Tested

Bad Religion - Tested

Tested Cover

1. Operation Rescue (Graffin), 2:12
2. Punk Rock Song (Graffin), 2:25
3. Tomorrow (Graffin), 1:54
4. A Walk (Graffin), 2:28
5. God Song (Graffin), 1:48
6. Pity the Dead (Graffin), 2:59
7. 1000 More Fools (Gurewitz), 1:40
8. Drunk Sincerity (Graffin), 2:17
9. Generator (Gurewitz), 3:23
10. Change of Ideas (Graffin), 1:00
11. Portrait of Authority (Graffin), 2:53
12. What it is (Graffin), 2:20
13. Dream of Unity (Graffin), 2:50
14. Sanity (Gurewitz), 2:44
15. American Jesus (Graffin,Gurewitz), 3:15
16. Do What You Want (Gurewitz), 1:15
17. Part III (Bentley), 2:55
18. 10 in 2010 (Graffin), 2:25
19. No Direction (Graffin), 3:08
20. Along the Way (Graffin), 1:38
21. Recipe for Hate (Graffin), 2:15
22. Fuck Armageddon (Graffin), 2:58
23. It's Reciprocal (Graffin,Baker,Schayer), 2:03
24. Struck a Nerve (Graffin), 3:36
25. Leave Mine to Me (Graffin), 2:11
26. Tested (Graffin), 3:04
27. No Control (Graffin), 2:04

Operation Rescue

Recorded live June 26, 1996 at The Arena in Berlin, Germany

it's an s.o.s sent out telepathically,
signs of our distress don't allow complacency,
we need restoration now of our integrity and a
drastic bold reminder of our morality,
the rectifying troop is here,
the ones we have needed all these years to stop
the heinous wrongdoings and verify our moral
benevolence as a people,
operation rescue,
they're here to right our fall,
they have heard a troubled call,
operation rescue,
you may wonder where they come from,
but I just wonder why they're here at all,

life ever-after is what they're in business for,
see them brandish the key to their kingdoms door,
it's persuasive, it's a part of you and me
but it's not overwhelming as they wish it to be,
if no one believed in fairy tales
there would be nothing they could do but fail
yet everywhere we look someone is trying to reassure our
moral benevolence
as a people,
operation rescue.....

you may wonder where they come from,
but I just wonder what compels them all

Punk Rock Song

Recorded live July 10, 1996 at Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy

have you been to the desert?
have you walked with the dead?
there's a hundred thousand children being killed for their bread
and the figures don't lie they speak of human disease
but we do what we want and we think what we please

have you lived the experience?
have you witnessed the plague?
people making babies sometimes just to escape
in this land of competition the compassion is gone
yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushing on
we keep pushing on

this is just a punk rock song
written for the people who can see something's wrong
like ants in a colony we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' insects out there
and this is just a punk rock song
(like workers in a company we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' robots out there)

have you visited the quagmire?
have you swam in the shit?
the party conventions and the real politik
the faces always different, the rhetoric the same
but we swallow it, and we see nothing change
nothing has changed...

10 million dollars on a losing campaign
20 million starving and writhing in pain
big strong people unwilling to give
small in vision and perspective
one in five kids below the poverty line
one population runnin' out of time

Tomorrow

Recorded live July 10, 1996 at Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy

every day we profit so,
leaning towards the great unknown,
asking how it pertains to tomorrow

aim for places we've not been,
trample paths that go between,
yesterdays foundations and tomorrow

it's the way they say it's got to be,
we spear ahead and forge our destiny,
who do they represent?,
who do you believe?,
make a sound decision for others to heed

try to set a faster pace,
try to build a master race,
one that will make a contribution to tomorrow

it's the way they say it's got to be,
we put aside our fears and make history,
the clothes are in the dryer and the writing is on the wall
we're doing everything we can stop this fall

everyday we profit so,
leaning towards the great unknown

A Walk

Recorded live June 27, 1996 at The Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark

I'm going for a walk
not the after dinner kind
I'm gonna use my hands
and I'm gonna use my mind

and who the hell are you to tell me what to do?
you can't even tie your own haggard shoes
your closet is a mess, and your backyard's falling down
and I have no grand ideas or intentions of sticking around

I'm gonna build a world
independant and exempt
all alone I'll be an empire
with no mortgage and no rent

and I don't need to live in your stinking zoo
you can't even feed the animals donated to you
your storage sheds are ramshackled, flies decorate the walls
and you expect me to die here in this shit-filled tiny stall?
and I know you're watching! everything I do
call me threat to your children call me socially unglued
call me master of insanity, unable to relate
call me lazy, bane, and filthy
call me monstrous reprobate

