they shag each other's wives
No shopping, co-oping
None of the grand design to sooth the masses
'Til it's time to pay your taxes
Maybe I'm better off
Than I was in days gone by
Now that I know the cost
When you set your sights too high
Yes I'm better off
It's jailbreak time for Ian
Maybe I'm better off
Now that I've kissed her off
Now that they've whisked me off to the slammer and
Maybe I'm better off
Now that she's pissed me off
Now that my fist takes on a new glamour and
Maybe my mind's run off
Maybe I've just gone off my head
Maybe I've just gone 'round the bend
Maybe I'm in my own little world
It's jailbreak time for Ian
Praise the lord, it's jailbreak time for Ian
What the hell took you so long?
Life hands you new chances
Uncertain circumstances
Set you back
But then you win the Lotto jackpot
Every time you give up (every time you give up)
Then you give up being young
Everything has a cost
That's the way this world is run
Maybe I'm better off
Now I'm free and thirty-one
I'm free, male, and thirty-one
It's never your fault, sweet mother
That I was raised in the days
Of the house-husband craze
But the taste of your loving udder
Was replaced by another
Dried cow puss and rubber
And now a hunger still thrives
A hunger that I've never satisfied
I'm fumbling through life
From hunger
I writhe for someone
With a place I can hide my eyes
I'm searching for a mighty heart
Housed with a mighty crest
And from this base of operation
I would pacify the nation
But then who would rely
On a boob such as I
I'll be anyone's twit
For a mouthful of tittie
And still that hunger will thrive
A hunger that I've never satisfied
I'm fumbling through life
From hunger
I writhe for someone
With a place I can hide my eyes
And I've got big eyes
For someone
With a place I can hide these eyes
And that ain't all
We understand each other
Bull!
You hear some distant drummer play
I think we understand each other
Have you no else to offer?
Poor boy!
I have expenses to defray
I hope we understand each other
We have a problem
Yes, but it's not that we
Don't understand each other
Oh brother!
When they say "understand"
They gotta mean fairyland
For twenty tons of silver
She sold him into stir
And when it gets his freedom back
He throws it away over her
When he says "understand"
He must mean some other girl
I'll never comprehend
My putrid taste in men
It's not fair I love
Each little hair and he
Don't even care about me
When she says "understand"
Must mean some other man
Our preconceptions to retain
We're obliged to exclaim
We understand each other
We hear some distant drummer play
Must mean we understand each other
Oh brother!
If there's a problem
We'll admit it
Not that we don't understand each other
Each other
When they say "understand"
It's like Wendy and Peter Pan
Have you ever met somebody
More self-involved than he?
This has got to be a miracle
The man has divine empathy
What could be wrong with me?
I know his repartee
Insincere
He's down
There, I'm up here
But whenever he's near
It's some kind of divine empathy
When they say "understand"
Smells like something else to me
We're talking sleight of hand
Each other's mind
We read so well
We have no time to know ourselves
We understand each other
Though we don't even know ourselves
We think we understand each other
Though we don't even know ourselves
We think we understand each other
Though we don't know ourselves
I hope we understand each other
Each other
Consider the riddle that is man
From his perch at the top of Darwin's ladder
Though the rules he little understands
Plays at life as if it really mattered
When before all our eyes
A parading of lies
And reality splatters
But we have dreams, wonderful dreams
While we live in dreams, terrible dreams
We're only waiting, waiting for
Entropy, mindless entropy
Beseech it not,
For it has no thought of anything
All things are equal to
Entropy, heartless entropy
It knows not love, for it shows no love
For anything, anything
Breathes there a soul so dull
It has not striven to attach some meaning
To the chaos that invades the human skull
At the thought that some force is intervening
And this thought we call God
Keeps us straight as a rod
While all else is careening
But we have dreams, beautiful dreams
But we live in dreams, perverted dreams
While we are waiting
There's no stopping
Entropy, skulking entropy
That lustless rapist who plants its seed in
Everything, everything, everything
Yes, there is a thing call wisdom
But we've never had it
We are too preoccupied with
How to iron-clad it
There was never a chance
There was never a chance
Let us dance!
