Generator

Song details

Bad Religion original
Yes
First released
1992
First release
Generator (album)
Songwriter
Brett Gurewitz

Lyrics

Generator

Like a rock, Like a planet, Like a fucking atom bomb... I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness That I encounter everywhere I turn, I've seen it all along In books and magazines, Like a twitch before dying, Like a pornographic sea. There's a flower behind the window, There's an ugly laughing man, Like a hummingbird in silence, Like the blood on my door, It's the generator. Oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door, Wash me clean and I will run Until I reach the shore. I've known it all along, Like the bone under my skin, Like actors in a photograph, Like paper in the wind. There's a hammer by the window, There's a knife on the floor, Like turbines in darkness, Like the blood on my door, It's the generator. Oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door, Wash me clean and I will run Until I reach the shore.

Versions & recordings

Grouped by recording

10

First released on Going Underground · 1992

Appears on

Operation Rescue: Live In Dusseldorf Germany 12 4 1992 FM BroadcastBootleg · 2023View 1 version →The Best SongsBootleg · 2005View 1 version →The Very BestBootleg · 2005View 1 version →Punk Rock Am Ring 2002Bootleg · 2002View 1 version →
Image unavailableMr Brett Demo SessionsBootleg · 2004View 1 version →Hazard RadiationBootleg · 2004View 1 version →Live in Denver 2003Bootleg · 2003View 3 versions →Florida 2002Bootleg · 2002View 1 version →Punk-O-Rama 4 (Straight Outta The Pit)Misc release · 1999View 2 versions →No Substance Radio ConcertBootleg · 1999View 1 version →Ultra Rare TraxxBootleg · 1999View 1 version →American Punk InvasionBootleg · 1996View 1 version →Holy SmokeBootleg · 1995View 3 versions →Flat Earth SocietyBootleg · 1995View 1 version →Promise Of ProsperityBootleg · 1995View 1 version →Radiation HazardBootleg · 1995View 2 versions →Stranger Than Pulp FictionBootleg · 1995View 2 versions →Unknown InfectionsBootleg · 1995View 2 versions →21st Century Live In ConsertBootleg · 1995View 2 versions →Eat or DieBootleg · 1995View 2 versions →Power PopBootleg · 1995View 1 version →Bad Religion LiveBootleg · 1994View 1 version →Live 94 RadioBootleg · 1995View 1 version →Christmas ShowBootleg · 1995View 1 version →Demos & RaritiesBootleg · 1995View 1 version →All AgesCompilation · 1995View 27 versions →Classic TraxxBootleg · 1994View 3 versions →KROQ Christmas PartyBootleg · 1994View 1 version →Live USABootleg · 1994View 2 versions →NOFX Radio 93 featuring Bad ReligionBootleg · 1993View 1 version →Live And AliveBootleg · 1994View 1 version →U.S.A. 1993Bootleg · 1994View 1 version →Nevermind The CatBootleg · 1994View 1 version →Live USA 94Bootleg · 1994View 1 version →Turn On The MusicBootleg · 1993View 2 versions →Live '93Bootleg · 1992View 1 version →EpitaphBootleg · 1993View 2 versions →Only EntertainmentBootleg · 1993View 2 versions →CrossoverMisc release · 1993View 2 versions →NOFX and Bad Religion LiveBootleg · 1993View 1 version →GeneratorSingle · 1992View 1 version →Fuck The Government Bootleg · 1992View 1 version →GeneratorAlbum · 1992View 36 versions →Operation HollandBootleg · 1993View 3 versions →Going UndergroundMisc release · 1992View 1 version →Generator DemosBootleg · 1991View 5 versions →

Song statistics

Archive coverage at a glance

156release versions
#7

7th most featured song

1,172documented shows
#4

4th most played song

Live through the years

Open to load live-trend data.

Song Interpretations

What do you think this song is about? Share your interpretation and explain your reasoning.

