1. |
Underworld, USA
02:59
|
|||
|
Underworld, U.S.A.
They want something for nothing
There ain't nothing worth discussing
Talking never did do no good
Every day we're adjusting
Every day we're re-upping
It's like the founders said, "The jaws of power are always open to devour"
I had occasion of the brokedowns, the lowdowns, the depressives
It was good enough for me
Everyone's a winner
Everybody is dinner
You dined on us so long, you lost the taste for delicacy
Underworld, U.S.A.
Such a great work of fiction
Pray they'll heighten the contradictions
And hasten to the end
It's okay to lay out
It's just the same progression throughout
I'm not a torturer, though it is so often what people deserve
They're subtractors and adders
They're just snakes on the ladder
You think they'll do you no injury
When you hold court it's superior
Your whole world is interior
Recollected from something like last week, soaring wistfully above a misery
I had made a list of potential disappointments
I want to spend the night with me and it's just so difficult to do
Everyone is listening
Everyone is insisting,
"You're not quite to my taste, but you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you."
Underworld, U.S.A.
|
||||
2. |
Dominoes in Drag
02:19
|
|||
|
Carnations of power, dark secrets that consume the town
Garlands of flowers over the chains that hold men down
Making short work
Of a long night
In your slit skirt
With your steak knives
With the stakes high
Like that strange song I heard Apollo singing
"Earth on Earth forget all these empty courts!"
There is nothing covered up that won't be seen
No man in the shadows who won't soon be brought forth
I remember quite completely
The night you were late to meet me
You were dressed in shag
Dominoes in drag
No fault of your own, but god what if you'd never shown?
The nightmare of it still haunts me
Hyenas all around me – those ragged angry dogs
They all want the things that all nations seek
Making hard work
Of a soft guy
In the bunkers
While the bombs fly
Stick him in a bag
Dominoes in drag
Four generations stacked up in a pile
The father still lingers even after the exile
When the king is anxious, he calls in the priests
Geysers of misery, jackals sharpening their teeth
Swinging from the rafters with a catch in your throat and it's not a crime if you don't inhale
The long pants of the law said, "Just tell me what you saw and spare no detail"
I was standing on the sideline
I was searching for my mainline
Better throw a flag
Dominoes in Drag
|
||||
3. |
Hawk Vs. Prez
03:13
|
|||
|
Ain't it a shame when the summer turns to fall?
And then the fall turns to winter and then everything's dead?
Did you treat the servants shamefully?
Did you deprive them of dignity?
Did you deprive them of bread?
Born in Woodville, Mississippi to Willis Handy Young
But the house of my father is no marketplace
There is no marketing to be done
In the gatefolds of the night
For the shame of doing right
For a person in my position
Don't need your mercy or your permission
Full speed ahead
Hawk vs. Prez
I turned states then I turned red
Hawk vs. Prez
No word from McDreamy
Guess they've gone to the other side
Candy box fiction, subtle contradiction, monologues and asides
It don't bother me how anyone makes their silver
I try to spend a little time on my knees everyday
Life does not exist in an abundance of billfold, but it sure does hit like a falling safe
It was well lit for a flophouse
But you know how these things go
Consider the ravens who do not sow or reap
But heaven knows that they'll still eat
Full speed ahead
Hawk vs. Prez
It seems to me you were the president before I was the president
Hawk vs. Prez
Hell on high water
Enforce the court martial
And I looked like something they dragged out of a lake
Pork pies and ballads
And all the latest crazes
They said, "Alienation is for the rich"
They said, "Alienation is all the rage!"
Ain't it just grand when you stop growing old?
And the noise just ends and you're restored to the ground?
Was it all a vision or a waking dream?
Did you play it real cool the day you had to leave town?
You were running to the limit
And you were chasing every breath
I glimpsed you in the evergreens
I don't think that you saw me, but I heard what you said
It was painful at the time
It was plaintive, it was wry
Call it a sermon on the mount:
"These guys love to come in, but they hate to go out"
Full speed ahead
Hawk vs. Prez
It seems to me I was the president before you were the president
Hawk vs. Prez
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
Did they know the dead were there?