What about our fearless leaders?
What about our necks?
What about the church of Jesus?
How 'bout drugs and sex?
What about our precious freedom?
What about free will?
What about our precious freedom?
What about free will?
What about our precious freedom?
Entropy will win!
What about the rule of reason?
Entropy will win!
What about our precious freedom?
What about free will?
What about our precious freedom?
What about free will?
Entropy!
We're all up against it
Entropy
We're all up against it!
Entropy can't take away your freedom
Precious freedom
There's no freedom
No shelter
No heaven help us!
Entropy crushes everything
Entropy smashes everything
Entropy cleanses everything
Everything!
Drumgoole, my dear, I must admit
Your life's been one long pile of shit
I must be nuts, at least a bit
To want to be involved in it
But given the alternative
Who knows how we'd be forced to live?
When worlds collide, when worlds collide?
With you, Drumgoole, at my side
And at my side!
And at my side!
With worlds colliding in on us
Drumgoole must be trigamous
Pray, say we shall be man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
When worlds collide, the chivalrous
Drumgoole performs the frivolous
And dares to make it man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
That one's mine, he's my concubine
He'll get more out of me
Than what you peons call "love"
Hands off him, that one's mine!
Your favors do not satisfy
I've witnesses who'll testify
And though Drumgoole is thin of thigh
She's worth a try, she's worth a try
Though nature was not generous
Her breasts are not as pendulous
Yet still they would be man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
Now according to the law this week
Still evolving even as we speak
Any woman may, at her discretion
Have her pick of losers
Since the breed has dropped so in quality
We abolish, hereby, monagomy
If you don't quite fancy this selection
We've got lots more losers
I've seen all that I need to see
I've fallen for their flattery
And so we shall be man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
When world's collide, the rest of us
Won't be here with the best of us
For these, they shall be man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
Correct me, honey
I smell no money
And when the chips are down
You'll be back around this finger here
I never said that I was in love with you
I never said that I was not, my dear
Why must this girl have everything?
How quickly he forgets the sting
For though she feigns to please him
She is talentless except to tease him
Don't think we haven't noticed
We'll have a shower
And I'll allow her
She seems amused with you
It's so hard to keep her entertained
We'll all go "nudies"
And you can bring your friends
Just keep the one who's nuts for tits restrained!
My long term memory
Is not what it should be
Some tiny spark of love
Helps me find the proper words to say
Your smell of money
You filthy, lying bitch
Is just about to make me puke!
Go away
Please go away!
It's time to make us man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
We've simplified, no muss, no fuss
And vows are now superfluous
I just declare you man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
Georgianna, get over here with that law book
Listen up everybody
I've the law book right in front of me
Article sixteen dash thirty-three
"When consenting adults shack together
They're connected legally"
Though he wants to eat and have his cake
There's a pact with me he cannot break
So the rest of you go rot forever
This one will stay here with me
When worlds collide, the devious
The cunning, and the mischevious
Our not-yet-happy-home divide
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
When worlds collide, this friend of us
Is forced to be a succubus
Cruel fate is not upon our side
When worlds collide, when worlds collide
Connie! Connie!
This urgent telegram is just in from Parliament
Well don't just stand there, let's gloat over it
Aw oh, I don't think you're going to like this
"Must clear the old regime' away
The residue must be destroyed
As of 9:00 o'clock today
Contracts with men are null and void"
What!
You're free, my boy, I'm proud to say
And so without further delay
I now declare you man and bride
And man and bride and man and bride!
When worlds collide, the least of us
May get to share the feast with us
For now we four are man and bride
'Til worlds collide, 'til worlds collide
We're men and bride!
Other References
Lyrics v. 2.4.2
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