Ask Lemmy

so practically this whole song (sorta half and really half of a half. its complicated) from jethro tull just becomes more and more relevant every year as the dystopia increases:

There's the stillness of death on a deathly unliving sea
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be
When the Eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree

Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride
Spawning new millions throws the world on its side
Supporting their far-flung illusion, the national curse
And those with no sandwiches please get off the bus

The excrement bubbles
The century's slime decays
And the brainwashing government lackeys
Would have us say
It's under control and we'll soon be on our way
To a grand year for babies and quiz panel games
Of the hot hungry millions you'll be sure to remain

The natural resources are dwindling and no one grows old
And those with no homes to go to, please dig yourself holes

Fuck you all, fuck everyone and everything, you don't know me and you wouldn't want to anyway forced into the end, I fucked myself, I fucked myself again again, I am nothing, again, fuck everything

• F.E. - 40 Below Summer

Kill him. Fucking kill him. Kill him already kill him. Kill him already. Kill him already. Kill him. JUST FUCKING KILL HIM. FUCKING KILL HIM.

Shellac - Prayer to god

I sing this almost daily when I read the news.

Rattlesnake Rattlesnake Rattlesnake Rattles me

And if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice

~ Rush- Freewill

That line helped kick my ass into gear and actually start living the life I wanted instead of sitting paralyzed by my fears

Love is watching someone die

~ Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said

That song just kinda broke me after watching my mom slowly die of cancer

My time is a piece of wax Falling on a termite Who's choking on the splinters

~Beck, "Loser"

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

~Kris Kristofferson, Me and Bobby McGee

The people who love me still ask me, "When are you coming back to town?" I answer, "Quite frankly, when they stop building roads, And all God needs is gravity to hold me down."

~Alison Kraus, "Gravity"

Four hundred years later, I learned about my roots, And how they traded in their white sheets for badges and blue suits

~Onyx, "Getto Mentalitee"

Is your mother worried? Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?

~Chaise Longue by Wet Leg

You want me to love you in moderation Do I look moderate to you?

~Florence + The Machine, "Moderation"

And the salt in my wounds Isn't burning anymore than it used to. It's not that I don't feel the pain It's just I'm not afraid of hurting anymore.

~Paramore, "Last Hope"

the shit hasn't even begun to hit the fan.

~Incubus, from "Consequence"

I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve. I have a history of losing my shirt.

~"One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies

Molly Nilsson: I Hope You Die

I hope you die
by my side
the two of us at the exact same time
I hope we die
long from now
the two of us at the exact same time

"Jaws at my heels

Mean nothing to me

Knives at your throats

All that I see

Don't doubt me

I am vengeance

I'm built for war"

Vengeance by Converge

Great for those days when I need a little pep in my step.

She could have turned out to be almost anything, with the possible exception of what I wanted her to be. Jackson Browne

Dying is easy it's living that scares me to death

Cold - Annie Lennox

I am not usually fond of slow ballads, but Annie Lennox has the depth to pull me in.

Two-eyed lie, is it fight or fly?
I wanna be the shoelace that you tie
'Til the end, will you be my friend?
I wanna be the mountain, kiss the sky
Yeah, I wanna be the vapor gets you high
Yeah, I wanna feel so happy that I cry
Yeah, I wanna be the shoelace that you tie
Yeah, I wanna live forever 'til I die
Yeah, I wanna live forever 'til I die

Big Thief - Blue Lightning

It's a verb! It's a verb!
Freedom is a verb
Something never finished, never done
It's something you must make
It's something you must take
It's something you must constantly become

Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird - Freedom is a Verb

I got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome
And a wristwatch that's a pocket knife and a megaphone
And a wristwatch that tells me I'm on my own

MJ Lenderman - Wristwatch

"To defy the laws of tradition is a crusade only of the brave" Primus

https://youtu.be/AccbAu2KmFg

Let's put one classic here. One that is sadly more and more relevant these days...

Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of death's construction. In the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind, poisoning their brainwashed minds...Oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait `till their judgement day comes, yeah!

Now in darkness, world stops turning, as you hear the bodies burning. No more war pigs of the power, hand of god has struck the hour. Day of judgement, god is calling, on their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercy for their sins, Satan, laughing, spreads his wings...Oh lord, yeah!

