Punk Rock Song

Song details

Bad Religion original
Yes
First released
1996
First release
The Gray Race (album)
Songwriter
Greg Graffin

Lyrics

Punk Rock Song

Have you been to the desert? Have you walked with the dead? There's a hundred thousand children being killed for their bread And the figures don't lie they speak of human disease, But we do what we want and we think what we please. Have you lived the experience? Have you witnessed the plague? People making babies sometimes just to escape. In this land of competition the compassion is gone, Yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushing on. We keep pushing on... This is just a punk rock song Written for the people who can see something's wrong. Like ants in a colony we do our share, But there's so many other fuckin' insects out there. And this is just a punk rock song. Have you visited the quagmire? Have you swam in the shit? The party conventions and the realpolitik, The faces always different, the rhetoric the same, But we swallow it, and we see nothing change. Nothing has changed... This is just a punk rock song Written for the people who can see something's wrong. Like workers in a factory we do our share But there's so many other fuckin' robots out there. And this is just a punk rock song. Ten million dollars on a losing campaign, Twenty million starving and writhing in pain. Big strong people unwilling to give, Small in vision and perspective. One in five kids below the poverty line, One population runnin' out of time. Runnin' out of time. This is just a punk rock song Written for the people who can see something's wrong. Like ants in a colony we do our share, But there's so many other fuckin' insects out there. And this is just a punk rock song. (Figures don't lie they speak of human disease, But we do what we want and we think what we please. One in five kids below the poverty line, One population runnin' out of time.) This is just a punk rock song... [3x]
Warst du schon mal in der Wüste? Schon mal den Tod gesehen? Hunderttausend Kinder sterben für Brot Und die Zahlen lügen nicht, es ist die Krankheit der Menschen Doch wir tun was wir wollen, Wir denken wie es uns gefällt Hast du die Erfahrung gemacht? Hast du die Plage gesehen? Leute machen Kinder, einfach nur um zu fliehen Im Land des Wettbewerbs ist kein Mitleid mehr da Und wir vergessen die Armen, Wir machen weiter und weiter, Weiter und weiter Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Für die, die sehen, dass es so nicht weitergeht Wie Ameisen im Haufen sind wir programmiert Aber es gibt immer mehr von dieser verfickten Art Aber dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Hast du schon mal nicht weitergewusst? Schon mal in der Scheiße gesteckt? Die Parteitagungen und die Realpolitik, Die Gesichter wechseln, das Gelaber bleibt Alles wird geschluckt, und so wird sich nichts ändern Niemals ändern Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Für die, die sehen, dass es so nicht weitergeht Wie Fließbandarbeiter tun wir unsere Pflicht Und es gibt noch mehr von diesen stumpfsinnigen Idioten Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Ten million dollars on a losing campaign, Twenty million starving and writhing in pain Big strong people unwilling to give Small in vision and perspective Eins von fünf Kindem lebt in Armut Der Menschheit läuft die Zeit davon Die Zeit davon Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Für die, die sehen, dass es so nicht weitergeht Wie Ameisen im Haufen sind wir programmiert Aber es gibt immer mehr von dieser verfickten Art Aber dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song (Figures don't lie they speak of human disease But we do what we want and we think what we please One in five kids below the poverty line One population running out of time) Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song Dies ist nur ein Punk Rock Song

Versions & recordings

Grouped by recording

8

First released on Punk Rock Song · 1996

Appears on

The Gray Race - Demo SessionsBootleg · 2019View 3 versions →The Very BestBootleg · 2005View 1 version →Punk Rock Am Ring 2002Bootleg · 2002View 1 version →Punk Rock Songs (The Epic Years)Compilation · 2002View 11 versions →

Song statistics

Archive coverage at a glance

118release versions
#16

16th most featured song

523documented shows
#19

19th most played song

Live through the years

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Song Interpretations

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

9

rmg512Jun 29, 2009
Exactly, it's JUST a punk-rock song. No one really follows punk like no one truly follows these issues and tries to do something about them.
KavoJun 29, 2009
I think it says that this world sucks and all we can offer is this punk rock song.
legacy memberDec 7, 2005 · edited Date unknown

Wow. This song deeply symbolizes the new American ignorance. Every day we go about our lives like "ants in a colony" or bees in a hive for example. It seems we either dont give a shit about the starving millions around the world, or we just are so involved with ourselves that we forget. Take the recent AIDS day for example. George Bush said he would donate relief money years ago and now he's saying now we can star…

