Deadsplinter Up! All Night: It’s the End of Law & Order

Dick Wolf!

This might come as a surprise to some of you who witness daily that my ability to butcher the English language greatly outweighs my attempts to master it, but I do read a lot; my taste in music, 80’s obsession aside, is more for the lyrics rather than the sound.

I enjoy intelligent lyrics and plays-on-words which might have a whole lot to do with my constant linking of Aesop Rock and Sage Francis in the DUAN comments.

Lately, considering the goings-on of current events, I keep thinking of this song: “Low Light, Low Life” by P.O.S ft Dessa, Cecil Otter, and Sims.

I‘ve posted the lyrics below in case the sound isn’t your bag:

Barrel full of powder, ship full of tea
Closer by the hour, bringing sick to the seas
Bellies full of barter, thick with the thieves
Once they hit the harbour, it’s a wick in the breeze
There goes another one, right out from under ’em
Different seashore, same thirty stores
There goes another one, right out from under ’em
Worldwide mining town, steal it up, sell it down
And not too long ago, mom and pop owned this shop
Prognosis progress, the Dow owns the block
Here to sell ’em salvation or elevation, sort of
Signal disorder, it’s Celebration, Florida
They got the medicine to fix your mood
‘Til you learn to mind your place and eat that Sysco food
You crave the arrogance the rich folk ooze
Take life, waste life just to get those jewels


It seems we’ve fallen out of favour, the era ended on us
Now the money’s just paper, the houses all haunted
We had a hell of a run before it caught up
For all the corners cut, we got an avalanche of sawdust
Life of the party, we’re the death of the novel
The glass is half empty so pass the next bottle
It’s flight of the salesman, death of the bumblebee
Nothing left for the attorneys and the tumbleweeds
They say that God’s on the right, so goes the rhetoric
But I think that cross is a kite that left a skeleton
And I think that Russell was right, but that’s irrelevant, friend
For all I know there’ll be nothing left to defend tomorrow
Sugar in the gas tank, nothing in the cashbox
Thought that we were so sick, looking like it’s smallpox
The bullets are still on the shelves
But when the armory empties, we’re melting down the bells


It’s the end of law & order…

Dick Wolf!

Aware in America, rocking a cheap sheep suit
Pulled wool, weave through
Stay on course ’til pulled over by that pulled pork
Cops keeping the peace piece… cocked
Catch and release like a sportsman, see ’em in the court then
Piss poor paying them a portion, huh
Funny how they distort extortion
Never better, P.O.S. dance to the rhetoric
Lean to the left, call me terrorish, rock with it
Dance fever got ’em peeping out the prints on the floor
True believers keep they eyes on the horizon
Catch me sizing up the silent, check the crooked grind
Watch me 50/50, keep the balance between the coping and the feeble mind
I hope the broken folk rewind
Nothing much for token jokers here, skate off, we doing fine


Heads will roll
Low light low life, recite that untold
Keep with the goals, rehearse for the eleventh hour
It will be arrow after arrow after bullet after sunflower

Heads will roll
Low light low life, recite that untold
Keep with the goals, rehearse for the eleventh hour
It will be barrel after barrel after barrel of that gunpowder

I’m often curious as to the songs the DUAN community here at Deadsplinter love for the lyrics so I figured it’d be cool for y’all to share below.

Thank you for your continuous support of Deadsplinter!

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About myopicprophet 135 Articles
Kinja refugee. Rants often. Right sometimes.

17 Comments

    • Tom Morello has been crushing it with his Twitter game lately

  1. Three words you softly said revolving slowly round my head. I made mistakes but I’m true to you. Brolin, 3 Words. This is a beautiful song on many levels.


