Rise Against

is is not a test, oh no
This is cardiac arrest
Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
We're crashing into the ground as all fall from grace

When the air that we breathe becomes air that we choke
When the marsh fever spreads from the swamps to our homes
When your home on the range has been torn down and paved and
The buffalo roam to a slaughterhouse grave
What more will it take

For us to know
This is not a test, oh no
This is cardiac arrest
Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
Kissing the ground as well fall from grace

This is a chance to set things straight
To bend or break the rules back into place
There is no middle ground, no compromise, we’ve drawn the line
With perfect aim, we stand back and throw
Glass windows break and it’s all about to blow
Lights go out as we pass the torch again
In hope that it stays lit

Neutrality means that you don’t really care
Cause the struggle goes on even when you’re not there
Blind and unaware

That’s how we’ll know
This is not a test, oh no
This is cardiac arrest
Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes
We're crashing into the ground as we all, yeah we all, all fall from grace


Long Forgotten Sons :
Far from home on a road unknown
Where the vultures circle on winds that blow
From northern skies that haunt these waking moments
On shadows cast by the mountain range
On calloused soles we find our way
Through desperate eyes, we long for the horizon
While this sun is rising

We are the long forgotten sons
And daughters that don’ belong to anyone
We are alone under this sun
We work to fix the work that you’ve undone

When cries for help go unanswered
And signal fires just burn and burn
We wonder if we’re waiting here for nothing
Our lips are sewn our ears are filled
With the constant drone of the unfulfilled
But we’ll never fall if we stand for something
We stand for something

We are the long forgotten sons
And daughters that don’ belong to anyone
We are alone under this sun
We work to fix the work that you’ve undone

Don’t fall, I see lights in the distance
They’re not far away
Stand up because the sky is turning gray

There’s hope in these footsteps of persistence
So don’t go astray
These lights get closer everyday

We are the long forgotten sons
And daughters that don’ belong to anyone
We are alone under this sun
We work to fix the work that you’ve undone
What you’ve undone
(what happens now, we don’t know, just hold on tight now here we go…)


Re-education (Through Labor) :
To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away
To the rhythm of the awful rusted machines
We toss and turn but don't sleep
Each breath we take makes us thieves
Like causes without rebels
Just talk but promise nothing else

We crawl on our knees for you
Under a sky no longer blue
We sweat all day long for you
But we sow seeds to see us through
The sometimes dreams just don't come true
We wait to reap what we are due

To the rhythm of a time bomb ticking away
And the blare of the sirens combing the streets
Chased down like dogs we run from
Your grasp until the sun comes up

We crawl on our knees for you
Under a sky no longer blue
We sweat all day long for you
But we sow seeds to see us through
The sometimes dreams just don't come true
Look now at what they've done to you

White needles buried in the red
The engine roars and then it gives
But never dies
'Cuz we don't live
We just survive
On the scraps that you throw away

I won't crawl on my knees for you
I won't believe the lies that hide the truth
I won't sweat one more drop for you
'Cuz we are the rust upon your gears
We are the insects in your ears
We crawl
We crawl
We crawl...all over you

We sow the seeds to see us through
Our days are precious and so few
We all reap what we are due
A judge's sky no longer blue
We bring the dawn all over new
We crawl
We crawl
We crawl...all over you


The Dirt Whispered :
She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
holding her breath to hear something, but the dirt made not a sound tonight

echoes of songs still lurk on distant foreign shores, where we
danced just to please the gods that only ask for more, so it goes

but still we give ourselves to this
we can't spend our lives waiting to live

on cold nights
in a prayer for dawn
but the daylight
isn’t what/ she wants

the concrete
calls my name again
im falling
thru the cracks I slip

the postcard says wish you were here
but I’d rather I was there, holding
on to the simple things before they disappear, that’s what I meant

but that was then, and this is now
I'll make it up to you somehow

on cold nights
in a prayer for dawn
but the daylight
isn’t what she wants

the concrete
calls my name again
im falling
thru the cracks I slip

she got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
holding her breath to hear something, anything at all

The dirt whispered, "Child, I'm coming home."

on cold nights
in a prayer for dawn
but the daylight
isn’t what she wants

the concrete
calls my name again
im falling
thru the cracks I slip


Kotov Syndrome :
There, high on the watchtower
Keeping the peace
Whatever that means
Because you see the world through
Crosshairs and tv’s don’t you

Ten foot walls built around us
White picket death
So quiet, so safe
But if we fall there will be nothing and no one to catch
So sit back and watch as we

Spin out of control
Spin out of control
Try to recover, but collide with each other
We spin out of control

Something I cannot change
I was born in a place
That lives by the sword
And thus to it’s blade we’re condemned
Don’t you understand why we scream “no more” ?

