347 : 3/23/99 : Strike Up the Band

Strike up the band... And take a stand
You’re doing it right now
All it requires of you
Is your attention
Listen to the music play you got all day
if you want it
And if you don’t the day
will pass by without mention
And every day goes by one closer to the one where you die
And that’s a truth for everyone
That no one wants to hear
Nevertheless if you can hear this you’re not dead yet
So strike up the band and play be fearless greet the new day
Living all the way is not for everyone
But no one knows until they try it
Strike up the band and take my hand
We got something a little faster than the jet set

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

346 : 3/22/99 : Deep

Deep in the heart of everything the truth hides
like a seed like a cancer like a mine
Waiting to turn it all upside down again
Waiting to let you know that things won’t turn out fine
The sickness lies inside of you
waiting for conditions to emerge
waiting for the poisons to accumulate
waiting for the system to purge
Deep in the heart of Antarctica
The mothership emits the signal into space
Boy I can’t wait for it I can’t wait
to see the expression on your face

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

345 : 3/21/99 : End of the Beginning

Unfinished business all around
All I can see is we’re not ready yet
can this be the end arising
My hands are not steady yet
Do the numbers and add to a conclusion
Can the Doctors balance the equation
I’ve got nothing in my hand to bring
I’ve got nothing but persuasion
To convince you to attend
to the end game, losing or winning
I don’t think that this can be the end
but it might be the end of the beginning

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

344 : 3/20/99 : Throw Down the Dead Days

Throw down the dead days behind you
learn what you can from them and move on
I know that it might seem unkind, you
Gotta throw your past away to get a real groove on
Throw down the gauntlet and act like a man
Take the world they’re holding out
Find out it’s all in the garbage can
While we slept they sold the whole thing out
While we slept and dreamed of better days
While we dreamed our futures stumbled
looked back in horror at our callous offhand ways
We reached inside our pants and fumbled
To make the dream come true a little bit
Take the world they dangle above
Take it and find out it’s just like the rest of the shit
Lay down the gauntlet and strike them with the glove

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

343 : 3/19/99 : A Curse Upon

1,233 : 30 ?


A curse upon the business lords
who rule us from the sky
All those who live by all their swords
And never really seem to die
A curse upon the evil men
addicted to the evil that they do
And curse me for this worthless pen
that cannot even write its way to you

A curse upon the capitalists
Leading us all down the primrose path
Let me tell you it’s a small list
it comes down to when you do the math
A curse upon the three piece liars
Lurking in the shadows of the throne
Busy putting gas on all the fires
That they started with a telephone

A curse on every little man
Who ignores it just like me
When the race is run we ask who ran
And wonder why we don’t feel free
A curse upon me letting it get in the way
Between you and me and destiny and God
A curse on every servant baking bricks of clay
the path they’ve built for me is very very broad

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

342 : 3/18/99 : Secret Agent

The drop of a hat and I’m out the door
Hitting the street in the bright morning sun
Doing business and something more
Maybe making a path for the chosen one
You take a rule and stack it on another rule
You got the little here and the little there
I slip under the wire and skip school
I pull my instructions right out of the air
I pull a trick or two I’m not afraid to rock the boat
If it’s the only way to make you notice the water
I’m a pamphleteer I’ve got sedition underneath my coat
It’s a good time for anarchistic leanings as the globe gets hotter
Hey secret agent man who are you working for
Who are the pamphlets for and what’s the reason
Behind that fucked up music that plays when you hit the killing floor
Don’t you know one of us arises every Easter season
Get up stand up rise up in the season of the new moon
take what little time you have before the pendulum swings
Here’s to rushing forward bravely, to winning once in a blue moon
You know it’s the truth by the way it stings

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

341 : 3/17/99 : 12:48 a.m.: Television Commercial

Good morning early riser
We just wanted to take a moment of your time
to tell you that the world you live in
Is controlled by vast intelligences from another galaxy.
We got here about thirty years ago
So pleased to finally meet you
(We're here to give you the secrets
of happiness and immortality
I tell you Horatio there are
things undreamed of in your morality)
When we arrived, we discovered that we could
broadcast mind reprogramming neural pathway software
using your existing television sets.
We broadcast from a giant transceiver
located on the dark side of the moon!
It's receiver is in real time contact with
Our home planet, using a scientific principle
Your primitive minds couldn't understand
But soon that will change: that's what
the reprogramming is for.
(Do not go softly into the night
rage and rail and scream and fight
Go out the way you came in
kicking and screaming)
As some of you have already guessed,
your world powers are already under our
control. Yet the figureheads you perceive as wielding
power are in fact automated shells. Our
programming is irresistible to your
primitive monkey brains. Just try to rise
up and do something. Go ahead! Try!

