Beastie Boys - "In A World Gone Mad"

IN A WORLD GONE MAD.

In a world gone mad it's hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the nonviolent fight

Mirrors, smokescreens and lies
It's not the politicians but their actions I despise
You and Saddam should kick it like back in the day
With the cocaine and Courvoisier
But you build more bombs as you get more bold
As your mid-life crisis war unfolds
All you want to do is take control
Now put that access of evil bullshit on hold
Citizen rule number 2080
Politicians are shady
So people watch your back 'cause I think they smoke crack
I don't doubt it look at how they act

In a world gone mad it's hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the nonviolent fight

First the 'War On Terror' now war on Iraq
We're reaching a point where we can't turn back
Let's lose the guns and let's lose the bombs
And stop the corporate contributions that their built upon
Well I'll be sleeping on your speeches 'til I start to snore
'Cause I won't carry guns for an oil war
As-Salamu alaikum, wa alaikum assalam
Peace to the Middle East peace to Islam
Now don't get us wrong 'cause we love America
But that's no reason to get hysterica
They're layin' on the syrup thick
We ain't waffles we ain't havin' it

In a world gone mad it's hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the nonviolent fight

Now how many people must get killed?
For oil families pockets to get filled?
How many oil families get killed?
Not a damn one so what's the deal?

It's time to lead the way and de-escalate
Lose the weapons of mass destruction and the hate
Say ooh ah what's the White House doin'?
Oh no! Say, what in tarnation have they got brewing??!!!!???!!
Well I'm not pro Bush and I'm not pro Saddam
We need these fools to remain calm
George Bush you're looking like Zoolander
Trying to play tough for the camera
What am I on crazy pills? We've got to stop it
Get your hand out my grandma's pocket
We need health care more than going to war
You think it's democracy we're fighting for?

In a world gone mad it's hard to think right
So much violence hate and spite
Murder going on all day and night
Due time we fight the nonviolent fight

this is seriously some next-level type shit

"Beastie Boys, brief stars somewhere in the fall, nutty, fun and a bit bizarre, unfortunately dissolving before they could reach their full promise."

Tim Sommer, New York Thrash, 1982

And they probably aren't playing the song in this area, as we don't have any radio stations that will play Beastie Boys anymore; however I can't be sure, 'cause I don't particularly listen to radio these days.

cute!

(etc)

i mean, i'm totally in line with their politics too and still it left me completely cold

On the other hand, maybe it just plain sucks.

Thus is the matter of individual judgment and r*****l s**********m once again noted.

its like smth poochie the cartoon dog wd write!

dont do drugs
cause drugs are lame
stay in school
keep your head in the game

etc etc

But it's chilly and I have no sweater. *weeps*

People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest.

if you cohearse the listener to engage with you and then give them NOTHING to engage with save a bunch of hollow and empty platitudes about how war is wack and oil is the cause, then the natural assumption is going to be that you are pretentious for doing so

the mistake most musicians make -> assuming that merely namechecking the basic facts abt politics is tantamount to grappling with the issue. meanwhile, in the real world, anyone with even a basic handle on politics is going to read this and get NOTHING from it, other than the tip that the beasties are now as anti-war as they are anti-humour

i'd REALLY like to hear even a hypothetical example of the type of person who might find something valuable in these words

until then it seems to me like the equivalent of calling a bunch of people over to my house and reading them a list of exotic ingredients in the hopes of proving that i am actually a gourmet chef

I had no idea they were making a big deal like this; I was under the impression this was just a song that everyone was getting all pissy about. This does change things a bit. Honestly, I couldn't possibly be more out of touch with the world. Sorry to come in here and be a dick about it.

Tom, is that line from a Non-Phixion song? Those guys know how to use humor & politics VERY effectively.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in the Tibetan Freedom Concert documentary. Mike D seems like a really cool guy until someone asks him about Tibetan genocide. He attemps an irreverent, faux naif answer, realizes how horrible it sounds, and falls into an awkward silence.

The public debate over the war in Iraq is often painfully embarassing, because no one in America remembers how to talk in a serious manner. We're good at building collages out of pop culture references, non sequiturs, in jokes, and other verbal bric- a- brac, but these collages aren't a very good platform for coherent political thought. Bob Dylan's political collages are a possible exception; George W's and Mike D's are not.

"the themes of structural adjustments intertwine like flex/wire: U-r don't reproduce the timeworn rocky cliche of politics as a grim faced suppliment 'to' music (soapbox oration + deathless major chords). It is rather a torsion of such preconceptions...things being twisted, frayed, stretched. The 'ordinary' is twisted into strange new folds: serrated lines of testimony, sounds of protest, song, disappointment, joy - imaginal urbanism meets concrete praxis downtown." - i. penman

It just reminded me of a Non-Phixion lyric that went, like:

suicide bombs/from Al Qaeda to the Koran/Bin Laden is still CIA..." and so forth.

(Okay, so none of their songs are actually specifically anti-war or protesting shit, but they have some of the best 9.11-related lyrics of any group around right now. Not to mention an evil powerful sense of humor.)

Bestie Boys - "In A World Gone Mad" C/D

Sage Francis, "Makeshift Patriot". Thank you, drive through.