Rise Against - The Black Market Album Lyrics

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The Great Die-Off

There's a fire on the borders and it's burning down the walls you built high
And there's a steady stream of anger and it's spilling from the coasts
A tidal wave

And the world says we reap what we sow
To where I bury you up in my home
The nights we'll reclaim but we're sick of the wait

We want it all and we want it now
Tonight I'll watch your fires burn out
With guns in hand we pry these guns from yours
We want it all and we want it now
A tide has come in to drown you out
We make ourselves at home while your body's still warm

Creation tell us that the rituals are only just clocks on wrong times
And something triggers each and every time I hear you say
"God bless this place"

But your numbers are dwindling now
Though endangered we'll still hunt you down
With heads on a stake long may you reign

We want it all and we want it now
Tonight I'll watch your fires burn out
With guns in hand we pry these guns from yours
We want it all and we want it now
A tide has come in to drown you out
We make ourselves at home while your body's still warm

And there's a fire on the borders and it's burning down the walls you built high
And there's a steady stream of anger and it's spilling from the coasts
A tidal wave

We want the motherf*cking world and we want it now
Tonight I'll watch your fires burn out
With guns in hand we pry these guns from yours

No I don't want to wait
I know I better way
So step aside, come on or better yet just go away
Our chance has finally come
Tomorrow I'll be another one now
No I'm not gonna wait
We want it now
Yeah we're dousing the flames
We want it now

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I Don't Want To Be Here Anymore

On pins and needles we are waiting for the fall
We count the days scratching lines on the wall
Wait in the wings at someone's beck and call

No longer recognize the place that I call home
No longer recognize this face as my own
Somewhere, this fate, I lost control

We backed down
We took no for answers far too long
We felt those walls close around

I don't want to be here anymore
I don't want to be here anymore

I don't want to be here anymore (be here anymore)
I know there's nothing left worth staying for
Your paradise is something I've endured
See I don't think I can fight this anymore (fight this anymore)
I'm listening with one foot out the door
And something has to die to be reborn
I don't want to be here anymore

On hand and foot we answered every single call
And weathered every day like passing storms
But when they break, we will all be gone

Won't back down
Won't take no for answers anymore
These walls close, we pace back and forth

I don't want to be here anymore (be here anymore)
I know there's nothing left worth staying for
Your paradise is something I've endured
See I don't think I can fight this anymore (fight this anymore)
I'm listening with one foot out the door
But something has to die to be reborn
I don't want to be here anymore

The point where we break gets closer everyday
But where do we go?
But where do we go?

I don't want to be here anymore
I don't want to be here anymore

I don't want to be here anymore (be here anymore)
I know there's nothing left worth staying for
Your paradise is something I've endured
See I don't think I can fight this anymore (fight this anymore)
I'm listening with one foot out the door
But something has to die to be reborn
I don't want to be here anymore

(We need a better way)
(We need to let go)
[x2]

Anymore
(We need a better way)
(We need to let go)
(We need a better way)

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Tragedy + Time

On the edges of the sharpest knives
In the middle of the darkest nights
Always knew that I would find you here
In a puddle of the bravest tears

I've seen enough to know it's lonely where you are
Above the crowd
Feet dangling from a rooftop (a rooftop)
She waits from ledges for a voice to talk her down

Nothing matters but the pain when you're alone
Never-ending nights when you're awake
When you're praying that tomorrow it's okay
There will be a time to crack another smile
Maybe not today or for a while
But we're holding on to laugh again some day
To laugh again some day

All that matters is the time we had
Doesn't matter how it all went bad
Never wonder what it might be like
Shut the door, say goodbye

When faced with tragedy
We come alive or come undone
So don't hold back, let it shape you like an ocean
Even the deepest scars in time will fade

Nothing matters but the pain when you're alone
Never-ending nights when you're awake
When you're praying that tomorrow it's okay
There will be a time to crack another smile
Maybe not today or for a while
But we're holding on to laugh again some day
Yeah, we're holding on to laugh again some day

And sometimes you have to go back
To know just where you were then
But we're old enough to know that
What has been, will be again and again

And the bravest of faces are the ones where we fake it
And the roles that we play

Nothing matters when the pain is all but gone
When you are finally awake
Despite the overwhelming odds, tomorrow came

And when they see you crack a smile
And you decide to stay a while
You'll be ready then, to laugh again