Such a loaded enterprise
Vinegar in your teeth
And smoke gets in your eyes
When the promoter drops his robe it gets hard to sympathize
But honest and true, I believe u believe u can fly
First in war, first in peace, tell me everything you've forgotten
Captivity is easier than release once the good fruit has gone rotten
A full-on mark or an Indian chief
Poverty will come on you like a thief
Outside is a terrible place
And I believe that u believe that u can fly
I believe that u believe that u can fly
I believe that u believe that u can touch the sky
And I believe that u believe that u can fly
And I believe in so many things
The last days of the Ox were filled with so much wonder
The kids were throwing rocks in the Little City of Thunder
Only the rich die old, it don't matter if they're wise
I shined you on before
And I believe u believe u can fly
The loafing barrister with his freedom manicure was tapping his nails into the coffin
No one cares if you're from a respectable neighborhood if you're coming here pretty often
The rat king was dancing by the stroke of nine
And nothing had changed for the Auld Lang Swine
I wasn't saying you didn't try
And I believe that u believe that u can fly
I believe that u believe that u can fly
I believe that u believe that u can touch the sky
And I believe that u believe that u can fly
And I believe in most everything
|
||||
5. |
Dedicated Glare
02:26
|
|||
|
A half blank piece of stationery (and a dedicated glare)
And a fifty-word vocabulary (and a dedicated glare)
Like a puzzle dumped out of a box (and a dedicated glare)
Remember I commanded you this song rocks! (and a dedicated glare)
It's a noir town
All the nutters are out
I'm on a Joseph Campbell journey
In a smashing dress
Too blessed to be stressed
I'm checking in with my bankruptcy attorney
Your skin is so thin your last name should be Schiavo (and a dedicated glare)
I'd call you on it but you'd sue me for libel (and a dedicated glare)
They're growing a test tube baby somewhere in D.C. (and a dedicated glare)
And that's this weekend up the Swanee
It's a new Our Town
All the murderers are out
They're on a Joseph Goebbels journey
With a passing test
Too depressed to get dressed
For a meeting with the aggressive trustee
Find you accidentally slipped off a building (and a dedicated glare)
There is no end to the double-dealing (and a dedicated glare)
The old "shot himself in the head twice" (and a dedicated glare)
But there are limits to your life
|
||||
6. |
Revision of Love
03:43
|
|||
|
I had withholdings and deductions
I was receiving wisdom and instruction
Some will swallow us whole, fill their homes with plunder
Some will just want out of here before the whole place is rent asunder
I had a revision of love
Loretta maintains nothing is amiss
In the usual manner of things
It ain't worth doing if you don't have to confess
I had a revision of love
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud
Jelly on your shoulder, let's do what we fear most
Say simpletons love their ways, say simpletons our proud
You didn't say you were scared, but you looked like a ghost
Exactly what is it you want me to say?
They say her ways are pleasant ways
Exactly who do you want me to pay?
Run the numbers on Pascal's wager – Langford's still an atheist
I had a revision of love
Loretta maintains everything's a quiz
Tell me, the most trusted music voices –
How many did I get right? How many did I miss?
Remember that girl who always hung around backstage?
One night she turned to me and said,
"I want you to write a song for me and play it for everyone when I'm dead"
I assumed she was an actress because she was insane
But I said, "Okay, how do you spell your name again?"
You gotta be careful talking too much to the neighbors
Start asking you out for tea, start asking you for favors
Sometimes I don't think you know what Satan's capable of
Divisions of labor, revisions of love
I had a revision of love
Loretta maintains that it'll all come down to this
The bankers and the traders, they have your best interests in mind
And the reward really isn't any fun without a little risk
|
||||
The Paranoid Style Washington, D.C.
The Paranoid Style was a special committee convened in 2012 in order to address our country's many pressing problems.
If you like The Paranoid Style, you may also like:
supported by 15 fans who also own “Underworld USA”
33 years after their first album they still sound like they have something to say.
go to album
supported by 12 fans who also own “Underworld USA”
From the chord that rings out solemnly during the opening "One per Customer" through the hypnotic distortion of the finale "Black Hole," this is full of heart. Melodic, mature, and evocative.
go to album
Expert In A Dying Field
by The Beths
supported by 12 fans who also own “Underworld USA”
Listening to this while I study! great songs
go to album
The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed
by Various Artists
Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more pay tribute to the enduring and visionary music of Lou Reed.
go to album
A Chaos Of Flowers
by BIG|BRAVE
Leaning into the sparse, impressionistic sound of 2023's albu "Nature Morte," the Montreal metallurgists sound as heavy and radiant as ever.
go to album
The Seattle band work around the edges of shoegaze and dream pop with a rare sense of clarity and momentum.
go to album
supported by 10 fans who also own “Underworld USA”
Great song - loved Nomenclature ever since I first heard a Wussy version on the Popular Favorites comp.
go to album
