Bad Religion Song of the Week: Don't Pray On Me





Don't Pray On Me
Bad Religion
Recipe for Hate






A grizzly scene on my electron beam
Told a story about human rights
So all of king's horses and all of king's men
Had a riot for two days and nights
Well, the city exploded but the gates wouldn't open
So the company asked him to quit
Now everybody's equal
Just don't measure it

Well, Hanson did it to Hester
And Mark David did it to John
And maybe Jack did it to Marilyn
But he did it to South Vietnam
For beauty and glory
For money, love, and country
Now everybody's doing it
Don't do that to me

A bitter debate and a feminine fate
Lie in tandem like two precious babes
While the former gets warmer, it's the latter that matters
Except on the nation's airwaves
And custodians of public opinion state facts
After vainly discussing her rights
Lay hands off her body
It's not your fucking life

Now I don't know what stopped Jesus Christ
From turning every hungry stone into bread
And I don't remember hearing how Moses reacted
When the innocent first born sons lay dead
Well, I guess God was a lot more demonstrative
Back when he flamboyantly parted the sea
Now everybody's praying
Don't pray on me


The first verse references the LA Riots. The King is, of course, Rodney King, whose beating sparked the unrest. “Now everybody’s equal, just don’t measure it.” This line represents the history of the civil rights movement in this country. Technically, legally all citizens are equal under the law. Practically, equal couldn’t be farther from the truth. Minorities suffer the worst schools, lowest paying jobs, and highest incarceration rates, to name a few.

Second verse: Everyone is fucking each other, figuratively or literally. I read that Hanson/Hester is an incorrect allusion to the Scarlett Letter, Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon, JFK boned Marilyn Monroe and fucked up Vietnam. Moral: don’t fuck people over.

Third verse: Blatant protest against pro-lifers.

Fourth verse: Moral inconsistencies in the Bible - examples abound. How could the same god that preaches peace and loving thy enemy allow people to go hungry or cause the death of innocent children?

No comments:

Post a Comment