My dreams are of children
Orphaned by blood
Spilled at these hands
Here on the graves of the innocent
We raise our flag

Spin out of control
Spin out of control
Try to recover, but collide with each other
We spin out of control
Somethings you don’t forgive somethings you don’t forget
Sometimes the fate you suffer is so much worse than death
We’re way off course now and we’re drifting out to sea
So cut the anchor on your heart to be set free

Spin out of control
Spin out of control
Try to recover, but collide with each other
We spin out of control


From Heads Unworthy :
We are the children you reject and disregard
These aching cries come from the bottom of our hearts
You can’t disown us now, we are your own flesh and blood
We don’t disappear just because your eyes are shut, now tell me

Love
Loss
Like a bullets path
Tear
Through
The cavity of my chest
Lights
Out
Because the fuse has blown

As your castles crumble slowly
We watch them fall
The crown slips from heads unworthy
As we take control

This is the family that we crossed or never had
This is a war that was lost the day that it began
Because it’s the race we run, but it keeps us at the start
It’s the song I sung from the bottom of heart, that’s how we

Read
You
Like a polygraph
Not
One
Single bone in your back
Own
Up
To how you let us down

As your castles crumble slowly
We watch them fall
The crown slips from heads unworthy
As we take control

Except for you and me, love
Everyone is the same, we know
But if too live, we have to be numb
I’d rather know the pain, I’d rather know
This happens almost never
But it happened once to me
And this will never be same
The ends we seam together

I’m not after fame and fortune
I’m after you
When I’ve served my time I swear I will come for you

As your castles crumble slowly
We watch them fall
The crown slips from heads unworthy
Right on to ours, but I’m after you…


The Strength To Go On :
Welcome home
While away
They have tampered with the locks
And your things they rearranged

“We propose a better way.”
Said they not they left behind
In their wake of disarray
You fell in place

Don’t fall asleep
They’ll find us here
I know a place to disappear
As a voice proclaimed

What we are is the sum of 1000 lies
What we know is almost nothing at all
But we are what we are until the day we die
Or until we don’t have the strength to go on

Let us cry
Let us be
Let us open up our hearts
Without fear of anything

Faith alone
Is all we need
To traverse this burning bridge
Now before it gets too late
You said. “it’s fine”

But the heart reveals
What smiles betray
Your sad sad eyes gave you away
Don’t you know

What we are is the sum of 1000 lies
What we know is almost nothing at all
But we are what we are until the day we die
Or until we don’t have the strength to go on

Our shoulders bear an awful weight
But still we trudge on just the same
These colors run then leave a stain
They blacken our once honest name
But how can we argue, tell me
Over the fury and the fire
How many times can we tell you that we
Are not like you, we see right through
Your poor disguise that fails to fool
The wary eye that is trained on you

What we are is the sum of 1000 lies
What we know is almost nothing at all
But we are what we are until the day we die
Or until we don’t have the strength to go on


Audience Of One :
I can still remember
The words and what they meant
As we etched them with our fingers
In years of wet cement
The days blurred into each other
Though everything seemed clear
We cruised along at half speed
But then we shifted gears

We ran like vampires from a thousand burning sons
But even then we should have stayed
But we ran away
Now all my friends gone
Maybe we’ve outgrown all the things that we once loved
Runaway
But what are we running from ?
A show of hands from those in this audience of one
Where have they gone ?

Identities assume us
As nine and five add up
Synchronizing watches
To the seconds that we lost
I looked up and saw you
I know that you saw me
We froze but for a moment
In empathy

I brought down the sky for you but all you did was shrug
You gave my emptiness away

But you ranaway
Now all my friends gone
Maybe we’ve outgrown all the things that we once loved
Runaway
But what are we running from ?
A show of hands from those in this audience of one
Where have they gone ?

We’re all ok, until the day we’re not
The surface shines, while the inside rots
We raced the sunset and we almost won
We slammed the brakes, but the wheels went on

We ran away
Now all my friends gone
Maybe we’ve outgrown all the things that we once loved
Runaway
But what are we running from ?
A show of hands from those in this audience of one
Where have they gone ?


