VOLTAGE & VIOLETS
Songs

sir onslaught
file cabinet
out of hand
the only way
george benson
times beach
homophobia
whatever
buffalo
abuse
god, jerry, and the p.m.r.c.
song x
lock of interest
balderdash
junkie
friends
work
human guinea pigs
world of hate
devon drool

produced by Ruth Schwartz & Victims Family engineered by John Cuniberti for Laughing Boy productions recorded 1986

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sir onslaught

instrumental

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file cabinet

...and
stuck into categories we never made
defined in ways we never imagined
shaped by the words we meant not to say
made into something we never were
filed into cabinets and quickly forgotten
only remembered when time is of essence
accused by the pointing fingers we point
judgement made on faulty assumptions

look around, look away
i can't see the light of day
don't you ever wonder
why it's gone, much too far
privacy inside a jar
i don't understand the
reasons we continue to
live our lives as we do
misunderstood and lonely
kid ourselves with things we think
teetering on the brink

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out of hand

i know it's getting out of hand
out of my sight and out of my mind
and all these problems get locked up inside

there is no place to run & hide

i know it's getting out of hand
out of my sight & it's out of my mind
i don't want global suicide
i can't help but feel my hands are tied...

...i feel and think it's out of hand
and i know i'm not out of my mind
i won't submit to suicide
i know the problem's not inside

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the only way

taught to think by someone else's rules
people turn into a gang of fools
minds are cleansed with verbal doggy doo
all things thought get covered up in school

thought it was the only way

live by rules of the status quo
wishy-washy and so middle of the road
do precisely as you're told
"normal people" make my blood run cold

thought it was the only way
but you didn't really think at all

your mind was a blank
all your thoughts were suppressed
by the way you were raised
to accept all the lies
and the vision of wealth
that they shoved into your head
turned out to be
shit
thought it was the only way

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george benson

instrumental

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times beach

frolicking down the beach
my tan is covered with spots
they said we had to move out
cuz of the chemical dump

you can't make a home where the children get sick
you can't make a life where the water is toxic
dioxin doesn't make life very sweet
just ask the folks who used to live at times beach

ghost towns are made by the rich
people are treated like trash
everthings turning to dust
echoes of what used to be

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homophobia

"i just heard this song, caught the last few words,
it's all 'bout hating fags, man it was fucking rad!"

what did it mean?
why did you agree?
you're just a closet queen
and you're not impressing me

"no i'm fucking serious, it was really cool!
i think i can remember and now i'm gonna sing it
for you"

no, i don't wanna hear it
your head is up your ass
you must be insecure, why don't you tell me
about your past?

homophobia is a fear that arises out of insecurity
of one's own sexuality
exacerbated by a society
that looks upon sex as a commodity
and sets standards of masculinity and femininity

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whatever

prop me up and i'll fall back down
bury my bones in the cold cold ground
i'm so stressed out and i feel like shit
but i don't have the will enough to deal with it
what the fuck are you living for?
when every day's just another battle in this war
crippled shell of a man i love
who doesn't have the strength enough to rise above

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buffalo

"You see any buffalo?"
"No"

i killed the indians with my
four-wheel drives and my shopping centers
i paved over their mass graves!
i moved their decendants on to
a barren land and got them
drunk on budweiser!
like medusa, turning men into stone
i turned the indian into wood
and stood him outside
a cigar store!

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abuse

something's in the way
something's in the road
obstacles for me
something's in my throat
some things bother me
some things don't
other things might
my life's a sinking boat
don't let me drown, don't let me sink
i'm not gonna rot, i'm not gonna stink like rotting
playing happy games
keeping up a smile
keeping myself happy
just for a while
making ugly music
writing stupid words
why do you want to listen?
don't you get disturbed?
aren't you getting tired?
don't i make you sick?
isn't your stomach turning?
doesn't my face need to be kicked?
self-abuse, from me to you, to cover myself
to cover the truth, no self-worth,
i'm eating dirt, and i'll get smart
and eat my words
and eat my words
and eat my words
and eat my words
and eat my words

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god, jerry, and the p.m.r.c.

we've got to rid this country of the
evil influence of rock 'n' roll perverts
in order to preserve the sanctity of this
grand and glorious nation that god has
given us to exploit.
well, because of the breakdown of
the family unit and the uh, morally
debasing aspects of the entertainment
industry we the self-appointed guardians
of public morality have deemed it
necessary to censor this trash.
god, jerry, and the p.m.r.c.

