If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. - Freewill by Rush.

The sun ablaze as Maria’s foot touches the surface of sand

On northern land, as human contraband

Some rico from Jalisco passed her name to the Boss

She stuffed into a truckbed, she clutches her cross

Here comes the exhaust and it rips through her lungs

She’s off fast to the pasture, like cattle she’ll cross

Degree 106, sweat and vomit are thrown And she prays and suffocates upon the memories of home

Of Yanqui guns for blood, debts on the loans

Of smoldering fields, rape, rubble and bones

Of graves hidden, trapped up in visions of war

Of nothing, no one, nobody, no more

---

Hard to pick a RATM song, but Maria is one of my favourite lyrically. Also topical right now

Better, it hits harder every year.

I just wanna fuckin sleep

Bath Salts by Highly Suspect

Deine Gewalt ist nur ein stummer Schrei nach Liebe

Deine Springerstiefel sehnen sich nach Zärtlichkeit

Du hast nie gelernt, dich zu artikulieren

Und deine Eltern hatten niemals für dich Zeit

Oh-ho-ho, Arschloch!

I only lived in Germany for a bit, but this one stuck in my head pretty hard. Schrei nach Liebe by Die Ärzte

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded, Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed, Everybody knows the war is over, Everybody knows the good guys lost, Everybody knows the fight was fixed, The poor stay poor, the rich get rich, That’s how it goes, Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking, Everybody knows the captain lied, Everybody got this broken feeling, Like their father or their dog just died, Everybody talking to their pockets, Everybody wants a box of chocolates, And a long-stem rose, Everybody knows…

Right now? “Democranz and republicrats” gets me.

the CEO’s are shredding files
And the democrins and the republicrats
Are flashing their toothy smiles

And uncle Tom is posing for a photo op with the oval office clan
And uncle Sam is rigging cockfights in the promised land

*Ani Difranco, “Serpentine” *

The Clash’s “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”

All over people changing their votes

Along with their old codes

If Adolf Hitler flew in today

They’d send a limousine straight away

You can check out, but you can never leave.

Hayes Carll sings, in his American Dream song - “Nothing changes, even when it wants to” and that struck me pretty hard.

Older-

Emmylou Harris the whole Red Dirt Girl song, my goodness but particularly “she loved her brother, I remember back when he was fixin up a '49 Indian. He told her “little sister gonna ride the wind, up around the moon and back again.” Well he never got farther than Vietnam, I was standing there with her when the telegram come.”

@FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world my kids absolutely LOVE that Vincent song. It’s so good, straight through.

As far as story telling, and war goes, “The General” by Dispatch:

[Verse 1]

There was a decorated general with a heart of gold

That likened him to all the stories he told

Of past battles won and lost, and legends of old

A seasoned veteran in his own time

On the battlefield, he gained respectful fame

With many medals of bravery and stripes to his name

He grew a beard as soon as he could to cover the scars on his face

And always urged his men on

[Verse 2]

But on the eve of a great battle with the infantry in dream

The old general tossed in his sleep and wrestled with its meaning

He awoke from that night to tell what he had seen

And walked slowly out of his tent

All the men held tall with their chests in the air

With courage in their blood and a fire in their stare

And it was a grey morning and they all wondered how they would fare

Till the old general told them to go home

[Chorus]

He said, "I have seen the others, and I have discovered

That this fight is not worth fighting

And I’ve seen their mothers

And I will no other

To follow me where I’m going

So take your shower, shine your shoes, you got no time to lose

You are young and you must be living

So take your shower, shine your shoes, you got no time to lose

You are young and you must be living

Go now, you are forgiven"

[Verse 3]

But the men stood fast with their guns on their shoulders

Not knowing what to do with their contradicting orders

The general said he would do his own duty but he would extend it no further

The men could go as they pleased

But not a man moved, their eyes gazed straight ahead

Till one by one they stepped back, and not a word was said

And the old general was left with his own words echoing in his head

He then prepared to fight

[Chorus]

He said, "I have seen the others, and I have discovered

That this fight is not worth fighting

And I’ve seen their mothers

And I will no other

To follow me where I’m going

[Outro]

Go now, you are forgiven

Go now, you are forgiven

Go now, you are forgiven

Go

Fuckin magnets, how do they work?

• The bards Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope

• Vincent, by Don McLean

On that starry, starry night

You took your life, as lovers often do

But I could’ve told you, Vincent

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

• Also, probably anything written by Bowie, even as cryptic as his songs can sometimes be. Sound and Vision and Life on Mars stand out.

“I’ve seen the future. I can’t afford it. To tell you the truth sir, someone just bought it.” -ABC

Millionaire - ABC

They call me the hiphoppopotamus

Flows that glow like phosphorus

Poppin’ off the top o’ this esophagus

Rockin’ this metropolis

I’m not a large water dwelling mammal

Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?