Nothing matters but the pain
(We are tragedy, yeah, we are sympathy)
Nothing matters but the pain
You see what you want to see

Nothing matters but the pain
(We are misery, a distant memory)
Nothing matters but the pain
We all learned to laugh again
Yeah, we all learned to laugh again
We all learned to laugh again

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The Black Market

A currency of heartache and sorrow
The air we breathe is stale with mold
To shadows we are slaves digging deeper every day
But emptiness is growing so old

Headlamps light the tunnels we wander
They shimmer and they dance on the walls
We're lost inside these caves as the chances of escape
Grow slimmer 'til there's no chance at all

This ink, it travels from the page
Up my hand and to my veins
Choking on those stories I've told
If there are words here left to say
I just want to let you know

I'm falling on my knees right now
I'm covered in the mess I made
These colors used to wash right out
But now they are a part of me
And I've been searching for a remedy
When all along it's been in front of me
I need you here, I need you now
Right now

We traffic in the blackest of markets
Trade misery like diamonds and gold
The angst that we exchange for applause or petty praise
Is finally now taking its toll

But there's a world above the ground
A life that we can lead
We're washing off the dirt from our clothes
I don't want to live without
I just wanna let you know

I'm falling on my knees right now
I'm covered in the mess I made
These colors used to wash right out
But now they are a part of me
And I've been searching for a remedy
When all along it's been in front of me
I need you here, I need you now
Right now
Right now

(Black stains) they mark me like a letter
(Won't fade) cracking under the pressure
(Black stains) nothing stays gold

There's a world above the ground
A life that we can lead
But we're lost deep down in these holes
And I've seen the way out
Now I just want to let you know

I'm falling on my knees right now (black stains)
I'm covered in the mess I made (won't fade)
These colors used to wash right out (black stains)
But now they are a part of me
And I've been searching for a remedy
When all along it's been in front of me
Your voice it washes the stains away
(Wash the stains away)
Woo oh oh oh
(Wash the stains away)

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The Eco-Terrorist In Me

Stagnate the cameras, dim the flagrancy,
Want to kill, just got the life in me,
Hold their vendettas without an enemy,
You can't defy us, any way you please!

You make the rules, we make the calls
My conscience clean, my systems hold

Because I found God (hey!)
In the sound of your factories burning down,
Now I sleep so sound...

When it all comes down, will you say you did everything you could?
When it all comes down, can you say that you never gave up?
Were you standing by to watch it fall away?
Will you hold on or let it go?

It said, "Do what is right," they build higher walls
Where we can't shed a light, on true criminals
When business and suffering are one and the same
We lost all the people, they turned to the flame

I found love (love!)
I found life (life!)
As a thorn stuck in your side,
And you wonder why...

When it all comes down, will you say you did everything you could?
When it all comes down, can you say that you never gave up?
Were you standing by, to watch it fall away?

Will you hold up? Did you hold up? Or just let it burn?
Did you let it burn?

When it all comes down, will you say you did everything you could?
When it all comes down, can you say that you never gave up?
When it all comes down, will you say you did everything you could?

When it all comes down,
When it all comes down...

When the lights all blow out, and roadblocks blow up,
When you sleep to the sound of alarms going off
When it all comes down, will you say you did everything you could?

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Sudden Life

Floating in the clouds, giving up the fight
A voice is calling out, I'm walking into the light

We used to race a thousand miles a day so fast
Feet they barely even touched the ground
We used to fly to places out beyond our own little world
The fury and the sun

A sun flickered like a television set
Bright flashes of a warning sign
Vapid shadows in a world gone static
We're running away line by the fading line

Under water for years we're fine, till we started to swim, then drown
The current takes us, now we're walking into the light

Are you dying all your life? (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
Broken, beaten, tired of (Walking into the light)
You wanted to love but don't know how (Walking into the light)
Diagnosis: sudden life (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
Can no one revive me now?
Feels like I'm walking into the light

Woke up falling on a wave of golden sound
Tunnel vision and a great beyond
Heart beating like a rhythm slowing down
Now it's gone, I let go of a soul

A flat line and I'm closing down
Whisper a warm farewell
The flames all beckon me
As we're walking into the light

Are you dying all your life? (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
Broken, beaten, tired of (Walking into the light)
You wanted to love but don't know how (Walking into the light)
Diagnosis: sudden life (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
Can no one revive me now?
Feels like I'm walking into the light