I'm going for a walk and there's nothing you can do
'cuz I don't have to live like you

so I'm going for a walk

God Song

Recorded live September 19, 1996 at The Metropolis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

and did those feet in ancient times
trod america's pastures of green?
and did that anthropocentric god wane
with their thoughts and beliefs all unseen?
I don't think so,
he's up there with the others lying low,
vying with those who you've traded
your life to bless your soul,
and have they told you how to think,
cleansed your mind of sepsis and autonomy?
or have you escaped scrutiny,
and regaled yourself with depravity?
now we all see, "religion is just synthetic
frippery, unnecessary in our expanding
global culture efficiency"
and don't you fear this impasse
we have built to our future?
ever so near,
and oh so austere

Pity the Dead

Recorded live June 22, 1996 at The Amphitheater in Loreley, Germany

there's a boy in crimson rags with a grimace and a spoon,
and a little sullen girl face-up staring at the moon
and there's no one around to hear their lonesome cries
then they pass away alone into the night

why do we pity the dead?
are you churned by emotion from voices in your head?
(are you scared of the logic that swirls within your head)
look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
oh why do we
pity the dead?
pity the dead!

well, you've seen the disease, suffering and decay,
and you whisper to yourself blissfully "it's okay"
and you still refuse the possibility
that the dead are better off than we

tell me what you see, tell me what you know
is there anyone who lives a painless life?
if there is show me so
the destitute and famished, demonic and the
banished, dejected and the ostracized, the
brainwashed and the paralyzed, the conquered
and objectified, the few who see the other side
tell me what you see! It's a mortal wretched cacophony

in the end you may find there's no guiding subtle light,
no ancestors or friends, no judge of wrong or right
just eternal silence and dormancy
and a final everlasting peace

1000 More Fools

Recorded live September 7, 1996 at the Holidome in Melbourne, Florida

I heard them say that the meek shall reign on earth,
phantasmal myriads of sane bucolic,
I've seen the rapture in a starving baby's eyes,
Inchoate beatitude,
the Lord of the flies,
so what does it mean
when your mind starts to stray?
kaleidoscopic images of love on the way,
brother you'd better get down on your knees and pay,
1000 more fools are being born
every fucking day,
they try to tell me that the lamb is on the way,
with microwave transmissions
they bombard us every day,
the masses are obsequious,
contented in their sleep,
the vortex of their minds ensconced within
the murky deep

Drunk Sincerity

Recorded live April 24, 1996 at the RPM Warehouse in Toronto, Ontario

the smell of virgin pages wafted through the swinging doors
and the croaking speech he'd heard from countries counselors before
they said "we all care for you, we know how you suffer
but I know you can succed, I used to have it so much rougher"

there's hope in the words and emotion in the eyes
it's so easy to be misled by the savvy gentle guise
and like fools we trust the delivery
but it's all just drunk sincerity

in maternal family assembly poised regarding the blue tube
the numbers crept up higher and the hawks stayed out of view
then the generals said "we dont want our boys dead
your sons and your husbands will be coming back heroes soon"

with steam, heat, and rhythm in the back seat of the car
and adolescent perspective projecting life's forecast to the stars
you heard love from the lips and you were rapt by the hips
and the promise was eternal but you couldn't see that far

Generator

Recorded live June 30, 1996 at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany

like a rock, like a planet,
like a fucking atom bomb,
I'll remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness
that I encounter everywhere I turn,
I've seen it all before,
in books and magazines,
like a twitch before dying,
like a pornographic sea,
there's a flower behind the window,
there's an ugly laughing man,
like a hummingbird in silence,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

oh yeah, oh yeah, like the blood on my door,
wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore,
I've known it all along like the bone under my skin,
like actors in a photograph,
like paper in the wind,
there's a hammer by the window,
there's a knife on the floor,
like turbines in darkness,
like the blood on my door,
it's the generator

Change of Ideas

Recorded live April 25, 1996 at the State Theater in Detroit, Michigan

well the sheaves have all been brought,
but the fields have washed away,
and the palaces now stand
where the coffins all were laid,
and the times we see ahead
we must glaze with rosy hues
for we don't wish to admit what it is
we have to lose

millennia in coming,
the modern age is here,
it sanctifies the future yet renders us with fear,
so many theories, so many prophecies,
what we do need is a change of ideas,
when we're scared,
we can hide in our reveries,
but what we need is a change of ideas,
change of ideas, change of ideas,
what we need now is a change of ideas