Entertainment :
All we are is entertainment
Caught up in our own derangement
Tell us what to say and what to do
All we are are pretty faces
Picture perfect bottled rage
Packaged synthesized versions of you

We’ve all made petty fortunes but we can’t afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream California and it’s toppling empire
But cant you see the end is coming soon

All we are is entertainment
Guaruntee s then obligations
Spotlights follow every single move
Basking here on ten foot stages
Pouty lips and oh so jaded
All as if we have something to prove

We’ve all made petty fortunes but we can’t afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream California and it’s toppling empire
But cant you see the end

And if w cared at all about this unknown plight than we’d do something more to finally make this right

All we are is entertainment
Pull the curtains, places please
We learned to sing and dance and cry on cue
But this is more than entertainment
In a world so sick with pain
This is the only thing that’s real or true

Desptite these petty fortunes we still can’t afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream bloody-murder over graves already dug
But can’t you see the end…


Hero Of War :
He said, “Son,
Have you see the world?
Well, what would you say
If I said that you could?
Just carry this gun and you’ll even get paid.”
I said, “That sounds pretty good.”

Black leather boots
Spit-shined so bright
They cut off my hair but it looked alright
We marched and we sang
We all became friends
As we learned how to fight

A hero of war
Yeah that’s what I’ll be
And when I come home
They’ll be damn proud of me
I’ll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it’s flag that I love
And a flag that I trust

I kicked in the door
I yelled my commands
The children, they cried
But I got my man
We took him away
A bag over his face
From his family and his friends

They took off his clothes
They pissed in his hands
I told them to stop
But then I joined in
We beat him with guns
And batons not just once
But again and again

A hero of war
Yeah that’s what I’ll be
And when I come home
They’ll be damn proud of me
I’ll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it’s flag that I love
And a flag that I trust

She walked through bullets and haze
I asked her to stop
I begged her to stay
But she pressed on
So I lifted my gun
And I fired away

The shells jumped through the smoke
And into the sand
That the blood now had soaked
She collapsed with a flag in her hand
A flag white as snow

A hero of war
Is that what the see
Just medals and scars
So damn proud of me
And I brought home that flag
Now it gathers dust
But it’s a flag that I love
It’s the only flag I trust

He said, “Son, have you seen the world? Well what would you say, if I said that you could?”


Savior :
It kills me not to know this but I've all but just forgotten
what the color of her eyes were and her scars or how she got them
as the telling signs of age rain down a single tear is dropping
through the valleys of an aging face that this world has forgotten

there is no reconciliation that will put me in my place
and there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds
but seldom do these words ring true when I'm constantly failing you
like walls that we just can't break through until we disappear
so tell me now

if this ain't love then how do we get out?
because I don't know
that's when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save
that's when I told her I love you girl
but I'm not the answer to the questions that you still have

but the day pressed on like crushing weights
for no man does it ever wait
like memories of dying days
that deafen us like hurricanes
bathed in flames we held the brand
uncurled the fingers in your hand
pressed into the flesh like sand
now do you understand?
so tell me now

if this ain't love then how do we get out?
because I don't know
that' s when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save
that's when I told her I love you girl
but I'm not the answer to the questions that you still have

one thousand miles away
there's nothing left to say
but so much left that I don't know
we never had a choice
this world is too much noise
it takes me under
it takes me under once again

I don't hate you
I don't hate you
so tell me now
if this ain't love then how do we get out?
because I don't know

that's when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save
that's when I told her I love you girl
but I'm not the answer to the questions that you still have
I don't hate you
I don't hate you, no


Hairline Fracture :
A sinking ship an awkward kiss
A chance to set things straight
The kind of hurt that burns and burns
Like fires we can’t contain

We hole up in a shelter made of bones and ice and there we’ll wait
So start again with steady hands
This time nothing gets in our way
But as we peer a little closet what do we see ?