  2. just point me at the thing you need broke
    this my job…and im a goddamn professional

  3. Kyle Craft – Heartbreak Junky

    The Beatles – Happiness Is A Warm Gun

  4. You know I love John Prine’s lyrics. But I’m also a big Elvis Costello fan, a lot of his songs have felt very personal to me, including this one –
    Party Girl
    I have seen the hungry look in their eyes
    They’d settle for anything in disguise of love
    Seen the party girls look me over
    Seen ’em leaving when the party’s over

    The same with The Hold Steady’s lyrics.
    How A Resurrection Really Feels

    some nites she felt protected. some nites she felt afraid. she spent half last winter justa trying to get paid. from some guy she’d originally thought to be her saviour.

    • Elvis Costello is still vastly underrated and has only gotten better.

  5. I’ve always liked the lyrics to this Beach Boys song, Busy Doin’ Nothin’ which include directions to Brian Wilson’s house as well as him trying to remember someone’s phone number.

    The Beach Boys – Busy Doin’ Nothin’

    Drive for a couple miles
    You’ll see a sign and turn left
    For a couple blocks
    Next is mine, you’ll turn left on a little road
    It’s a bumpy one

    You’ll see a white fence
    Move the gate and drive through on the left side
    Come right in
    And you’ll find me in my house somewhere
    Keeping busy while I wait

  6. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On Live 1972


    Mother, mother
    There’s too many of you crying
    Brother, brother, brother
    There’s far too many of you dying
    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today, eh eh

    Father, father
    We don’t need to escalate
    You see, war is not the answer
    For only love can conquer hate
    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    Talk to me, so you can see
    Oh, what’s going on
    What’s going on
    Yeah, what’s going on
    Ah, what’s going on

    In the mean time
    Right on, baby
    Right on brother
    Right on babe

    Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
    Oh, but who are they to judge us
    Simply ’cause our hair is long
    Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some understanding here today
    Oh oh oh

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    C’mon talk to me
    So you can see
    What’s going on
    Yeah, what’s going on
    Tell me what’s going on
    I’ll tell you what’s going on, ooh ooh ooh ooh
    Right on baby
    Right on baby

  7. When it comes to lyrics, there are two songs that always stand out to me. The first is the Crash Test Dummies’ “The Ghosts That Haunt Me”:

    ‘Cause you’re so kind, I know you would not mind
    You’d send away the ghosts that haunt me now
    And the things I fear just wouldn’t seem so near
    When I stroll out late at night, there would be nothing rattling at my heels

    There are nights when all my aching bones won’t let me sleep
    Demons come to plague me as I lie in bed
    But I know if you were sleeping there beside me then
    That you could fend them off and they would let me rest

    The other is John Prine’s “Day is Done”:

    We’ll carve our names
    On a tree
    Then we’ll burn it down
    So no one in the world will see

    And we’ll make love
    While we watch the flame
    Then we’ll walk away
    As if we never had no shame

    • Greg Brown is right up there with John Prine in my book. Most of his songs are pure poetry as well.

      I lived awhile without you
      Darn near half my life
      I no longer see our unborn children
      Born to you my unwed wife
      But yesterday I had a vision
      Beneath the tree where we once talked
      Of an old couple burning
      Their love letters so their children
      Won’t be shocked

  8. Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition

  9. Ok so I’m posting new Phoebe Bridgers tomorrow because her album just came out and it was beautiful. But here is Demi Moore from her first album.

    Take a dirty picture, babe
    I can’t sleep and I miss your face
    In my hands and in my knees
    Tell me what you wanna do to me
    Tell me what you’ll do, please

    I don’t wanna be alone
    I don’t wanna be alone anymore

    You got quiet on the other line
    Said the sun was coming up
    And I laughed until I couldn’t breathe
    Now I’m too tired to go to sleep
    Now I can’t breathe, and I can’t sleep

    I don’t wanna be stoned
    I don’t wanna be stoned anymore

    Don’t wanna be alone
    Don’t wanna be alone anymore

    I could feel alone
    I could, I got a good feeling
    It doesn’t happen very often

    Phoebe Bridgers – Demi Moore

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