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

340 : 3/16/99 : Unimaginable Splendor

1,228 : 24 ?


If I could just project myself
one moment into the unimaginable splendor
of the whole wide universe
But down here we just have to
Always always have to fend for
ourselves as it all goes from bad to worse
Always slipping back and forward
rambling on our random walk
winding ever down to stillness
so we drive to work and pick our
children up we force ourselves to move and talk
when the the tension gives our voices a note of shrillness
That’s the unimaginable splendor
all we’re seeking always all around
Always moving moving moving on
The flowing sifting tide
And all the islands where we ran aground
time my friend she said it’s a moving gun

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

339 : 3/15/99 : The Big Sound

Tuck up to the teevee set and get ready for the big sound
No need to move a muscle we'll bring it straight around
No need to interact no need to say a word
Relax and let it flow in it's like nothing that you've ever heard
The operation starts with something you can't hear
Followed by a warm sensation centered on the ear
When you feel your spine relax you know that it's begun
This is the new taste for you for me for everyone
A feeling like a downward spiral's perfectly expected
A feeling like you've shamed yourself in front of those you most respected
A feeling like you're finally up against the wall
In the shadow of the big sound everyone feels small
When the bottom crashes out the peak is on its way
Your mind slides all around the room you feel the urge to pray
And at the top the dizzy height you finally understand
The big sound shows you visions of a life you never planned

While the beat is cooling and your mind is snapping back
And your same old reality and your mind on the same old track
Hey its just a teevee show and maybe just as well
These gentlemen behind us have some lovely things to sell

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

338 : 3/14/99 : Without Inspiration

Without the spirit in me what can I possibly do
without the breath to animate me
How can I speak of you
How can I make anything work
Without the vision I’m just another jerk
Jerking my time away on worthless words that profit not
Without inspiration, the work is dry without reward
So many live and die within without the two-edged sword
Is flying now without remorse
I take what comes to me of course
It’s all yours anyway I never claimed I own a single thing I’ve got
But I’ll show you that the work goes on
I’ll do it in a vacuum
I’ll do it all day long
I persist like radiation
I will nurture my uninspired creation
It’s a long road but I’m ready to go all the way down
So turn your back on me and go go go
I just do what I have to
It’s all I am and all I know
See me bent in fierce rebellion
to your silence such a hellion
If you haven’t got a smile for me I’ll take a frown

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

337 : 3/13/99 : Elixir of Life

I was in the boat with Ponce de Leon
What he was seeking he could not find alone
Little did he know
I was on the path long before
The rivers I’d sailed beyond his dreams
the seas the continents the reams
of ancient wisdom piled around the door
It’s a long and ancient trail and many have failed before
I always find something wherever I go
I always hear rumors but no one will confess they know
The place or the nature
of the vessel of the elixir
I did not find it in Egypt I did not find it in Rome
I did not find it in Shangri La I just want to go home
I did not find it in Paris or anywhere in France
I did not find it in the jungles of America
But I guess I had to take that chance
The elixir of life remains outside my grasp
My face is lined and weary my breath comes with a rasp
One of the false potions I consumed
keeps me living but my body is like a corpse exhumed
And now I must seek forever
The elixir of life or a final way to sever
the strings that animate me dance me on the stage
you’d think I’d get a little more respect in my old age

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

336 : 3/12/99 : Finish Line

1,221 : 18 ?


Run we just run we just
run all the time
racing rushing getting ahead
Rushing to the finish line
I get by or you get by me
wolves at the door and beggars in the street
Ask anyone about it
where they’re going on the street
gotta do a little here do a little there
rushing to the final curtain
we’ll all end up crossing on the same boat
of this much I’m certain
I’m not going to run anymore
I am out of the race
I am going where I want to go
or falling flat on my face
but it don’t matter oh
everything will be just fine
everybody in this bad old world
makes it to the finish line

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here