Punk rock gods: Rise Against 

These guys are the real deal: no-nonsense, spit in your face, rock-out loud musicians. Posers aren’t even welcome here: they’re hardcore vegetarians (and avid supporters of PETA), condone commercialism (those that exploit the marginalized), hate George Bush, and raise awareness in the Punk Rock community to entice more people to vote.

Rise Against - Prayer of the Refugee

Warm yourself by the fire, son,
And the morning will come soon.
I’ll tell you stories of a better time,
In a place that we once knew.
Before we packed our bags
And left all this behind us in the dust,
We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!
Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!
Down!

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told.
But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home.
We’ve been pulling out the nails that hold up
Everything you’ve known.

So open your eyes child,
Let’s be on our way.
Broken windows and ashes
Are guiding the way.
Keep quiet no longer,
We’ll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we’ve lost,
And the lives we’ve reclaimed.
Go!

Take this song for example, it takes a lot of guts to put out a video that outright bashes The United States. They might as well named this video "How America takes advantage of well… non-Americans" Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t single America out, Instead, let’s say "almost ALL first-world nations." Yep, that seems more appropriate

Every time I hear this song, I remember people from the province leaving everything behind in hopes of the city giving them a better life. Instead, they fall flat on their faces and then lose everything and ALL THEY COULD EVER WISH FOR IS TO GO HOME… but they can’t.

Here’s another song:

Rise Against - Ready to Fall

Hold on slow down again from the top now and tell me everything
I know I’ve been gone for what seems like forever
But I’m here now waiting
To convince you that I’m not a ghost or a stranger
But closer than you think
She said, "just go on to what you
Pretend is your life but
Please don’t die on me"
Wings won’t take me
Heights don’t faze me
So take a step
But don’t look down
Take a step

Now I’m standing on the rooftop ready to fall
I think I’m at the edge now but I could be wrong
I’m standing on the rooftop ready to fall

Perpetual motion the image won’t focus
A blur is all that’s seen
But here in this moment like the eye of the storm
It all came clear to me
I found a shoulder to lean on
An infallible reason to live all by itself
I took one last look from the heights that I once loved
And then I ran like hell
Wings won’t take me
Heights don’t phase me
So take a step
But don’t look down
Take a step

Now I’m standing on the rooftop ready to fall
I think I’m at the edge now but I could be wrong
I’m standing on the rooftop ready to fall

I count the times that I’ve been sorry
I know, I know
Now my compassion slowly drowns
I know, I know
If there’s a time these walls could guard you
I know, I know
Then let that time be right now

I remember seeing this video for the first time. I quickly ran out of the house and hugged my dog for like 20 minutes…

Humans suck.

And lastly, and my personal FAVORITE:

Rise Against - Paper Wings

One last thing I beg you please just before you go
I’ve watched you fly on paper wings halfway around the world
Until they burned up in the atmosphere and sent you spiraling down
landing somewhere far from here with no one else around
to catch you falling down
and I’m looking at you now

And I can’t tell if you’re laughing
between each smile there’s a tear in your eye
there’s a train leaving town in an hour
it’s not waiting for you, and neither am I
"Swing for the fences, son" he must have told you once
but that was a conversation you took nothing from
so raise your glass now, lets celebrate exactly what you’ve done
just put off another day of knowing where you’re from
you can catch up with yourself if you run…

And I can’t tell if you’re laughing
between each smile there’s a tear in your eye
there’s a train leaving town in an hour
it’s not waiting for you, and neither am I

Is this the life that you lead,
or the life that’s lead for you?
will you take the road that’s been laid out before you?
will we cross paths somewhere else tonight?
somewhere else tonight…

The last stanza is very profound for me. It speaks about breaking free and making a stand. In the end, you have to ask yourself if you’ve got the cojones to do what you feel is right or are you just going to swim on the mainstream?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Rise Against. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.