The ROOT! Compendium - Lyrics
All lyrics © ROOT!
DC Root's Failure
If I went to a private school
I'd be into Tibetan cooking
If I went to a private school
I'd be vain, cerebral, much better looking
If I went to a private school
I'd live at Death's door
With painters and musicians
And the deliberately poor
I'd regect society's mores[1] from my garret[2] in Berlin
My girlfriend would be thin.
If I went to a private school
If I went to a private school
If I went to a private school
I'd gun run in Bahrain[3]
I'd live in a New Orleans dosshouse[4]
Feel the Blues Man's pain[5]
I'd hang with my separatist lesbian friend with peircings in her labia[6]
She's had a thing for me since the year 12 formal at Xavier[7]
We'd have a child, go running wild on the mean streets of New York
You can eat out of dumpsters but still know how to hold your fork
I'd spend a year in a crack den, non compos mentis[8]
When the heroin got too much, well dad knows a good dentist[9]
My photographic exhibition would be called The Devils Cache
It would spell Barosian Hell[10] - I wouldn't pronounce the 'H'
I'd be shortlisted at Cannes with my film about a Bible toting killer;
I'd stay in the family villa.
If I went to a private school
If I went to a private school
If I went to a private school
I'd track with sherpas in Kathmandu[11]
I'd commune with the Zulu,[12]
I'd take part in a violent coups[13]
I wouldn't obsess about petrol,
I wouldn't care about the interest rate
I wouldn't live in a suburban box with sport as my opiate[14]
If I went to a private school, I wouldn't be like you
Your life's a plague, I'm L’Étranger, I read that in Camus[15]
If I went to a private school, I'd be impetuous, spontaneous
If I went to a private school, I'd eschew domestic bliss
If I went to a private school, I'd be beautiful and dangerous
Hang on. I did go to a private school. Why'd I turn out like this?
Information
1) First performed live as a spoken word piece at the Retreat Hotel, November 6, 2007.
2) Officially released on the Get Up Yourself single, August 23, 2008.
3) Lyrics in italics are unclear. If you think you know them, please contact.
4) Thanks to Andrew and ben for assistance with these lyrics.
1) Mores are customs adopted by a community. While some mores are trivial, others are severe and so is the punishment which goes with them (examples could be smoking, headscarves or murder).
2) A garret is the area below a slanted roof, such as an attic
3) Bahrain has attempted to curb gun violence recently, with many incidences occuring due to illigally possessed (smuggled) weapons.
4) A dosshouse is an extremely cheap place to stay, usually with very minimal luxuries (like your own toilet). As New Orleans is the "murder capital" of the United States, a dosshouse there would attract a most unpleasant clientele.
5) New Orleans is also the birthplace of jazz music.
6) If you don't know, I'm certainly not telling you. Let your parents know it's time to have that little talk.
7) Xavier College is a grade P-12 Melbourne school. Also, "Xavier University Preparatory School" is a grade 7-12 school in New Orleans.
8) Non compos mentis is a Latin phrase meaning "not having a sound mind".
9) Heroin (and indeed other drugs) can cause tooth and gum damage. A number of factors cause this, such as drying up saliva, which naturally combats bacteria. Additionally, heroin addicts typically crave sweet foods.
10) If you know what this is a reference to, please contact.
11) Kathmandu is roughly 1,500m above sea level. The sherpas who live at that altitude have naturally adapted to the conditions and act as guides to regular folk.
12) Communicating with the Zulu, the largest South African tribe, would (as with any foreign language) be quite difficult. Due to the remote location and vast differences between cultures, there would arise more difficulties than just the language in order to get by.
13) A coup is a sudden overthrow of a government.
14) A reference to the Karl Marx phrase "Religion is the opium of the masses".
15) L’Étranger is the French title of Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger".
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