j_roby

LYRICS

Thank you, Mr. Officer Great

For all the things you've said to me

For all the good that you have ever done

Without you, what would I be?

You're the gas upon my flames

My love and rage all rolled up into one

For every time your gun goes off

A new rebel is born

So when there's 41 bullets

It's 41,000 thorns in your side

We'll take a ride down to Precinct 29

And we'll sing and dance and break the code of silence

Thank you Governor, thank you Governor

To the Mayor and the commissioner

Your monster is alive now

She's taking to the streets

Crashing through your operahouse

And tearing out the seats

For every time you've signed your name

Someone out there dies

Found a wallet, not a gun

And mother's wiping tears from her eyes

We despise your hollow truths and honest lies

Now you can't sing the monster into slumber

Thanks, bastards!

You made me what I am

Thanks, bastards!

I took the goods and ran

Homeland security vs. civil liberty

I'm studying in the shadows of our state

I've seen the bones they try to hide

Cutthroat living's other side

The flood of U.S. bathwater displaced

The funeral march of all the victims

Of your power war

Rob the rights and steal the nights

And rebels shall be born

Forevermore

You're the storm

We shall play after it pours

And joy is sure to come after your silence

Thanks, bastards!

You made me what I am

Thanks, bastards!

I took the goods and ran

mirror link to the video clip

LYRICS

Cops shot him in the back, cops shot him in the head

Cops choked out a man and beat him half to death

You see it all the time on the news

Or on the block that you live as you cruise

They killed Alex Nieto before he went to work

Some gentrifying yuppie called the pigs, what a jerk

Cos they saw a young brother with a tazer at his side

He worked security, still shot him 59 times

Sandra Bland roughed up and arrested

For speaking her mind to a cop she detested

In the morning they find her strung up on a rope

Called it suicide, yeah right, nope!

Eric Garner got choked out for selling cigarettes

Told the cop "I can't breathe" still ended up dead

Freddie Gray got his neck snapped in the back of a van

Because he ran, Baltimore, god damn

[Chorus]

Indite, convict, send those killer cops to jail

The whole damn system is guilty as hell

Fong Lee killed by Minneapolis PD

Met his mom and pops, cried with his family

Police claims the kid had a gun, video shows empty hands as he runs

Bay Area won't forget Oscar Grant

New Years night, the whole train heard a bang

Shot him in the back, while cuffed face down

This is what happens when you're black in the town

A long list of lives that left this earth

By the hands who swore to protect and serve

They got the nerve to take our tax

Yet they shoot us down when we fight back

Protest in peace, they release the dogs

Try to use their courts when they break the law

No faith in the system that protects the rich

And condemns the poor and takes their shit

[Chorus]

Corrupt coppers, all over the world

From Mexico to Mindanao, who do you serve?

Corporations getting down, extracting the earth

Tearing down shanty towns, down in the dirt

Increase police before they gentrify hoods

And the beast to displace people that stood

It's a work in progress I guess

You protest this mess they attack our flesh

Chained up, toed up, profiled, humiliated

Walking down the street, while whiteboys get inebriated

Hate the feeling of being innocent

Cos it means you become a victim

They say some cops ain't that bad

I say it's the system so don't get mad

Bodyguards of the state and market too

Supersedes the needs of me and you

WARNING: Full body cam YouTube link

Alt link

LYRICS

Soon he’ll be a prisoner like his comrades have become

But he’s proud when he tells their story cuz he’s proud of what they’ve done

He’s an anti-fascists from the ranks of the working-class

And when the Nazis come to town he doesn’t let em pass

He’s says “my grandfather fought fascists cuz it’s what he had to do

You can threaten me with prison time but I’ll fight fascists too

Maybe my body be a barricade that won’t let fascist through

In the name of my grandfather, and for me and you, And for the future we’ll fight fascists too

He says “two years is injustice, but it’s twice as good as four,

A much higher price was paid by those who suffered through the war

And I’ll be damned if my action lets that power rise again

We can bury the hatchet once we bury fascism

Cuz my grandfather fought fascists cuz it’s what he had to do

You can threaten me with prison time but I’ll fight fascists too

Maybe my body be a barricade that won’t let fascist through

In the name of my grandfather, and for me and you,

And for the future we’ll fight fascists too

It takes more than fists to stop oppression for hate’s born in the heart

But alongside the slow shifts, the fist must play its part

For the violent deeds of a fascist few can silence everyone

We can bury the hatchet once we bury fascism

Cuz my grandfather fought fascists cuz it’s what he had to do

You can threaten me with prison time but I’ll fight fascists too

Maybe my body be a barricade that won’t let fascist through

In the name of my grandfather, and for me and you,

And for the future we’ll fight fascists too