Portrait of Authority

Recorded live June 26, 1996 at The Arena in Berlin, Germany

nothing more, nothing less,
an icon on the wall, decoration and duress,
that which many strive to be,
it's the marble statue standing over me,
and nobody has the will to tear it down,
it determines wrong and right,
but to me it's just a stereotype
and it makes us lose our sight

the portrait of authority,
you tell me that's what I'm supposed to be
(it embodies what he cannot be)

another time, another man,
an oppressive intrusion
and a plague across his land,
and it haunts him every day,
it tells him he has no chance
his hopes just fades away,
and he lives his life prepared to tear it down,
but he can't muster the support,
and to him it's just a stereotype
of his life-long fight

What it is

Recorded live April 17, 1996 at The Roseland in New York, New York

there's a purpose, there's a goal,
there's a virtuos, and immoral,
there's a reason for all of this,
and I don't know what it is

I am one, and plural too,
I accept them but they exclude,
I could make sense of all of this,
but I don't know what it is

the seeds of inspiration never germinated in my mind,
the beacon of awakening is somewhere that I can't find, so
I don't know what it is

there's a beginning, and there's an end,
there's a climax, some would contend,
there's a way to signify this,
but I don't know what it is

Dream of Unity

Recorded September 4, 1996 at Polypterus Studio in Ithaca, New York

I had a dream of unity
where we would walk side by side
but today I see that it's only me
just tryin' to get by
sometimes we strive undeterred
to walk as one toward our goals
but as people stray toward more selfish ways
we see we have no control

I had a dream of unity
where we would walk side by side
but today I see that it's only me
just tryin' to get by
just tryin' to get by

Sanity

Recorded live September 11, 1996 at the Button South in Raleigh, North Carolina

there's a watch in my pocket and its hands are broken,
the face is blank but the gears are turning,
confusion is a fundamental state of mind,
it doesn't really matter what I'm figuring out,
I'm guaranteed to wind up in a state of doubt,
and sanity is a full-time job,
in a world that's always changing,
and sanity is a state of mind that you believe in,
sanity

there's a shadow on the wall where the paint is peeling,
my body's moving forward but my mind is reeling,
depression is a fundamental state of being,
it doesn't really matter how my day has turned out,
I always end up living in this world of doubt

American Jesus

Recorded live June 22, 1996 at The Amphitheater in Loreley, Germany

I don't need to be a global citizen,
because I'm blessed by nationality,
I'm a member of a growing populace,
we enforce our popularity
there are things that seem to pull us under
and there are things that drag us down,
but there's a power and a vital presence
that's lurking all around

we've got the american jesus
see him on the interstate,
we've got the american jesus
he helped build the president's estate

I feel sorry for the earth's population
'cuz so few live in the U.S.A,
at least the foreigners can copy our morality,
they can visit but they cannot stay,
only precious few can garner the prosperity,
it makes us walk with renewed confidence,
we've got a place to go when we die
and the architect resides right here

we've got the american jesus
bolstering national faith
we've got the american jesus
overwhelming millions every day

he's the farmer barren fields,
(in god)
the force the army wields,
(we trust) the expression in the faces
of the starving millions,
(because he's one of us)
the power of the man
(break down)
he's the fuel that drives the clan,
(cave in) he's the motive and the conscience
of the murderer
(we can redeem your sins)
he's the preacher on TV,
(strong heart)
the false sincerity,
(clear mind)
the form letters that written by
the big computers,
(and infinitely kind)
he's the nuclear bombs,
(you lose)
and the kids with no moms
(we win)
and I'm fearful that
he's inside me
(he is our champion)

Do What You Want

Recorded live September 19, 1996 at The Metropolis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

hey, do what you want, but don't do it around me
idleness and dissipation breed apathy,
I sit on my ass all god damn day
a misanthropic anthropoid with nothing to,
say what you must, do all you can,
break all the fucking rules
and go to hell with superman
and die like a champion

hey, I don't know if the billions will survive,
but I'll believe in god when one and one are five
my moniker is man and I'm rotten to the core
I'll tear down the building just to pass thru the door

Part III

Recorded live June 19, 1996 at the Circus Krone in Munich, Germany

the final page is written in the books of history,
as man unleashed his deadly bombs and sent troops overseas
to fight a war which can't be won and kills the human race,
a show of greed and ignorance, man's quest for dominance.

they say when a mistake is made, a lesson can be learned.
but this time, there's no turning back, the hate engulfs the world.
a million lives are lost each day, a city slowly burns,
a mother holds her dying child, but no one is concerned!

they say when a mistake is made, a lesson can be learned.
but this time, there's no turning back, the hate engulfs the world.
a million lives are lost each day, a city slowly burns,
a mother holds her dying child, but no one is concerned!

