Bad Religion : The Process of Belief

Punk-Rock / USA
(2002 - Epitaph Records)
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Lyrics


1. SUPERSONIC

Well, am I making haste or could it be haste is making me
What's time but a thing to kill or keep or buy or lose or live in
I gotta go faster, keep up the pace
Just to stay in the human race

I could go supersonic
The problem's chronic - Ah! Oh!
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate
I just accelerate
Into oblivion

Into oblivion - Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah!

Now here I go again, everything is alien
How does it feel to be outstripped by the pace of cultural change
My deeds are senseless
And rendered meaningless
When measured in that vein

I could go supersonic
The problem's chronic - Ah! Oh!
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate
I just accelerate
Into oblivion

I won't lie, - Pace setters, go getters
It's exciting - Rat racers, forget hers
When I try - Researchers, berserkers
To decide things. - Strategies to help the workers
I just want to live, - New time saving devices
Decently, - Quick vices, no crises
Meaningfully, - Brevity, dependency
I'm in misery. - Digital efficiency

I could go supersonic
The problem's chronic - Ah! Oh!
Tell me does life exist beyond it?
When I need to sate
I just accelerate
Into oblivion

Into oblivion - Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah!


2. PROVE IT

Hit the road in wander mode, inquire along the way
Savoir-faire in full despair while living day-to-day

My heart is not a cold cauldron of proof
I don't ever need to prove myself to you, no!

Looking back I'm off the tracks more times than I recognize
Mistakes are another opportunity to refine

My heart is not a cold cauldron of proof
I don't ever need to prove myself to you

There's no such thing as hell
But you can make it if you try
There might come a day
When emotion
Can be quantified but as of now
There's no proof necessary
No proof necessary
No proof necessary
There's no proof necessary
It's only in your mind, mind, mind, your mind


3. CAN'T STOP IT

I'm incurable but durable, it's easy to see
Lack of restraint is a complaint of those around me
I know that others postpone
Gratification well I lack that affectation
Let's get it right - let's get it right - there's no end in sight

And I can't stop - Can't stop
You can't stop it - Can't stop
You can't stop - Can't stop
Can't stop it's shocking, but I just can't stop it!
That's right!

Uncontrollable, I'm inconsolable
My pleasure center is the shelter for a reptile
I hate when I gotta tolerate
Frustration, see I lack the motivation
Let's set this straight - let's set this straight - I never wait

And I can't stop - Can't stop
You can't stop it - Can't stop
You can't stop - Can't stop
Can't stop it's shocking, but I just can't stop it!
That's right!


4. BROKEN

She said: "Thanks, but I'm broken.
I guess you must have misspoken;
What a laugh, I've never been chosen by anyone."

She was barely a teen hangin' out in-between, just a part of the scene
With mercurial smile and incurable style, she was only a dream
How's that, he didn't know a thing about
Making love to the kind of girl you read about

He said: "I'm glad to be broken.
My daddy bet that I'd amount to nothing,
He won't let anybody show him anything."

He was a troubled child he'd been down for a while, always kept to himself
Though she couldn't defend, he only wanted a friend, now he's made something else
It's so sad, no one saw it coming
The paper said that he hit the ground running

Oh yeah! I know I'm not broken
A little cracked but still I'm not broken
I wanna laugh but I think that I'm choking on reality

When the world is turning for you don't turn on me
Who are you here to repair, well I don't know what you mean
You could never resist glorifying despair
Now it's coming to you and I don't really care

While I'm not the kind to insist you couldn't have missed, we must co-exist
So please listen to me there is no such thing as human debris

Oh yeah! I know I'm not broken
A little cracked but that amounts to nothing
I wanna laugh, I'm not jokin'

I'm unbroken - Oh yes! I said I'm not broken
I said I'm unbroken - A little cracked, it's just a token
I'm really not broken - ??? I'm unbroken


5. DESTINED FOR NOTHING

Yah, hey!
Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Oh! Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Ah! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Oh! Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh!

Who do you believe can put some meaning in your life?
Meaning in your life? Meaning in your life?
Who do you conceive to provide you guidance & light?
Guidance & light? Guidance & light?
Are they waiting for you in the by & by?
Do you even have to try?

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see - it's easy
To confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy
It's only destiny

Why do you consent to live in ignorance & fear?
Ignorance & fear? Ignorance & fear?
Ancient people succumbed to it, can it happen here?
Can it happen here? Can it happen here?
Does it make you suffer, cos you have you have to die?
Is it best to live a lie?