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song x

slag me and i wonder, you steal my thunder
we're torn asunder, what the fuck?
hey man that's rather stupid and it's useless
can't we see that it just sucks?
all these word attacks behind my back
feels like a knife stuck in my back

now listen!

then i see you walking we don't talk and
we just gawk and step aside
i feel that it's useless and it's stupid and
it's just our stupid pride
and i see forever i will try but i'll be
nothing in your eyes
why are we divided? i've decided it's beside
the point to fight
and i feel it's useless and it's stupid and
it's just our stupid pride
if we were united, not divided, we might
right some of the wrongs
with our songs and the words to our songs

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lock of interest

in our own little worlds
where we all "suck" and "rule"
oh, try to deny we're all the same and
taking unheard orders
from the glowing box in the corner
segregation becomes tattooed on our brains

in the freedom famed prisons
we're conned into living in
there's a piece of the key in every cell
with bars of images
and locks of beliefs
to keep us living inside this hell

us and them situations
are strengthened
in attempts to make them
more like us
prejudice is taught
in the form of graffiti
behind the backseat of the bus

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balderdash

the music industry pumps through your head
all the stale trite clichés that you want to be fed
all the violent garbage and the macho trash
and now i'm here to tell you that it's balderdash
some people look around and they don't like what
they see stale singers whining something
'bout some birds and some bees i think that
what they need's a swift kick in the ass
i need to hear something obnoxious and fast
so you cut of your hair and you're
ripping your clothes and we all try to look
as if a pose ain't a pose i think that
what we need's a swift kick in the ass
i need to hear something that's gonna last
and so you walk into this club and you're lookin' at me
and you look a little longer and you don't like what you see
and now you want to leave and you got to go
because my hair's too long and this song's too slow
commercial radio has killed rock'n'roll
with their pretty boys in pretty suits
that got no soul
i think that what they need's a swift kick in the ass
i need to hear something that's gonna last
and now you wanna leave and you got to go
because my hair's too long and my song's too slow

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junkie

everyone's a junkie
everyone's a slave
what is your obsession?
shooting up t.v.?
living life for smack?
groveling for sex?
modern life addiction
moremoremoremoremore
everyone's a junkie
and no one can deny
but we all kill for money
buybuybuybuybuy
money sex and war
a hundred bucks a gram
scarring up our arms
new trans-am?
happiness, fame, war, sex, greed,
and cars, clothes, new t.v.'s, and
drugs and money looks like junk
to me...

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friends

they tell us that our friends aren't important
because there's work to be done
but i'd rather be poor and live with my friends
than be rich and die all alone
the lust for money has turned people numb
their obsessions over power the fright
they don't even know or care what they've done
they'd kill if the price was right
but friends can work out their problems
and make the hard times quickly pass
a life full of pleasure and good times
a feeling of love that will last
a life without worry of power or greed
it's the only life we've got
there's much more to life than increasing it's speed
too precious to every be bought
and so you lost all your friends
because of this game
think you'll buy more later on,
but the friends that you bought
aren't even the same
cuz all yuor real friends are gone

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work

hidden in offices without a clue
that you're working for them
not really for you
they've cleverly priced
everything you need
working's a must there's a family to feed
life is expensive
you must earn your stay
god our creator really wants it this way
no...
choices...
left...
this is the world they've made for you
they've really come up with the ultimate scam
you're working away for their new trans ams
work's just another piece of big brother
designed to take up all your time
time you could spend
putting them to an end
instead of them robbing you blind

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human guinea pigs

human guinea pigs
los alamos burrow
injected with serums
they walk on a treadmill
monday through friday
they walk and get nowhere
twisted and sideways
and nobody cares

human guinea pigs
their minds on treadmill
another experiment
in torture and torment
cloth mother life
industrial death
exposed to a toxin
i can't draw a breath

human guinea pigs
do we have to be?
caught in a mad scientist
fantasy
trapped and lonely
caught in a cage
waiting to be told
to obey

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world of hate

people don't care about love anymore
it seems that all they wanna do is make a
world of hate
they're greedy and fuckin' abusive
telling me caring is useless
all the time they're never thinking of things
that really count
why do all of you wanna make a
world of hate?

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devon drool

instrumental

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