The Dodo

Song details

Bad Religion original
Yes
First released
1996
First release
Punk Rock Song (single)
Songwriters
Greg Graffin, Brian Baker

Lyrics

The Dodo

I see a white haired man, he's got a suit on and He's telling people how they're supposed to live Nobody's listening to the politician No matter what sage advice he has to give He's got a clumsy, outdated m.o. And he's come to a fork in the road And there is only one direction to go Among the commuters, dwarfed by the skyscrapers I watch the countless millions fighting for space See hateful, petty acts, disjointed images, And can't believe that I'm one of the same race We're all just struggling to cope And we come to a fork in the road As we watch our foundations erode There's only one direction to go It's the way of the dodo Such a noble destiny It's the waltz of desperation Passed along to you and me The way of the dodo (It's the gray stuff in your head) (It's the pulse of the living and the voices of the dead)

Versions & recordings

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3

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#190

190th most featured song

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Song Interpretations

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

6

badrelgnsfNov 15, 2010 · edited Nov 27, 2010
A waltz of desperation is a term anyone can use here; just means a struggle to X Y or Z.
This song just states we are like the dodo getting this desperation of going extinct ingrained in us. I'm not sure who they are referring to on the white haired man, but I think its either towards humans again, but then it might be someone specific.
pcgamer58Oct 28, 2005 · edited Date unknown
Basically this song means that we are heading down the road to extinction, like the Dodo is extinct now. "And he's come to a fork in the road
And there is only one direction to go" That direction is the way to extinction, we are destroying ourselves.
legacy memberOct 27, 2004 · edited Date unknown

While it seems complex, the underlying message of this song is amazingly simple: we as a species are going to destroy ourselves. The Dodo was a bird that went extinct partly because of the ineptity of explorers who found it, and partly because it was a stupid bird. It was complacent and docile, and approached any potential threat as if it really wasn't a threat at all. The human race is the Dodo. We don't fear anythi…

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While it seems complex, the underlying message of this song is amazingly simple: we as a species are going to destroy ourselves. The Dodo was a bird that went extinct partly because of the ineptity of explorers who found it, and partly because it was a stupid bird. It was complacent and docile, and approached any potential threat as if it really wasn't a threat at all. The human race is the Dodo. We don't fear anything because we can control almost everything that wants to destroy us. Which means that someday we are going to stumble onto something that we aren't going to be expecting, and that complacency and lack of fear is going to be what destroys us.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown
I think the dodo's 'noble destiny' is being destroyed by a superior(?) race. 'As we watch our foundations erode' would it not be less embarrassing if we were destroyed by something stronger than us as opposed to destroying ourselves.
legacy memberJul 17, 2004 · edited Date unknown

The Dodo was a large flightless bird, like the Ostrich, found around Australia. It had no predators thus it knew no fear. When Europeans colonized New Zealand, Australia, and the surrounding areas, they discovered this bird. They also discovered a new source of meat. The fearless bird would walk right up to the hunters, and investigate what they were. THUNK! The hunters resorted to using clubs to kill these stupid an…

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The Dodo was a large flightless bird, like the Ostrich, found around Australia. It had no predators thus it knew no fear. When Europeans colonized New Zealand, Australia, and the surrounding areas, they discovered this bird. They also discovered a new source of meat. The fearless bird would walk right up to the hunters, and investigate what they were. THUNK! The hunters resorted to using clubs to kill these stupid animals, as not to waste ammunition on something as easy to hunt as Jello. The Human Race has no predators. We sit around on our haunches and waste. Waste the Environment, our lives, our brains. Everything. No one acts on the problems of our society, worse yet, no one listens to anything anyone has to say. What happened to the Rainforest? Save this Save that...the only thing we have ever carried out is recycling, and even that we don't do well. When will we die? When will we become extinct like the Dodo?
legacy memberJul 16, 2004 · edited Date unknown

This song to me is pretty straightforward. I think the message here is that the human race has advanced so far technologically, yet we are continually using that sophistication to gradually destroy the human race. We've come to a "fork in the road" where we have to either decide to go one way (start making the world a better place to live), or the other (destruction of the human species). The song uses the analogy…

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This song to me is pretty straightforward. I think the message here is that the human race has advanced so far technologically, yet we are continually using that sophistication to gradually destroy the human race. We've come to a "fork in the road" where we have to either decide to go one way (start making the world a better place to live), or the other (destruction of the human species). The song uses the analogy of the dodo bird, which is obviously now extinct, compared to the eventual destiny of mankind if current trends persist.