10 in 2010

Recorded live July 7, 1996 at the Tallinna Lauluvaljak in Tallinn, Estonia

parched, cracked mouths, empty swollen guts
sun-baked pavement encroaches on us
haves and have-nots together at last
brutally engaged in mortal combat
10 in 2010

what kind of God orchestrates such a thing?
10 in 2010
ten billion people all suffering
10 in 2010
truth is not an issue just hungry mouths to feed
10 in 2010
forget what you want, scrounge the things you need

happy and content it can't happen to you
10 in 2010
fifteen years we'll think of a solution
10 in 2010
it won't just appear in one day
10 in 2010
for ten in twenty-ten we're well on our way

like piercing ear darts, I heard the news today
10 in 2010
10 billion people...coming your way

No Direction

Recorded live September 12, 1996 at Hammerjacks in Baltimore, Maryland

a sullen figure walks along a dusty road,
his life was holy and he couldn't bear the load,
he left his people and simple life behind,
he raised his torso and looked into the sky,
shouting his questions, looking for directions,
"what do I do now?"

now a confused schoolgirl stares at the T.V. tray,
the stresses of maturing compound every day,
she glances up to see her favorite video,
and gets ideas from Madonna's nasty clothes,
in need of affection, she craves a direction,
her heroes offer her,

everyone's looking for something,
and they assume somebody else knows what it is,
no one can live without the decisions of their own,
it seems so they look to someone else,
to tell them what to do,
tell'em what to wear,
tell'em what to say,
tell'em how to act and think
and compel others compulsively
until the world is all like them

a righteous student came and asked me to reflect,
he judged my lifestyle was politically incorrect,
I don't believe in self important folks who preach,
no Bad Religion song can make your life complete,
prepare for rejection,
you'll get no direction from me,
you'll get no direction from me

Along the Way

Recorded live May 3, 1996 at the PNE Forum in Vancouver, British Columbia

I refuse to abuse what is kind to the Muse,
but it's there and it's happening to me along the way.
as we go through the snow, we cannot forget our foes,
but the dinner's always waiting at the table 'long the way, yeah.

what you see, not for me, isn't what you planned to be,
but you'll have what you wanted in the end along the way.
and we'll try as we cry and our brothers pass us by,
to be strong through the ages of our tears along the way, yeah.

now we grow as we show that the morals we must know
will be shapen and mistaken by the falls along the way.
but forget, don't regret, to find love and happiness
unless you're willing to be strong when they are gone along the way.
like Tommy, you are free, and you will not follow me,
until we see each other once more on the path along the way.

Recipe for Hate

Recorded live April 28, 1996 at The Riviera in Chicago, Illinois

can't you feel it, can't you see it
the promise of prosperity,
it's overwhelming you and me
it afflicts us like a disease,
ubiquitous compelling too
we cling to you like crazy glue,
and inject such a potent seed
it's best for all humanity,

the spread of culture,
the sword of progress,
the vector of suffrage
a warm and septic breeze,
the pomp and elation,
the duty and vocation,
the blood of the hybrid
it's just a recipe

re-living our ancestry
the frightful lack of harmony,
our fore-fathers who led the way,
their victims are still here today,
now it's time to erase the story
of our bogus fate,
our history as it's portrayed
it's just a recipe for hate

Fuck Armageddon

Recorded live May 8, 1996 at The Warfield Theater in San Francisco, California

there's people out there that say I'm no good,
'cause I don't believe the things that I should,
and when the final conflict comes, I'll be so sorry I did wrong,
and hope and pray that our lord god will think I'm good.

countries manufacture bombs and guns
to kill your brother for something that he hasn't even done.
smog is ruining my lungs, but they aren't sorry they've done wrong,
they hide behind their lies that they're helping everyone.

in the end the good will go to heaven up above,
the bad will perish in the depths of hell
how can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?

fuck Armageddon, this is hell

we're living in the denoument of the battle's gripping awe,
so what's the use of being good to satisfy them all?