Don't suppose that you know the way
Don't suppose that you care
I see lights up ahead and hear cries of angels ringing in my ears
But you know that, had you a choice, you would go back and do it again
We all have unfinished business to tend

So no I won't go gentle
Into the good night
You can keep your candle
I'm walking away from the light
Yeah I'm walking away from the light
I'm walking away from the light
I'm walking away from the light
I'm walking away from the light

Diagnosis: sudden life (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
I woke up my heart racing, I'm (Walking into the light)
At a loss explaining why (Walking into the light)
Are you dying all your life? (Walking into the light)
(Walking into the light)
Now put your darkest days behind
And laugh as its right before your eyes (Walking into the light)
And for very the first time,
It feels like I'm walking away from the light

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A Beautiful Indifference

There's a struggle coming, but to conquer, first they must divide.
The machines keep humming night and day.
How are we so unaware,
Why are you not afraid?

Protests are drumming while you turn your nose and roll your eyes,
Knee-jerk reactions so ingrained.
Judging from an arm chair.

Cause there is hate and there is love and there is loss,
But there is light and there is dark, then there is us.
And whether this world burns, is none of your concern,
Caught up in a ticker-tape parade.

I have learned to stand up and just to walk away,
Sometimes the cold hearts aren't worth the love or the hate.
Learn to let go, learn to walk away.
Up from the shadows I'm seduced by the light of the flame,
But this time I'm here to stay.

Gunpowder residue, bright lights and turpentine,
True colors shining through, as we are stripped of our exteriors.

Now, cause there is hate and there is love and there is loss,
But there is right and there is wrong, then there is us.
We're falling until

We learn to stand up and just to walk away,
Sometimes the cold hearts aren't worth the love or the hate.
Learn to let go, learn to walk away.
Up from the shadows I'm seduced by the light of the flame,
But this time I'm here to stay.

Feet first into the quicksand, every day we are surrendering,
Never straying from the game plan.
I keep hoping you will take my hand and stand up.

The water's overflowing, the walls are breaking,
But I know where I'm going, that we can make it.
And there's a light still glowing and I will chase it.
And I've been lost before and I have been led astray,

But this time I'm here to stay.

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Methadone

Love like a needle full of methadone
Prudent but not real, left you wanting more

Lipstick track marks bleeding red
Like Montagues and Capulets
For us child the stars refuse to shine
Oh well for us child do the stars refuse to shine?

Assume lets stroll along the land
We wound up back here again
Like unstable chemicals
Combining only to explode

What will it take for you to notice?
I am a heart on fire, the dawn walls diffuse
So don't get close
Trouble and the worth
Am I better off on my own?

Contaminated, quarantined then left alone
A shipment refused, address unknown
A damaged goods they soon forget
The choking dust that we got left
For us all, the stars refuse to shine

Time for vaining like a match
We burn like stars before the crash
But for you there's still a chance
Just let go

What will it take for you to notice?
I am a heart on fire, the dawn walls diffuse
So don't get close
Trouble and the worth
I'm better off on my own
On my own

Now there's nowhere to run
And yeah there's nowhere to hide
There's nothing under the sun
We haven't already tried

What will it take for you to notice?
I am a hand grenade, pin already pulled so don't let go
As we chase the sun my shadow slowly falls down
And without me along, you're better off and I know
You're better off and I know
And I know

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Zero Visibility

I'm saddling in here for the long haul
Can't hide forever is what they say
In with the wind, out with a bang
Meanwhile nothing has changed

With each one slowly ordered
A storm brews in her eyes
A miss shot at the buzzard
Time whether wasted or well spent is still time

We are not brave, we are not wise
We stand at the end of the longest times
But we stand here all together
We have been damned, we have survived
We came back to homes we don't recognize
But we return here all together

The moments of clarity here are short lived
Bleed through the bandages again
The wind is a lie, no longer white
Black as a day without sun

Passed out in a gutter
Woke up in your arms
Nursed back into color
The same touch that heals me
Left the scar

We are not brave, we are not wise
We stand at the end of the longest times
But we stand here all together
We have been damned, we have survived
We came back to homes we don't recognize
But we return here all together

And the world works in ways that I never
Have claimed to know
We got out and fought through the weather
But it followed
The view from here isn't better
But it's all we know
It's all we know

