“Culture”
Lyrics and music by Damien Riley 1992
Performed and recorded by the band “The 63 Lipless Fish” 1992
Lyrics below:
“Great minds the top of the layer formed you
and you looked fine
You had a white picket fence around your borders yeah you really looked fine now.
You built your house in the sand, so close to water it cannot stand.
The big shots in their limousines smoked their cigars and surveying the scene now.
It used to be that the man down the street was the man that you could trust.
These buildings went up all over town and contracts were signed over as “a must.”
And they bought it, the lie that our progress will kill her somehow.
Her being our hills.
Her being the air we breathe now.
Through all the change you have built a culture.
Think of all you’ve loved and all you’ve known.
You can take pride in your discoveries when you make them on your own.
Whoa ho you have a culture now. An experience to learn from, to call upon, a culture all your own.
You been crying all last week about the mistakes you made last year.
I can tell you about a guy named Randy whose mistakes killed him that same very year.
So just breathe in the air. Shine on you crazy diamond.
Feel the wind in your hair.
There’s a new bridge of sighs we’re crossing over.
If someone offered you the secrets of life I know you would turn ‘em down.
You may have cheated in school to get by but the mysteries of life are never found easy.
This is something you know.
Deep down and in your soul now.
Every day you will grow until the reaper delivers his final blow.
You have a culture now. An experience, to learn from. To call upon, a culture all your own.
I could sit in school all night and never learn a thing it seems.
Compared to what I could learn in a second when I’m working for my dreams.
I’m talkin learnin from livin’. I’m talkin this rock and roll is easy.
You just pick up your mind out of the gutter of this world’s educated lies.
You have a culture now. An experience to learn from, to call upon,
A “cultural experience” to learn from, to call upon, to learn from, a culture all your own.” ❤️