how could hell be any worse?
'cisco is such a curse!
fuck Armageddon, this is hell

It's Reciprocal

Recorded October 14, 1996 at Polypterus Studio in Ithaca, New York

hoarding turns allure to discontent
altruism's a grind all its own
morning makes you know your inner self
but love is just as pure as you both because
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal

when true love is metaphysical
venal desires we learn to beset
you and me we've got a special thing
but I want you to never forget
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal

each bedtime I stir with regret
guilty and vain, hoping for retribution
charity's immune from my demands
I don't expect a thing from the weak
but you my love are measured and compared
predisposed to my profane decree
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal
it's reciprocal, it's reciprocal

Struck a Nerve

Recorded live September 8, 1996 at Shades in Jacksonville, Florida

there's an old man on a city bus
holding a candy cane,
and it isn't even christmas,
he sees a note in the obituary that
his last friend has died,
there's an infant clinging to
his overweight mother as they go to
shop for cigarettes,
and she spends her last dollar
for a bottle of vodka for tonight

and I guess it struck a nerve,
like I had to squint my eyes,
you can never get out of the line of sight,
like a barren winter day,
or a patch of unburned green,
like a tragic real dream,
i guess it struck a nerve

every day I wander in negative disposition,
as I'm bombarded by superlatives,
realizing very well that I'm not alone,
introverted i look to tomorrow for salvation,
but I'm thinking altruistically,
and a wave of overwhelming doubt
turns me to stone

and I guess it struck a nerve,
sent a murmur through my heart,
we just haven't got time to crack the maze,
like a magic speeding clock,
or a cancer in our cells,
a collision in the dark,
I guess it struck a nerve

I try to close my eyes,
but I cannot ignore the stimuli,
if there's a purpose for us all
it remains a secret to me,
don't ask me to justify my life

Leave Mine to Me

Recorded live April 22, 1996 at the Verdun Auditorium in Montreal, Quebec

there are desperate times upon us,
there are codes of white and black,
political resentment and people start to crack,
there's hate and opposition,
there's fumbling dialog,
yet you sit there and judge me
and you think it makes a difference

if you think I'm all alone you are foolishly wrong,
there's an entire army who blindly follow along,
and you happen to be one of them believe it or not,
even though you try not to be we are of the same plague

the other ways we're taught to fear,
don't even scratch the surface of the problem here,
I'm not blind, and I'm not scared,
so many crucial factors exist out there,
and we're but one, and they're bout two,
and how we come to terms will help us pull through

things cannot change too fast,
it took us this much time,
to reach our current platform and walk this fragile line,
if I thought I'd make a difference I'd kill myself today,
but so many are like me lost in the fray

you create your own reality,
and leave mine to me

Tested

Recorded September 2, 1996 at Polypterus Studio in Ithaca, New York

yeah, they say there's a place free of trouble and care
and you have to pass a test for to make it there
it has something to do with the road that's straight and narrow
and the only way to go it is by being being right and thorough
there's always one more hill to climb
there's always one more hill to climb
bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices, astute and sharpened
tested, tested

often times we may be wonder what we're supposed to do
stand and deliver or see the conflict through
and as we long and proceed to build our castles in the sky
our plans get confounded and determination dies
there's no preparation and no guide
just what you've done before here with your life
bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices, astute and sharpened
tested, tested oh oh oh

acting on will, the test is the reaction
opening your heart, the test is the emotion
rolling the dice, the test is the agility
burning out your mind, the test is the recovery
watch-o!

you can play by the rules or bend them to your knees
but the test isn't over til you reach your dark eternal sleep
there are no absolutes, no big wheels in the sky
you don't have to be first just gotta somehow get by
yeah bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
guided by subconscious voices astute and sharpened
tested, tested

No Control

Recorded live September 8, 1996 at Shades in Jacksonville, Florida

culture was the seed of proliferation
but it has gotten melded into an inharmonic whole,
consciousness has plagued us and we can not shake it,
though we think we're in control
questions that besiege us in life
are testament of our helplessness,
there's no vestige of a beginning,
no prospect of an end
(Hutton, 1795),
when we all disintegrate it will all happen again,
time is so rock solid in the minds of the hoards
but they can't explain why it should slip away,
history and future are the comforts of our
curiosity but here we are rooted in the present day

if you came to conquer you'll be king for a day,
but you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away,
and believe these words you hear
when you think your path is clear....

we have no control,
we do not understand,
you have no control,
you are not in command

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TWAIN (Alex BigMe)