• War Pigs, Black Sabbath

Everything is written, we're just reading the lines we're given, like we were actors
Hoping that we make it to the curtain call
We're fighting over bit parts, stepping on each others' toes
But the audience is eyein' the clock, 'cause they know how the story goes
And they're holding on to hope until it's gone

Enormous by Streetlight Manifesto

ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE DANCER? - THE KILLERS

THEY CALL ME TWO CHAINS CUZ I GOT 2 CHAINS - 2 CHAINZ

BABY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO - I DUNNO

The Goats, I forget which track from the album Tricks of the Shade:

Not forgotten like the Arawaks We mowed down a race so an engine could ride a pair of tracks Who cares about the facts we got food on the table Saying thanks because the giving was the reason for the fable

And from another track, same album:

Columbus destroyed more Indians than Hitler killed Jews But on his birthday you get sales on shoes And this is all old news but I'm afraid you can't find it You snooze you lose so I choose to rewind it Offer gun for gold but behold a real plan Using shady treaties trading trickies for land They should've scalped his ass before he even touched sand

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties And he who made kittens put snakes in the grass - Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull

Some rich men came and raped the land. Nobody caught 'em. Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and, Jesus, people bought 'em - The Last Resort - Eagles

"I would give my life to get some rest

But I'll do anything that Simon says"

Just all of "Common People" really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0

"Rising up from the land of the gator

He's a modern day gladiator

Six foot six angry and mean, a living breathing war machine

Made his name in the rising sun with blood soaked battles that he won

Time and time his hand was raised

As all his victims felt his rage"

"They pass you on the road with a

Smile and you have to look twice

And you wonder to yourself

"Could a woman really look that nice?"

Girls in cars girls in cars

I love girls in cars girls in cars

Girls in cars"

Two songs come to mind for me off the same album (therapy, by radical face):
Dead ends:

There ain't no fixing this, but I like that you tried 
Sometimes the hardest part is being right 
There ain't no helping me, but I like that you lied 
Sometimes it's worth the burn marks to feel the light

There’s two versions of this album, a regular one and an “alternate reality” one with the same lyrics but a bit more uplifting of a take on them. The regular version of this verse is fucking crushing, I love it so much

Hard of hearing:

Another evening spent 
In the corners of my brain 
Where I wander off into the dark 
And I close my eyes and hope 
The wolves won't follow me 
But hope's hard of hearing 
So I'm waiting for the teeth

I had to learn that the helping hand 
Can be the same that holds the knife 
I know I'm not well but I'm alright 
You gotta learn how to take your hits 
When your hands are always tied 
I know I'm not well but I'm alright

This one I think I prefer the alternate reality version, it’s just the perfect melancholy song

A few of my favorites from Modest Mouse:

Working on living, I'm working on leaving I'm working on leaving the living Love you more than everything, loved it more than anything Loved everything more than anything Working on drinking, I'm working on driving, I'm working on driving my dreams Working on living, I'm working on leaving I'm working on leaving the living

• Workin’ on Leavin’ the Livin'

The third planet is sure that they're being watched By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped When you get to the promised land You're gonna shake the eye's hand

• 3rd Planet

And it occurred to me that the animals are swimming Around in the water, in the oceans, in our bodies And another had been found, another ocean on the planet Given that our blood is just like the Atlantic, and how Well the universe is shaped exactly like the earth If you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were And the universe is shaped exactly like the earth If you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were The universe is shaped exactly like the earth

• 3rd Planet

"I guess it goes to show, does it not?
That we've no idea what we've got
Until we lose it.
And no amount of love will keep it around
If we don't choose it."

Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

I repeat myself when under stress

-Indiscipline by King Crimson

Also:

The music of rebellion makes you wanna rage

But it's made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age

-The Sound of Muzak by Porcupine Tree

Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

From Firefly. Sung by Sonny Rhodes, written by Joss Whedon

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

Regina Spektor - On the Radio

"You look so good I'd suck on your daddy's dick" ~ Notorious B.I.G.

You know, suicide isn't painless,
When you leave everyone in pain.
NOFX - Doornails

Now Paul is a real estate novelist,
who never had time for a wife

(...)

How you doing? How you been?
Life got heavy didn't it, don't be shy, speak your mind
I'm not perfect, nor are you
But we both got things we been through
So I'll do all I can, to try to understand
'Cause I wanna love strangers like neighbors, I wanna be unafraid
So when the tears roll like waterfalls you can call my name

Hybrid Minds & Netsky - Let me hold you

I often find it's hard to really capture lyrics just writing them out.

"The weather never really matterered it was just something there was to talk about

We fall into patterns and habits and there's not much we can do about that

Rearrange the room again I want to live somewhere as small as i feel when i fall asleep or wake up"

Little known band joyride! is a consistent favorite of mine.

https://joyride-sf.bandcamp.com/album/joyride

In my life I hope I lie And tell everyone you were a good wife And I hope you die I hope we both die

No Children by The Mountain Goats.
The entire song is lyrically amazing. It's about a divorcing couple who were frankly broken to begin with. And while just reading the lyrics make it seem like a big downer of a song, it's in a major key, and there is catharsis to be found in its hatred.