17

legacy memberSep 9, 2016
I think that it is saying you don't notice stuff until it is gone
Like a generator you atomatticly don't hear it but when it stops you know that it was there
Or a humming bird in silence , have you ever been some where for a while to where you don't notice humming birds or cicadas and stuff
Basicly all these are examples of you only noticing something once it's gone
legacy memberJun 4, 2016

I can widely share your thoughts about the song's lyrics when speaking about god or capitalism. But since we're speaking abou Bad Religion here, let's just refere to the name and an explanation for it oftenly given by Brett or Greg. Former once said that "any organized system of thought is a religion" and that is what the band opposes. I think that could be what the song is about, about generally withstanding the inc…

Read moreRead less
I can widely share your thoughts about the song's lyrics when speaking about god or capitalism. But since we're speaking abou Bad Religion here, let's just refere to the name and an explanation for it oftenly given by Brett or Greg. Former once said that "any organized system of thought is a religion" and that is what the band opposes. I think that could be what the song is about, about generally withstanding the incentives of this establishment. It is everywhere and so accepted, that noone even talks about it. Nontheless one get's a notion of it everywhere.
edgeoflaMay 11, 2016

[quote=Sociopathic Jew]I always have thought the generator referred to capitalism[/quote] This might have some validity. In general, giving a song about a 'generator' to an oft-political punk band is likely to lead, as here, to a sense of its expressing a negative political force, whatever the original intention. In that sense, it's quite likely to have entered into the performance, which is quite dark and mechanical…

Read moreRead less
[quote=Sociopathic Jew]I always have thought the generator referred to capitalism[/quote]
This might have some validity. In general, giving a song about a 'generator' to an oft-political punk band is likely to lead, as here, to a sense of its expressing a negative political force, whatever the original intention. In that sense, it's quite likely to have entered into the performance, which is quite dark and mechanical. When words like 'ugly' are used, it's very much up to the singer and so on to deliver this in a certain way, as the pathos may vary easily as a result - in general they portray such things as akin to the shallow or everyday people in the song 'Stranger Than Fiction,' the world 'scratching at their door.' As such, it is likely to go in such a direction.

Anyway, a fairly obvious religious reference is, 'Oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door, / Wash me clean and I will run / Until I reach the shore,' akin to the Exodus. This is combined vaguely with the Christian theme of baptism, which is introduced without any particular problems, and hence expresses a sense of the combination of the religious and suffering, pain, etc., or in general dedication to it as a means of escaping a given society.

The song early states as an intention, 'I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness / That I encounter everywhere I turn,' and hence to be unconcerned about such things and above them. These things, or 'joy and madness,' are further specified as being seen: ' In books and magazines, / Like a twitch before dying, / Like a pornographic sea,' or in general as a 'pornographic sea' of emotions. In general, the song expresses an urge to get away from these things. As such, the characterisation as 'the generator' could imply multiple things, for instance that all of this 'joy and madness' is unified by an overall social force behind them, as SJ suggests, or conversely that they are unified generically but by a force which is far away and merely faintly heard here, just as shepherds may see a sign in the form of a star for instance, and instantly follow it despite it being distant from where they could vaguely glimpse it. Hence, it is something manifested in an underpronounced manner where they are, and they would go some distance to seek it. Both of these are compatible, but only on a fairly limited level, and in that sense a possible limitation of the song is that it is quite vague about its overall direction or point, and in some ways just multiplies images with insufficient gloss.
Sociopathic JewFeb 18, 2014
I always have thought the generator referred to capitalism
legacy memberNov 15, 2010 · edited Nov 16, 2010
I just noticed that "a knife on the floor" may be the thing that can help discover there's a "bone under my skin", as with "the hammer by the window" to break it.
JoLtCoLaRaMpAgEDec 21, 2008 · edited Sep 13, 2010

I've always thought the Generator was like the Tao of Taoism. The lifeless, formless void from which all things grow. Something that you can know with all of your heart, mind, brain, penis, etc. but that you just can't quite put your finger on no matter how hard you try. It's slippery like that. [b]Tao Te Ching - Chapter 1[/b] [quote][i]The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named i…

Read moreRead less
I've always thought the Generator was like the Tao of Taoism. The lifeless, formless void from which all things grow. Something that you can know with all of your heart, mind, brain, penis, etc. but that you just can't quite put your finger on no matter how hard you try. It's slippery like that.

