rigorousintuition.ca

dust in my hands



Concert in front of Exxon building on Manhattan's 6th avenue to protest the Exxon-Valdez catastrophe. The concert was not authorized




So you cut all the tall trees down
You poisoned the sky and the sea

You've taken what's good from the ground
But you left precious little for me

You remember the flood and the fall
We remember the light on the hill
There should be enough for us all
But the dollar is driving us still

River runs red

Black rain falls
Dust in my hand

River runs red
Black rain falls
On my bleeding land

So we came and conquered and found
Riches of commons and kings
Who strangled and wrestled the ground

But they never put back anything

Now I'm trapped like a dog in a cage

Wherever the truth is pursued
It must be the curse of the age
What's taken is never renewed

River runs red...

red rain is coming down


red rain
red rain is pouring down

pouring down all over me

I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
it can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
this place is so quiet, sensing that storm

red rain is coming down
red rain


red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me

well I've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
they tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
there is no blood around see no sign of pain

hay ay ay no pain
seeing no red at all, see no rain


red rain is coming down
red rain

red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me

red rain-
putting the pressure on much harder now
to return again and again
just let the red rain splash you
let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
with the trust of a child

red rain is coming down
red rain
red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me
and I can't watch any more
no more denial

it's so hard to lay down in all of this
red rain is coming down
red rain is pouring down
red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
red rain is coming down
red rain is pouring down
red rain is coming down all over me
I'm bathing in it
red rain coming down
red rain is coming down
red rain is coming down all over me
I'm begging you

red rain coming down
red rain coming down
red rain coming down
red rain coming down

over me in the red red sea


over me
over me
red rain

find the cost of your freedom


Hear the past a' calling
From Armageddon's side
When everyone's talking and no one
Is listening
How can we decide













lipstick for your face


And in the long run he will kill you


I can see your body lie


to put the shadow on our eye
Maybe we'll go
Maybe we'll disappear
It's not that we don't know
It's just that we don't want to care.





Over the years you have been hunted

by the men who threw harpoons
And in the long run he will kill you
just to feed the pets we raise,
put the flowers in your vase
and make the lipstick for your face.
Over the years you swam the ocean
Following feelings of your own
Now you are washed up on the shoreline
I can see your body lie
It's a shame you have to die

to put the shadow on our eye
Maybe we'll go
Maybe we'll disappear
It's not that we don't know
It's just that we don't want to care.
Under the bridges
Over the foam
Wind on the water
Carry me home.

a hard day on the planet






The dollar went down and the President said
“Who’s in charge, now?” I don’t know, take your pick.
A new disease every day and the old ones are coming back
Things are looking kind of gray, like they’re going to black

Don’t turn on the TV, don’t show me the paper
(I) don’t want to know he got kidnapped or why they all raped her
I want to go on vacation ‘till the pressure lets up
But they keep hijacking airplanes and blowing them up

It’s been a hard day on the planet
How much is it all worth?
It’s getting harder to understand it
Things are tough all over on earth.

It’s hot in December and cold in July
When it rains it pours out of a poisonous sky
In California the body counts keep getting higher
It’s evil out there, man that state is always on fire.

Everyone has a system, but they can’t seem to win
Even Bob Geldorf looks alarmingly thin
I got to get on that shuttle get me out of this place
But there’s gonna be warfare up there in outer space

I’ve got clothes on my back and shoes on my feet
A roof over my head and something to eat
My kids are all healthy and my folks are alive
You know, it’s amazing but sometimes I think I’ll survive

I’ve got all of my fingers and all of my toes
I’m pretty well off I guess, I suppose
So how come I feel bad so much of the time?
A man ain’t an island—John Dunn wasn’t lying

It’s business as usual; some things never change
It’s unfair, it’s tough, unkind and it’s strange
We don’t seem to learn; we can’t seem to stop
Maybe some explosions would close up the shop

You know, maybe that would be fine: we would be off the hook
We resolved all our problems, never mind what it took
And it all would be over, finito, the end
Until the survivers started up all over again



god damn the pusher man

god damn god damn


The dealer for a nickel
Goin to sell you lots of sweet dreams.
Ah...but the pusher will ruin your body;
Lord he'll leave your mind to scream.
God Damn! The pusher.
God Damn! God damn the pusher.
I said God Damn! God damn the pusher man.
Well now if I were the president of this land
You know I'd declare total war on the pusher man.
I'd cut him if he stands, and I'd shoot him if he run,
And I'd kill him with my bible, and my razor and my gun....
GOD DAMN! The pusher
God damn the pusher.

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
monkey
And the news is breaking




SHOCK! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out' the trees

Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Hey hey hey,
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey hey hey
Fox the fox
Rat on the rat

You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
hey hey hey,

Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
hey hey

shock the monkey
hey hey
Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Cover me, when I sleep

Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine

Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
hey hey hey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

hey hey hey
shock the monkey
hey hey hey
monkey
Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
monkey
And the news is breaking
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock the monkey
hey hey Shock the monkeY

Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

BP=Big Pig

Good photo essay.

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The Cuyahoga River must've been mentioned. It's been catching fire since 1868. That's a river we're talking about. A river regularly catching fire.

Another R.E.M. song, from when they were really good:



A section from a docu:

The largest river fire in 1952 caused over $1 million in damage to boats and a riverfront office building.[13] Fires erupted on the river several more times before June 22, 1969, when a river fire captured the attention of Time magazine, which described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays."[14]

The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire helped spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). As a result, large point sources of pollution on the Cuyahoga have received significant attention from the OEPA in recent decades.

These events are referred to in Randy Newman's 1972 song "Burn On", R.E.M.'s 1986 song "Cuyahoga", and Adam Again's 1992 song "River on Fire". Great Lakes Brewing Company of Cleveland, Ohio name their Burning River Pale Ale after the event. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_R ... l_concerns

Happy ending? Mmmph.
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