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see - it's easy
To confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy
It's only destiny

Why can't you see,
That there ain't no destiny
For you & me?
That there ain't no destiny!

Why can't you see - Why can't you see
(There ain't) No destiny - There ain't no destiny!
Why can't you see - For you & me?
(There ain't) No destiny - There ain't no destiny, no!

Headed for eternity and destined for nothing
The future isn't difficult to see - it's easy
To confuse grand design with life's repercussions
Lament not your vanquished fantasy
It's only destiny
Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Oh! Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Ah! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Oh! Wo! Oh! Oh!
Wo! Oh! Oh! Ah! Oh! Oh!


6. MATERIALIST

You're obsessed and distressed cos you can't make any sense
Of the ludicrous nonsense and incipient senescence
That will deem your common sense useless
This ain't no recess!

I want to believe in you but my plans keep falling through
I know I have to face the harshness, grin and bare the truth
And I have to walk this mile in my own shoes - but I'm no fool!

I'm materialist, a full-blown realist
I guess I'm full of doubt so I'm prone to have it out with you
I'm materialist, there ain't no fear in this
It's there for all to see so don't talk of hidden mysteries with me

Mind over matter it really don't matter
If the street's idle chatter turns your heart-strings to tatters
Flatter hopes don't flatter and soul batter won't congeal to mend a life that is shattered into shards
Was it in the cards?

The process of belief is an elixir when you're weak
I must confess, at times I indulge it on the sneak
But generally my outlook's not so bleak - and I'm not meek!

I'm materialist, call me a humanist
I guess I'm full of doubt I'm prone to have it out with you
I'm materialist, I ain't no deist
It's there for all to see so don't talk of hidden mysteries with me

Like Rome under Nero, our future's one big zero
Recycling the past to meet immediate needs
And through it all we amble forth to persevere and climb
Our mountains of regret to sow our seeds

I'm materialist! (x4)


7. KYOTO NOW!

It's a matter of prescience
No not the science fiction kind
It's all about ignorance
And greed & miracles for the blind
The media parading, disjointed politics
Founded on petro-chemical plunder and we're its hostages

If you stand to reason you're in the game
The rules might me elusive but our pieces are the same
And you know if one goes down we all do down as well
The balance is precarious as anyone can tell
This world's going to hell

Don't allow this mythological hopeful monster to exact its price
Kyoto now! We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

You might not think it matters now but what if you are wrong
You might not think there's any wisdom in a fucked up punk rock song
But the way it is cannot persist for long,
A brutal sun is rising on our sick horizon

It's in the way we live our lives
Exactly like the double edge of a cold familiar knife
And supremacy weighs heavy on the day
It's never really what you own but what you threw away
And how much did you pay?

Don't allow this mythological hopeful monster to exact its price
Kyoto now! We can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right
In your dreams you saw a steady bounty for eternity
Silent screams but now the wisdom that sustains us is in full retreat

Don't allow this mythological hopeful monster isn't worth the risk
Kyoto now! We can't have vision for the future if it can't be fixed
Alien, we need a fresh and new religion to run our lives
Hand in hand the arid torpor of inaction will be our demise

Oh! Oh! Kyoto now!


8. SORROW

Father can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born
And all the sorrow in this world

Let me take you to the hurting ground
Where all good men are trampled down
Just to settle a bet that could not be won
Between a prideful father and his son

Will you guide me now, for I can't see
A reason for the suffering and this long misery
What if every living soul could be upright and strong
Well, then I do imagine

There will be - sorrow
Yeah! there will be - sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

When all soldiers lay their weapons down
Or when all kings & all queens relinquish their crowns
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves
It's easy to imagine

There will be - sorrow
Yeah! there will be - sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

There will be - sorrow
Yeah! there will be - sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more

There will be - sorrow
Yeah! there will be - sorrow
And there will be sorrow no more


9. EPIPHANY

A new age of reason, brain treason to trick the mind
What good is searching if nothing's there to find?

