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  ATROPHY LYRICS
 
  
  "Violent By Nature" (1990)
  1. Puppies and Friends 2. Violent by Nature 3. In Their Eyes 4. Too Late to Change 5. Slipped Through the Cracks 6. Forgotten But Not Gone 7. Process of Elimination 8. Right to Die 9. Things Change
 
 
 
 
 
 
  1. Puppies and Friends
  Music: Skowron, Kelly
 Lyrics: Lykins
 
 Locked away, I'm hidden from your sight
 Forced to live in artificial light
 Made to suffer because of what I'm not
 A casualty in a war that must be fought
 So here I wait like the ones that came before
 And when I'm gone they'll need a thousand more
 You've decided that my life is yours to take
 So now I'm trapped in a world I did not make
 
 Chorus:
 Let me go
 Leave me be
 Stop your tests
 Set me free
 
 In my cell, I�m waiting for your test
 What hidden law makes you better than the rest
 You feed me drugs and see what you have made
 Day by day situation growing worse
 You weren't content to let nature take its course
 Now you suffer by the toxins that you use
 Terrified by the fate that you helped choose
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 Repeat verse
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  2. Violent by Nature
  Music: Lykins, Kelly
 Lyrics: Lykins
 
 Morbid fascination instilled within our young
 Raised and weaned on cold steel, the damage it has brought
 Little plastic war toys always within reach
 Replicas of war, what lessons do they teach
 
 Pre-chorus:
 Minimal control, that's why this land is great
 Accidental death, the lesson learned too late
 Escalating tensions sweeping 'cross our land
 A gun beneath your pillow you fail to understand
 
 Images of violence flicker on the screen
 Taken in by young eyes unsure of what it means
 Violent heritage echoed in their games
 Countless shattered lives, no one learns their names
 
 Repeat pre-chorus
 
 Chorus:
 Violent by nature (4x)
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 Children raised on violence
 Soon no place to run
 Setting fights with bullets
 The nightmare's just begun
 Staring out the window
 Your child plays with friends
 Waving plastic pistols
 The circle never ends
 
 Repeat pre-chorus
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  3. In Their Eyes
  Music: Gulotta, Skowron, Kelly
 Lyrics: Lykins
 
 In their eyes of children is a world I wish could be
 Their definitions of this life derived so simply
 There's no one to hurt them and everything is fair
 The cruelty around them seems hidden from their stare
 
 Chorus:
 In their eyes I see a world where every man is free
 In their eyes I see a better place for you and me
 In their eyes I see a world where no one has to die
 In their eyes I see a place where there's never need to lie
 
 But as they grow this vision changes with every passing year
 Each misconception lost with shedding of a tear
 A world that once seemed safe is revealed to be so cold
 In a world disfigured by simply growing old
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 The simple definitions of this world you think you know
 Will surely start to crumble as your youthful body grows
 Love for you is simple, it supplies you with your needs
 In our world it's lethal for it bites the hand that feeds
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 
 
  4. Too Late to Change
  Music: Lykins, Gulotta
 Lyrics: Lykins
 
 Intro solo: Skowron
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 Sometime at an early age a strange call beckoned you
 It urged you on to selfishness and told you what to do
 It taught you the word trust was just a tool that you could use
 To manipulate your target make them do what you would choose
 And still the call kept haunting you as you raced toward the end
 You went through life with blinders on, no chance to make a friend
 The call that you had answered is the one that's known as greed
 It's tempting lure of empty wealth is one few fail to heed
 
 Chorus:
 Too late to change, too late to change
 Just like a lemming you're blind to your fate
 You fail to question until it's too late
 Too late to change, too late to change
 Driven by something you don't understand
 Your lack of compassion is killing our land
 
 It made you poison once clear rivers, raze forests to the ground
 So you cut your expenses at the expense of those around
 You did not care your every touch brought sickness to the land
 The only green you care bout is the kind that you can spend
 Somehow after all this time you make it to the end
 And stare into that darkest void that longs to be your friend
 But something deep inside of you resists the need to quit
 You realize that only emptiness resides within the pit
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 You realize the harm you've done and what could yet come true
 The crimes that you've committed and what you still can do
 The goals you once held dearly now seem very strange
 Your new found care for mankind shows it's not too late to change
 
 
 
  5. Slipped Through the Cracks
  Music and lyrics: Lykins
 
 At the age of 15 your life is defined
 It's measured in ounces and grams
 The wisdom of ages is soon pushed away
 For a crystal that's purchased in drams
 No time for book learning, the street is your school 
 It teaches a lesson that's real
 You shun lit and science, that's crap for your parents
 The only thing real is the deal
 