A crack in the surface
A flaw in the plan (plans we made together, almost buried in the sand)
A cadence imperfect
Like a building condemned (can we indemnify ourselves if we don’t face what we’re against)

A promise kept
The dirt unswept
A poorly worn disguise
A child unloved that then grows up
To love what we despise

We’re broken but still breathing
We are wounded but we are healing
We pick up right where we left off
Breathe on the ashed that remain

So that these coals may become fire
To guide our way

A crack in the surface
A flaw in the plan (plans we made together, almost buried in the sand)
A cadence imperfect
Like a building condemned (can we indemnify ourselves if we don’t face what we’re against)

I walk on wounds that seldom prove to slow me down
I laugh this constant pain away
So you can’t tell
But there it lies under the smiles
It drains me mile after mile
But seldom proves to slow me down
Here I go

Should we just hold on
To what remains of
What we though was lost

But its just a crack in the surface
A flaw in the plan (plans we made together, almost buried in the sand)
A cadence imperfect
Like a building condemned (can we indemnify ourselves if we don’t face what we’re against)


Whereabouts Unknown :
To the ends of this lost world
You have marched and you have sworn
to a tainted crown of thorns

As the hungry sails unfurl
We are thrusted from the shore
And its you that we search for

the blackest night
the midnight sun
the covered tracks
the day spent on the run
the stranger we've become...

whereabouts unknown
please know you can come home
it's alright
I long for the moment
Our silence is broken
it's alright

another place, another time
we toed the same side of the line
we saw eye to eye

even then the saddest sounds,
were nothing laughter could not drown
but we are not laughing now

I see your face
In my sights
I hesitate
I look for a sign
Somewhere in the sky...

whereabouts unknown
whereabouts unknown
please know you can come home
it's alright
I long for the moment
Our silence is broken
it's alright

even together, we stand apart
swallow the sun, erase the sky
an invitation has been declined
where did you go ? where did you go ?

whereabouts unknown
please know you can come home
it's alright
I long for the moment
Our silence is broken
it's alright
all is forgiven
if you could just listen...
it's alright


Elective Amnesia :
We don't sleep very much.
These triggers ache for the touch.
Where's the strength we relied on?
Here alone, like a crutch
maybe that's what keeps us up
all the night with a light on..

Howling screams simulate
things that no longer take place
Can this be what we've become?
Paper-thin, overweight
Pills to arouse us in tape
Still we don't know what we want

We can let go
Can't you see?
To lose control
is to be
Falling free

First a spark
then a flame
now a fire!

We explode!

Into the darkest of nights,
disconnect,
cut the cord,
lights are dead.

Now they'll know,
With everything comes a price!

And each day we are torn
between the right and the wrong
between life and convenience,
While you sleep, I'll complain
It's always channels and chains
It's like elective amnesia.

As we grow older,
in this place,
it's just all over
life's a race.

What they make.

First a spark,
then a flame,
now a fire

We explode!

Into the darkest of nights
disconnect
cut the cord
lights are dead

Now they'll know
With everything comes a price!

It could be minutes away
It could be hours or days
Before the bottom falls out
Before the ground gets away
Into this debt we are born
a debt we try to repay
and yet we blacken the sky
smoke rising out of the flames

Now they'll know...

First a spark!
then a flame!
now a fire!

We explode!

Into the darkest of nights!
disconnect!
cut the cord!
lights are dead!

Now they'll know
With everything comes a price!

We explode!
We explode!

With everything comes a price!

We explode!
We explode...


Historia Calamitatum :
Even though we know, yeah,
We know,
Our time has almost come,
We're all overdue.
Can there be a place to call our own?
Can there be a road that takes us home?

We toe the line (toe the line).
We go along (we go along).
We toe the line
To you now.

When it rains it pours
Like summer storms, the skies as grey as leaves.
The rivers flood the banks and spill into the streets.
But the people laughed and swore that they'd restore
The city piece by piece.
And then the clouds gave way as if to agree;
When it rains it pours.

The mystery unknown now unfolds,
The life that we once owned, first bought, then sold.
Like messengers of war, we've no control.
To oceans unexplored,
This ship sails through.

We toe the line (toe the line).
We go along (we go along).
We toe the line
To you now.

When it rains it pours
Like summer storms, the skies as grey as leaves.
The rivers flood the banks and spill into the streets.
But the people laughed and swore that they'd restore
The city piece by piece.
And then the clouds gave way as if to agree;
When it rains it pours.
It pours.
(It pours).

When it rains it pours,
When they die we mourn,
When it hit, we swore,
Now we want not more.
Like a saint re-born,
Like a rose in a storm,
Like a child un-born,
A child un-born...

It's the coin we're tossing into the well,
It's misfortune that we could not foretell,
It's the dry spell.

When it rains it pours
Like summer storms, the skies as grey as leaves.
The rivers flood the banks and spill into the streets.
But the people laughed and swore that they'd restore
The city piece by piece.
And then the clouds gave way as if to agree;
When it rains it pours.
It pours,
When it rains it pours.