[b]Tao Te Ching - Chapter 1[/b]

[quote][i]The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders[/i][/quote]
legacy memberMay 8, 2007 · edited Sep 13, 2010

To me "the flower" represents happiness, "the window" is regret, "the ugly laughing man" is god and refers to the possibility that he is not the kind deity that people think he is but rather a man, drunk with power that likes to fuck with us. To me, the silent "Humming"bird is a contradiction referring to the bible as being full of contradictions. "The bloody door" is a story in the bible where the Jews enslaved un…

Read moreRead less
To me "the flower" represents happiness, "the window" is regret, "the ugly laughing man" is god and refers to the possibility that he is not the kind deity that people think he is but rather a man, drunk with power that likes to fuck with us.

To me, the silent "Humming"bird is a contradiction referring to the bible as being full of contradictions. "The bloody door" is a story in the bible where the Jews enslaved under pharaoh in Egypt painted lamb's blood on their door so Gods 10th plague(death of first born) would pass them.

"Washing me clean refers to the washing away of sins in baptism. "The actors" aren't used to their full potential in a photo. "The hammer" is to break the window and get the flower, thus achieving happiness. The knife is to kill the mocking god.
legacy memberDec 26, 2005 · edited Sep 13, 2010
Generator can mean as a word God. This is because he is the One who Generated life the One who created everything.In French Generateur means exactly God.
legacy memberNov 17, 2005 · edited Sep 13, 2010
I think a universal interpretation is that the generator is God, or in my personal opinion, religion as a whole. It's something that cant be controlled, made or destroyed; it is in all aspects of life, death and seemingly the afterlife. The "ugly laughing man" is the man religious people see as the sinner, the unsaved, unholy man.
legacy memberApr 14, 2005 · edited Sep 13, 2010

To me this song is a revisitation and expansion on the theme of the song Bad Religion. There are barriers to our experiencing and knowing life ("the window blocking the flower, the hummingbird in silence, magazines showing you what life should be, etc"). It all keeps you from viewing life. We don't all know what's going on nor can we see what causes it ("a bone under my skin, actors in a photograph, a paper in the w…

Read moreRead less
To me this song is a revisitation and expansion on the theme of the song Bad Religion.

There are barriers to our experiencing and knowing life ("the window blocking the flower, the hummingbird in silence, magazines showing you what life should be, etc"). It all keeps you from viewing life. We don't all know what's going on nor can we see what causes it ("a bone under my skin, actors in a photograph, a paper in the wind"). But instead of just accepting that the window will be there that the turbine must be in darkness, and that the bone must never be seen we can break our presuppositions and get to the real world ("a hammer to break the window, we can see the bone in our arm, we can act and leave the actors behind").

Finally (though it references the beginning of the song) is the statement that no matter the unquestioning world we will go on (I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness that I encounter everywhere I turn). Just how I see it and since no-one mentioned it yet I thought I would.
legacy memberOct 13, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010

The window is used to show how there is a barrier between everything that we would like to get to, such as the flower, beauty. We must use "the hammer" to break through the barrier (window) and get to the flower. perhaps the ugly laughing man is one of the few in life who can enjoy things that others cannot due to being born into a certain lifestyle. once inside, the knife, must be used to kill the ugly laughing man,…

Read moreRead less
The window is used to show how there is a barrier between everything that we would like to get to, such as the flower, beauty. We must use "the hammer" to break through the barrier (window) and get to the flower. perhaps the ugly laughing man is one of the few in life who can enjoy things that others cannot due to being born into a certain lifestyle. once inside, the knife, must be used to kill the ugly laughing man, thus we can finally reach the flower.
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010

I think the Generator is a metaphor for the impersonal energy of all existence. The Brahman. The Generator is the cycling energy of life. It knows no one, and nothing. The Generator is the cosmos, and your heartbeat. It is the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up all of life and death ("like a rock, like a planet, like a fucking atom bomb.....like turbines in darkness"). The Generator is a state of awarene…

Read moreRead less
I think the Generator is a metaphor for the impersonal energy of all existence. The Brahman. The Generator is the cycling energy of life. It knows no one, and nothing. The Generator is the cosmos, and your heartbeat. It is the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up all of life and death ("like a rock, like a planet, like a fucking atom bomb.....like turbines in darkness").

The Generator is a state of awareness found within the individual. I think the entire song is about transcending the mythologies you were socially conditioned to believe are real. It is about enlightenment.

So if Generator is about transcendence then the song makes total sense. "There's a flower behind the window, there's an ugly laughing man" - The flower resembles beauty, truth, awareness. There's an ugly laughing man. This is God, well to narrow it down from the thousands of gods man has created, Yahweh.

