Get all 5 Spike in Vain releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home [expanded edition], The Outerwear Limits, Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home (1984 version), Death Drives a Cadillac, and Disease Is Relative.
1. |
Prelude / Ghetto Songs
03:08
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falling bricks hit me, hit me off my rocker’s edge
falling glass rips my, rips my retinas beyond repair
rat poisoning subsidizes nutritious supply
living under slum law, you’re not yours, you’re mine
slums falling, time and space contorted past mine
ghetto children creating things out of slime
underground will teach them truthful lies
under my roof the square domain is mine
I’ve got no place to hide
concealed weapons, godzilla in disguise
eternal trash can, breeding grounds for the mice
given a chance, two thugs will multiply
living under slum law, you’re not yours, you’re mine
I’ve got no place to hide
I’ve got no other place to go
gotta get out, gotta escape
gotta build up, resistance to the fakes
gotta feed good, to manipulate
gotta get out, before it’s too late
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2. |
A Means to an End
02:13
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walking in the light without a shadow
wait until I die, wait for tomorrow
drowning in the blood was just another lie
I saw it in her face just before she died
thoughts tear my skin, thoughts like poison
this is the cross, without any reason
life is an alibi, I can’t even try
I can’t even try
burnt offerings, dead flowers
a razor blade, my final hour
a means to an end, forget me now
a means to an end, scatter my ashes on the ground
scatter my ashes on the ground
on the ground
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3. |
God on Drugs
01:48
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I burnt the hand that stole my chair
test god’s will if you dare
after attila the hun it’s hell
we’re all pawns
god on drugs
forgot my name but it’s all the same
it’s too late to ask why
we’re all gonna die
god on drugs
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4. |
Dear Departed
02:44
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every mourner dripping blackness
pale with fungus, pale with distress
earthen hollow, empty, yawning,
hungry. . . calling for my body
token tears for all the years
I was there and noone knew me
they shut my eyes, tried to hide
how they stared in distant longing
hello. . . goodbye
today we live
tomorrow we die
they buried me with all their sins
and hope that I will rise again
or burn in hell so they’ll be cleansed
I have no soul, the end is the end
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5. |
No Name
03:46
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and the girl said dreams never last
they only shatter into fragments of the past
there isn’t any life, there isn’t any hope
there isn’t any fullfillment, there are only bodies
lying speechless and forgotten everywhere in the city
there’s a subway train packed with corpses
the train moves slowly, stops here and there
noone boards the train, noone leaves the train
the conductor is only a scent
a colorless stench that shouts through the crackling
loudspeaker, “everyone is dead”
I think I could almost forget your name
what do I do - when there’s noone left to blame?
meet me in the subway flooded with tears
pack your suitcase full of fear
I think I could almost forget your name
suddenly all my ideas seem the same
meet me in the subway flooded with tears
pack your suitcase full of fear
we’re going nowhere, going nowhere fast
clinging strongly to fragments of the past
I think I could almost forget your name
you’ve got no name
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6. |
E. K. G.
03:27
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I went flying by - ‘til you plugged me in
I felt so artificial - count down, 92 will do
you’ll decide
uh huh, well OK
live or die
get me out of this stagnant sty
park me on top and plug me in
but please don’t pull the plug on me
pins and needles in my arms
pins and needles addict me to your care
you’ll decide
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7. |
Children in the Subway
01:51
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left right left right
march to the subway
where the lions are and the children play in ashes
and fear lives inside the information booth
selling weekly passes to the children
whose parents threw themselves in front of the trains
melodies of hatred play on the rails
as fear watches the children dance
“kill yourself
kill someone else”
children play their parents’ games
children play
laughing at the ashes
laughing at the fire
laughing at our graves
only children’s games
march to the subway where the lions are
children play in ashes digging our graves
they sign the papers for the man
smoking hate in his pipe
he hands them shovels and an empty field
and gives away our lives
and they dance around our graves, laughing
fear gives them their paychecks
and reads the scriptures
underground, marching drowns all our screams
and they laugh
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8. |
Disorder
02:06
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see the lines in my face fall to disorder
and crawl like spider’s legs to the dust in the corner
see the savage light that really makes you see
though you don’t want to, don’t want to remember me
I’m the ghost cast in flesh
I’m the chain that holds you to the past
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9. |
Dioxin
02:10
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black & orange sludge flows beneath the water’s surface
black & orange sludge penetrates fish circulation
dioxin! man’s expelled rectal material
aquatic mutations beach themselves
black and orange fish, food for your dog
eat your fish filet with retartar sauce
in the end we’re the victims of our waste
black and orange sludge penetrates water purification
take a bath and leave a permanent ring around the tub
dioxin! deposited in my waste line
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10. |
Hamlet's Dilemma
02:31
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secret eyes glow in empty rooms, blue pain
this eye is like a razor, like blood rain
throat releases an ancient sound, untamed
from every window a voice is calling your name
hamlet’s dilemma
skin torn by the teeth of a knife, black screams
shades creep in on the victim, unseen
noone knows the places where I’ve been
the hoopes all in pieces in my dreams
hamlet’s dilemma
black screams, unseen, where I’ve been, in my dreams
my dreams - have always been nightmares
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11. |
I Don't Need You
02:09
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you are a stain on my record, you fucked me over
you are the crushing weight, you are the source of my pain
I don’t need you, don’t need no lies
you fucked me over, now you’re gonna die
I don’t need you, gonna leave you
you fucked me over, now you’re gonna die
better run, better hide
I’m coming for you with a knife in my hand
better run, better hide cause you’re gonna die
you are a damper on my soul ‘cause you cut open my heart
you let me bleed inside ‘cause you drove me to suicide
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12. |
Just a Puppet
02:20
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I’ve grown so attached to having my mind
I wish I didn’t have to lose it
like everything else you took from me
you took my freedom, now you’ve taken my dreams
now you can paint your smile on me
though I’m not sad and I’m not happy
I won’t complain when you do to them what you did to me
I’m just a puppet for the eyes of the world to see
I’d rather hang from a rope than be pulled by your strings
now I’m a fixture in your bathroom I’m not a human being
I’m just a puppet for the eyes of the world to see
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13. |
Opus
03:58
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shatter my illusions, shards in my eyes
bloody red curtains dripping down, dripping down
I found some wooden nails, relics of christ
the curtains of my life are about to be drawn
my life crawls alone
the laughter, the wounds, my life
an edge of pain dipped in my life
writes the anger, I can’t surrender
I feel bitter, I feel righteous
I might be ‘wrong’ but it’s not all my fault
it’s your fault too
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Spike in Vain Cleveland, Ohio
High priests of chromaticism and absurdity, 1982-1985 Cleveland. Vox, gtr, bass shared by Robert Griffin, Andrew Marec, and Chris Marec, with Bruce Allen (82-84) and Scott Pickering (84-85) on drums.
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