1. I heard someone cryin' 'Waterloo'
Could be the big one, whatcha gonna do?
Yin yang, sorry Arthur
You don't crucify, for soap operas
Some girl, taking motion pictures of some hillbillies
In a union house with fixtures
Division/Trilateral
Commission/Subliminal
Chorus 1:
It's indoctrination/gradual sensation
Bugs in conversation/next assassination
Could be a politician/or some kind of musician
Now is the time of salvation
2. I knew a young czar, local heavy punker
Dead Kaiser/Got elected mayor
No more Kinks/No More Stones
No more Who/metal drone
Saw him buying psychedelics at the coal mine
Erecting the new relics
He banned the cross/ Gave us all a new savior
Gonna get the mark/or you're gonna get the razor
Chorus 2:
It's indoctrination/gradual sensation
With no consideration/next assassination
Deifies the politician/deifies the musician
Still there is time for salvation
3. A new prophet/new age centurion
He's such a nice man with a nice one-world religion
One mind/One planet/One utopia/One helmet
Someone is pulling all the strings
His name is backwards, and he'll tell you anything
Rilin' up the left/rufflin' the right
But it ain't too long 'fore we/tie him up tight
(Chorus 1 repeat, mouth trombone solo, guitar solo, fade)
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Copyright 1984 by Singnorbertmusic, Inc. BMI. Recorded 12/84 in Knoxville TN. Released 1985 on the album Door in the Water. Remastered with new drums, guitars and percussion in 2007 as Espresso Mix 2007. Issued on the CD Grateful.
JJB: bass, guitars, percussion, all vocals. Darryl Puett: lead guitar. Billy Reynolds: drums
This abstraction is also as political as I get. The title is a satire on an ecological bumper sticker. The phrase "One Planet One Utopia One Helmet" is a reminder that tyrannical regimes rose to power on these exact themes. How quickly people forget history.
The lyrics pull from four sources. First, it's a tribute to characters and images in concept works by Ray Davies and The Kinks. The more you know about their music and subjects, the clearer it is: "Waterloo Sunset," Arthur, Muswell Hillbillies, Soap Opera, Preservation Acts I & II, "You Really Got Me," etc.
Second, theology. The streets of San Francisco are full of competing philosophies and religions, as in the days of Paul at Athens in the Areopogas. I was responding to people who believed in Yin/Yang, as if "good" is totally dependent on "evil" to define "good," therefore we have balance. To me this is like saying you need a parasite to know if you're healthy or not.
Third, it's about the 1984 San Francisco mayoral elections. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys came in fifth. In San Francisco, a cop can get sued just for pulling his gun even on a dangerous criminal, but a cop can also write a $500 ticket if you use your cell phone in your car.
Fourth, the chorus alludes to the freakishness of the John Lennon assassination. No one gets out alive. Death does not discriminate. |
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