Later in the song the window is referenced, again, with a hammer. Symbolic to breaking the glass to get to the flower. "There's a knife on the floor" - Kill what is blocking the window. God. A reference to Nietzsche?

"Wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore" - This is psychological. Wash away everything you were taught and you will reach Truth.

"I've seen it all before, in books and magazines" - the advertisement of religion. "I've known it all along like the bone under my skin" - This is the universal truth that has been jaded by belief. And a beautiful quote from Guatama. A belief in anything is a substitute for truth.
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010

To me, Generator does not have one single idea, but a collection of ideas brought together. The main theme is perhaps illustrated in the line "I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness that I encounter everywhere I turn." It is saying that all the joy and beauty in the world cannot be appreciated entirely, because there is a force (the madness or the generator) restricting us from enjoying it. The force of t…

Read moreRead less
To me, Generator does not have one single idea, but a collection of ideas brought together. The main theme is perhaps illustrated in the line "I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness that I encounter everywhere I turn." It is saying that all the joy and beauty in the world cannot be appreciated entirely, because there is a force (the madness or the generator) restricting us from enjoying it. The force of the generator is: the Atomic bomb which tarnishes the beautiful planet. The death after the last twitch of life. The disgusting pollution which has made our once beautiful oceans 'as filthy as pornography'. The glass stopping us from feeling the lovely textures of the flower right in front of us. The silence restricting us from hearing the joyous voice of the hummingbird. The ugly appearance of the man experiencing the joy of laughter. The actors who are depicting reality falsely in a photograph. The brutal men who killed innocent babies in the search for Jesus. (See Like the blood on my door).

The Generator is not a person or a thing, it refers to nature (and in some cases the unstoppable nature of the human race) and its mysterious ways. At times seeming to have a purpose or a reason; and at times appearing to have no reason - just working randomly. It almost looks like song author Gurewitz is trying to understand why this force is in place, and why we cannot see it working. We can see the paper blowing in the wind, but we cannot see the force moving it. We can hear the turbine in darkness creating energy, and we know it is creating energy but we cannot see it.
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010

I think generator is about God, because it says things like "Like actors in a photograph" and "like a hummingbird in silence". These are things that can't show their full beauty, and are hidden from the world. No-one really understands God and he isn't given enough 'respect' and consideration. The "wash me clean and i will run until i reach the shore" could be to do with Moses and the red sea, or it could be someth…

Read moreRead less
I think generator is about God, because it says things like "Like actors in a photograph" and "like a hummingbird in silence". These are things that can't show their full beauty, and are hidden from the world. No-one really understands God and he isn't given enough 'respect' and consideration.

The "wash me clean and i will run until i reach the shore" could be to do with Moses and the red sea, or it could be something to do with murderers etc. asking God for forgiveness. The blood on the door bit, I think, shows that if people took more notice of God then there wouldn't be such bad things happening in the world.
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010
What I could figure out is that the generator is this big machine surrounding us, making our everyday life go like it does. He seems to have accepted the fact that there is this huge thing around us, sort of controlling us but at the same time, he's scared. But there's nothing he can do about it.
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010

The 'Generator' could be a metaphor for God. In the words of Brett: [i]'The vibe that I'm trying to give is like, if you've ever been in a room and the air conditioner's humming. You don't notice it, of course, because it's a constant hum. Then it turns off and you suddenly notice how quiet it is because it went away. That's the generator; it's just behind everything. It's funny, God and spirituality has been the ce…

Read moreRead less
The 'Generator' could be a metaphor for God. In the words of Brett:
[i]'The vibe that I'm trying to give is like, if you've ever been in a room and the air conditioner's humming. You don't notice it, of course, because it's a constant hum. Then it turns off and you suddenly notice how quiet it is because it went away. That's the generator; it's just behind everything. It's funny, God and spirituality has been the central conflict of my entire life.' 'It's a song about my concept of god (...) the hammer, window, knife etc. are prose and I don't feel it's appropriate to give you my personal intention, although like any art there is a definite 'meaning' I'm trying to convey. If Generator makes you feel something when you listen to it real loud than chances are you understand it just fine.'[/i]
legacy memberJul 11, 2004 · edited Sep 13, 2010
According to Brett: "'The Generator' is a metaphor for God."