Stars and Stripes of Corruption Songtext
von Dead Kennedys

Finally got to Washington
In the middle of the night
I couldn′t wait, I headed straight for the Capitol Mall

My heart began to pound
Yahoo, it really exists
The American International Pictures logo

I looked up at that Capitol building
Couldn't help but wonder why
I felt like saying "Hello, old friend"

Walked up the hill to touch it
Then I unzipped my pants
And pissed on it when nobody was looking

Like a great eternal Klansman
With his two flashing red eyes
Turn around, he′s always watching
The Washington Monument pricks the sky
Flags for pubic hair ringed 'round the bottom


The symbols of our heritage
Lit up proudly in the night
Somehow fits to see the homeless people passed out on the lawn

So this is where it happens
The power games and the bribes
All lobbying for a piece of ass
Of the stars and stripes of corruption

Makes me feel so ashamed
To be an American
When we're too stuck up to learn from our mistakes

Trying to start another Vietnam
Like fiddling while Rome burns at home
The boss says "you′re laid off, blame the Japanese"

America′s back, alright
At the game it plays the worst
Strip mining the world like a slave plantation

No wonder others hate us
And the Hitlers we handpick
To bleed their people dry for our evil empire


He drug we're fed to make us like it
Is God and country with a bang
People we know who should know better
Howl "America rules, let′s go to war!"
Business scams are what's worth dying for, fuck!

But are the Soviets our worst enemy?
We′re destroying ourselves instead
Who cares about our civil rights as long as I get paid

The blind me-generation
Doesn't care if life′s a lie
So easily used, so proud to enforce
The stars and stripes of corruption

Let's bring it all down
Let's bring it all down
Let′s bring it all down, down, down, down, down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down

Tell me who′s the real patriots
The Archie Bunker slobs waving flags
Or the people with the guts to work for some real change?

Rednecks and bombs don't make us strong
We loot the world, yet we can′t even feed ourselves
Our real test of strength is caring
Not the war toys we sell the world

Just carry on, thankful to be farmed like worms
Old glory for a blanket as you suck on your thumbs
Real freedom scares you 'cause it means responsibility
So you chicken out and threaten me

Saying, "love it or leave it"
I′ll get beat up if I criticize it
You say you'll fight to the death to save your useless flag
If you want a banana republic that bad
Why don′t you go move to one?

But what can just one of us do
Against all that money and power trying to crush us into roaches?
We won't destroy society in a day
Until we change ourselves first from the inside out

We can start by not lying so much and treating other people like dirt
It's so easy not to base our lives on how much we can scam
And you know it feels good to lift that monkey off our back

I′m thankful I live in a place
Where I can say the things I do
Without being taken out and shot

So I′m on guard against the goons
Trying to take my rights away
We've got to rise above the need for cops and laws

Let kids learn communication
Instead of schools pushing competition
How about more art and theater instead of sports?

People will always do drugs, let′s legalize them
Crime drops when the mob can't price them
Budget′s in the red, let's tax religion

No one will do it for us
We′ll just have to fix ourselves
Honesty ain't all that hard
Just put Rambo back inside your pants
Causing trouble for the system is much more fun

Thank you for the toilet paper
But your flag is meaningless to me
Look around, we're all people, who needs countries anyway?

Our land, I love it too
I think I love it more than you
I care enough to fight
The stars and stripes of corruption

Let′s bring it all down
Let′s bring it all down
Let's bring it all down

If we don′t try
If we just lie
If we can't find a way to do better than this, who will?