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Wow. This song deeply symbolizes the new American ignorance. Every day we go about our lives like "ants in a colony" or bees in a hive for example. It seems we either dont give a shit about the starving millions around the world, or we just are so involved with ourselves that we forget. Take the recent AIDS day for example. George Bush said he would donate relief money years ago and now he's saying now we can start the process. To me he is a fucking liar and a turncoat just like how Anti-Flag and other bands would describe him. Anyways, its "just a punk rock song" but it makes us take a step back and think for a change. This is why Bad Religion is fucking awesome. Peace everyone,
Nik H.
legacy memberNov 13, 2005 · edited Date unknown
I think this song is a tribute to every punk in the world who can see that the world is not a perfect place, and can recognise the problems and how to try and solve them.
droogiedroogieNov 7, 2004 · edited Date unknown
Once again, The Gray Race delivers a scathing critique of the American left for doing just enough to feel good by having benefit concerts or buying a goat for someone in Bangladesh or protesting something or other, but staying away from meaningful change that would require a change in lifestyle. All we do is preach to our own converted choir and we know it, but we don't care. Because nothing else is required of us.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

The very first BR song I ever heard. It was back in 1996 (yeah, I'm a junior if compared to you who have been fans for 20 years or so) when I heard it from the radio. Didn't really notice it then, it was just another fairly good song. But about one and a half years ago I heard it again. And it was great. The lyrics really make you think. 'The faces always different, the rhetoric the same, but we swallow it all and we…

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The very first BR song I ever heard. It was back in 1996 (yeah, I'm a junior if compared to you who have been fans for 20 years or so) when I heard it from the radio. Didn't really notice it then, it was just another fairly good song. But about one and a half years ago I heard it again. And it was great. The lyrics really make you think. 'The faces always different, the rhetoric the same, but we swallow it all and we see nothing change.' Could it be more true? No matter who is in charge, the things always go the same way, and those who are not in charge, stay muted and do anything they are told to do. 'Big strong people, unwilling to give / small in vision and perspective / one in five kids below the poverty line, one population running out of time.' Yeah, there's no limit to people's greediness. The rich get richer and don't care if the poor stay poor. There's just one little but. If things stay this way, the only possible result is disaster. At some point, somewhere, someone is really going to have enough of it, and after that it's all downhill. The marks are already there, the riots in Seattle -99, G?teborg and Genova this year, terrorist attack to USA, and all the smaller conflicts, school murders in Columbus and elsewhere etcetera. One population running out of time.
Like I said, this was the first BR song I heard. Since then many BR songs have gone past this, and I consider this a mediocre song in the whole, but the lyrics are still awesome. Thank you, Mr.. Graffin.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

This is about how limited of an effect Bad Religion has, due to the fact that they're just singing songs about problems to people that probably already realize that this is the case (preaching to the choir, so to speak). He points out that even if the members of Bad Religion and the people listening are doing what they can to resolve some of the world's issues, it's in no way enough since there are many, many more pe…

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This is about how limited of an effect Bad Religion has, due to the fact that they're just singing songs about problems to people that probably already realize that this is the case (preaching to the choir, so to speak). He points out that even if the members of Bad Religion and the people listening are doing what they can to resolve some of the world's issues, it's in no way enough since there are many, many more people that aren't ('There's so many other insects/robots out there'). Greg points out that nothing has changed, despite all the rhetoric that we've been fed ('Nothing's ever changed'), and that punk rock songs will have a limited effect.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

This song is pretty straight forward. It's about how people as fortunate as me and you to live in a wealthy country doesn't care about any one but ourselves. Graffin says 'In this land of competition the compassion is gone, yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushin on.' I think he is saying how all of us know about how bad it is for the people who live in third world countries, but know one does anything about it.…

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This song is pretty straight forward. It's about how people as fortunate as me and you to live in a wealthy country doesn't care about any one but ourselves. Graffin says 'In this land of competition the compassion is gone, yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushin on.' I think he is saying how all of us know about how bad it is for the people who live in third world countries, but know one does anything about it. Then he says 'Like ants in a colony we do our share, but there's so many other fuckin insects out there,' there I think he is trying to say while some of us do our share to help, some many others don't. He also talks about how we blow money on pointless things instead of helping others. And I think that the fact that the song is called 'Punk Rock Song' shows that this is basically what all punk rock songs our about, just another statement no one will listen to.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

This song has got to be one of the most straight forward Bad Religion songs on Grey Race, if not their entire collection. 'Ol Greg speaks on some of the most significant world issues facing the human race today; hundreds of thousands of infant mortality in African nations due to malnutrition and the poverty cycle, third world population surplus, and of course each election new politicians with the same empty promise…

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This song has got to be one of the most straight forward Bad Religion songs on Grey Race, if not their entire collection. 'Ol Greg speaks on some of the most significant world issues facing the human race today; hundreds of thousands of infant mortality in African nations due to malnutrition and the poverty cycle, third world population surplus, and of course each election new politicians with the same empty promises (nothing changes). My favorite line from Punk Rock Song is: 'big strong people unwilling to give, small in vision and perspective'. Corporations? Governments? It's sad to know that we have enough resources, finance and technology to COMPLETELY ERADICATE WORLD HUNGER yet instead we hoard the resources to ourselves all in the name of personal profit. Damn agribusiness.