We are not brave, we are not wise
We stand at the edge of the borderlines
But we stand here all together
We have been damned, we have survived
Who we become you won't recognize
But became them all together
All together

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Awake Too Long

I watched the rise and the fall of the common man
I lived to see your steps walk back
I watched the walls all crash down, crumbling
Just to be rebuilt while we slipped

We threw suds in the oceans winding
We promised peace but the peace won't last
'Cause now we forged new brakes so nervously
Waiting for this harmony to pass

I stand guard and roam
Like a sentinel
I see it all

I've been awake too long
Wish there was something that could close my eyes
To all that I see
Awake too long
It would be easier to fall asleep

We fell in love but the love kept running out
We follow roads but the roads all end
We lived and learned, and learned to live without
Falling from the matters we assemble

I've seen the eyes of the widows left behind
I've seen the child of a violent man
And never once did our leaders apologize
For battles they began

I can't look away, or pretend not to see
And so I say

I've been awake too long
Wish there was something that could close my eyes
To all that I see
Awake too long
It would be easier to fall asleep

Asleep

Maybe I would dream if I could sleep
Maybe I'd see what this could be
Instead of what you know
And is there bliss in ignorance?
Is this our demise we can't prevent?
Should we fall asleep?

I've been awake too long
I've been awake too long
I've been awake too long
I've been awake too long

(I've been awake too long) And like constant vigils we all
(I've been awake too long) Carry eternal flames
(I've been awake too long) I'm saturate pains to an open heart
(I've been awake too long) But through it all
Every single cut I've been awake

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People Live Here

My God is better than yours
And the walls of my house are so thick
I hear nothing at all

I followed you out in the storm
But it carried you off
And I burned every picture of yours
Was that not enough?

My gun is bigger than yours
So let's arm the masses
And see what the bastards do then
Walking tall once set us apart
Now we're down on all fours
Do you cry my name in the dark
Like I do yours?

These storms are getting stronger now
Trusses all bend and sway
Lightning hits, the power goes out in the fray
As the waves crash high
And the shoreline disappears
I will scream to the sky
"Hey, people live here."

My dreams are not unlike yours
They long for the safety
And break like a glass chandelier
But there's laughter and oh there is love
Just past the edge of our fears
And there's chaos when push comes to shove
But it's music to my ears

May you be in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead
May these winds be always at your back

'Cause when we're all just ghosts
And the madness overtakes us
We will look at the ashes
And say, "People lived here."

From the penthouse to the holy martyr
Sea to shining sea
From the coffins full of kindergartners
Is this what you call free?
From the hate that drips from all your crosses
Are your hands so clean?

And the wildfire and it's spreading far
From sea to shining sea

When we're all just ghosts
And the madness overtakes us
I will scream to the sky, yeah I'll scream to the sky
Yeah I'll scream to the sky
"Hey, people live here."

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Bridges

In a world of uncertainty
The night sky told us all to be patient
But when the ground started shaking
I wondered for how long

There's a place that I'd rather be
There's a voice deep inside of me
Saying the progress we are making
Is not progress at all

Into a world of promises, whoa
Is where we let ourselves been led

We built the bridges
We now sleep under
We frame the door ways
We may not pass through

The very same roads
That we now wander
Who once you pass us by on
We paved with our bare hands
Paved with our bare hands

A black cloud hovers over me
Without all this guilt I feel naked
Something about the way it
Wraps its arms around
White snow covers everything
An angel watches over me
Praying, she asks me for a favor
Catch me if I fall

A rush of blood straight to the head, whoa
I wonder what this could have been

We built the bridges
We now sleep under
We frame the door ways
We may not pass through

The very same roads
That we now wander
Who once you pass us by on
We paved with our bare hands
Paved with our bare hands
Hey!

No I never meant to hurt you
No I never meant to do you wrong
I stood waiting while the man said move along

We lay the tracks down
But now they rotted
Like a runaway train
We brace for the crash

We were in love once
Have you forgotten?
Like a runaway train
Bearing down upon a gap

We built the bridges (brace for the crash)
(Built from their hypocrisy)
We built the bridges (brace for the crash)
(and now we brace for the crash)
We built the bridges (brace for the crash)
(Built from their hypocrisy)
We built the bridges (brace for the crash)
And underneath the shadows we now love