We arrive at this place of no return my brothers
Only to discover that our minds have led us away
So far from the painful truth of who we are

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear & pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy - of epiphany

Come forth bear witness, see the profit from your loss
Beg for forgiveness only after you tally the cost

We arrive at this place of no return my sisters
Only to discover that our values ran us aground
On the shoal in the sea of what we could be

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear & pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy - of epiphany

If it's real for me do I have to prove it to you?
Why do revelations fade to cold blue untruths?
It's oh! so relative
Subservient in total to one's perspective

What's right is wrong, what's come has gone, what's clear & pure is not so sure
It came to me
All promises become a lie, all that's benign corrupts in time
The fallacy - of epiphany


10. EVANGELINE

She came from heaven well there's no point belaboring that
I've seen some trouble I must admit that I'm in demand
I confront rejection with magnetic good intentions and yet
Hey Jack! get back, in fact don't do that
I act sharp but feel uncertain
Cos next time - it could be curtains

Evangeline - Evengeline - conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith cos mine is broken
Compared to mine what is your crime Evangeline

Now just to be certain let's be sure to set the record straight
I could use an angel but I don't intend to split up the take
Never go for treason but I got reasons that don't warrant debate
My act's intact and in fact you're not all that
You act sure, but you're uncertain
Cos next time - it could be curtains

Evangeline - Evengeline - conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith cos mine is broken
Compared to mine what is your crime Evangeline

Well, there's no use turning back - no use turning back
It's already much to late
When the house is burning

Evangeline - Evengeline - conspirator so fine
Lend me your faith cos mine is broken
Compared to mine what is your crime Evangeline


11. THE DEFENSE

Nothing comes easier than madness in the world today
Mass paranoia is a mode not a malady
Yeah! I'd like to watch a 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 - no peace
And no friends - And no friends
We trace - we trace the mortal edge
With no defense - to state the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense - no sense
And no guide - 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 & 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 - no peace
And no friends - And no friends
We trace - we trace the mortal edge
With no defense - to state the obvious
This world is perilous for us
No sense - no sense
And no guide - 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 a care in the world, oh! oh! oh! oh!

No shade - Too much a sacrifice
And no light - It's hard to recognize
Just black - Traps & compromise
And white - obscuring deadly alibis
My plans - It's combinational
Designs - The pressure's so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense
No way - Nothing's plainer than madness in the world today
No sign - I must conceal myself & steal myself & break away
No grace - I'll seek initiative in matters that are black & white
No sense - So I'll construct this sound defense


12. THE LIE

How do you know what you can be if you can't see where you are going?
What breaks the silence? Misery can make you see where you belong
It's a dangerous stage, but the show must go on

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let you weakness show
You just might be the last to know

Freedom is such a loaded word, so full of hurt & such aplomb
Loneliness saunters in its breeze, like a disease it drags along
The time of you life can't be had for a song

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let you weakness show
You just might be the last to know

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Would you betray your soul?
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Don't let you weakness show
You just might be the last to know

Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Only the weak follow
Why do you lie, why do you lie?
Trample the fear below
You just might be the last to know


13. YOU DON'T BELONG

Hey you! is there something we're aspiring to?
And can it be found in a record store?
Well, It's not there anymore
Just think of all the things were did
We were different just like all the other kids

Missy was a teen blue video star
Tom took his life in his mothers car
Milo went to college, but you knew about that
Rodney played our records, Jimmy started riots, Laurie was always quiet
She was battling depression

Hey you! is there something worth belonging to?
And can I pick it up for a song?
Or a diploma, or a worthy cause
Well, let me tell you that there's something wrong
It's just the ones like us will never belong

Jack wore a skirt but he knew how to scrap
Billy went to county on a class one possession
Wendy went to school while her daddy shot smack
Eugene kept a list, mugger was security, Mary, she kept her purity.
We were all in it together

Yellowed postcards on the wall
serve to cover up the blankness after all
So I will carry them along
Like a song
When I'm gone, yeah!

Hey you! is there something worth belonging to?
You know, we've been here all along
Like a confederacy of the wrong
And I confess it could be prejudice
But to you I dedicate this song
Yeah you!


14. BORED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

With nothing better to do
No one to come home to, ah! ah! ah!
I woefully conclude
To take it out on you

I'm Bored to the extreme
This world of foolish dreams
Disillusion, ah! ah! ah!
I am not who I seem to be

Yeah sure! I might do harm
And bear my right to arm
Retribution
If only someone would listen to me
Ah! ah! ah! wo! oh! oh! oh! wo! oh! oh!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me

With nothing better to do

A room & empty shelf
A book on mental health, ah! ah! ah!
I look for inner wealth
By punishing myself

I'm Bored to the extreme
This world of foolish dreams
Disillusion, ah! ah! ah!
I am not who I seem to be

Yeah sure! I might do harm
And bear my right to arm
Retribution
If only someone would listen to me
Ah! ah! ah! wo! oh! oh! oh! wo! oh! oh!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me, ah! ah! ah!
Listen to me

lyrics added by Aragorn - Modify this lyrics