 Chorus:
 Words on a page, they're so hard to read
 The will to learn, it's not in your creed
 Why should I care, I really can't see
 The teaching of man, they mean nothing to me
 
 Sports is the answer that's what you've been told
 it's the only way you'll succeed
 A ball is your teacher, replaces the textbook 
 It's the only tool that you'll need
 History and math are soon pushed away
 By the glory bestowed by a sport
 The classroom's forgotten, their teachings outdated
 You live by the rules of the court
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 Although things aren't perfect
 They're trying their best
 The choice is left up to you
 Resist the temptation of the easy way out 
 The promises made just aren't true
 You've made your decision have given up trying
 And now there is no turning back
 Another statistic for our failing system 
 Another that's slipped through the cracks
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  6. Forgotten But Not Gone
  Music: Gulotta, Zimmerman, Kelly
 Lyrics: Zimmerman
 
 Talk about humanity, what's wrong and what is right
 You take a human being and strip them of their life
 A tormented soul, trapped and left to decay
 In a controlled environment to die in a demented way
 Death row, he's awaiting, time just drags by
 Gas chamber awaits for him to pay for his crime
 When will the madness end, will it be today
 What terrible thoughts living day by day
 
 Chorus:
 The crime was committed, forever left condemned
 Left and forgotten, the fortune never ends
 Sentenced to death, delayed for seventeen years
 Left to go insane now death's his greatest fear
 
 15 thousand dollars monthly that we pay
 To keep him alive, now that's insane
 Injustice prevails again, it's the American way
 No wonder we're in debt, why do we have to pay
 If the death penalty exists to make these convicts pay
 Kill them when convicted instead of awaiting
 To wait seventeen years is totally inhumane
 The crime has lost its meaning, it's ruthless to be so vain
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 Repeat first verse
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  7. Process of Elimination
  Music: Gulotta, Kelly
 Lyrics: Zimmerman
 
 Our forefathers came with a vision and dream, to settle on this land
 They built a great nation with blood and sweat, to benefit all of man
 A path of destruction they did not see, they did not understand
 Live for the moment instead of the future, typical for all of man
 
 Chorus:
 Overpopulation will soon take its toll
 The growth of mankind is simply out of control
 Soon no where to turn, we run short of precious land
 Take our complex problems and place them in our children's hands
 
 Living on a dream, a final prayer, future lies unseen
 Hope to make a difference in our lives, its up to you and me
 Destroying ourselves day by day, can we change at all
 Hope for the best and keep on fighting before we take a fall
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 In the past, wars were beneficial, man's its only enemy
 Without this devastation we have inequality
 People live longer than yesterday, their offspring on the rise
 It's modern science, will it be answer or will it be our demise
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Skowron
 
 Repeat third verse
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  8. Right to Die
  Music: Gulotta, Kelly
 Lyrics: Zimmerman
 
 Trapped in my mind, the answers you won't find
 Deep despair, what I feel, lost in time, what I'm feeling
 Emotions lost all meaning, can not help what I'm feeling
 Tortured by pain, this agony is so insane
 
 Chorus:
 Diminishing away, day by day
 A life once fulfilling now stripped away
 It it's certain I must die
 I deserve the right to die
 Thousands of dollars everyday
 To keep me suffering in a life of pain
 I lie rotting be disease, eats away piece by piece
 Just leave me be
 
 Living through this Hell, life unravels, just as well
 Politics of man won't let me die, they just prolong my demise
 A life I did not choose, but it is certain I will lose
 A disgrace to myself it I take my family through this hell
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 Repeat first verse
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 
 
  9. Things Change
  Music and lyrics: Lykins
 
 Forced to deal with decisions you never thought come true
 Abandoned by the ones you've trusted, no one's there for you
 Internal maelstrom of confusion, unsure of who you are
 The things you used in definition didn't take you very far
 
 Chorus:
 The things I felt before I'm not sure if they're there
 Words which meant so much fall on ears which just don't care
 Emotions all entangled, it's time to rearrange
 The seasons pass, emotions die, I'm helpless as things change
 
 We often times define ourselves by our titles and our friends
 We place our trust in fallacies which eventually will end
 But just like dreams that fade away with every morning's light
 We're left with only memories, no tangibles in sight
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Solo: Lykins
 
 Now I find I'm all alone and wondering what is real
 Insecure of who I am, afraid of what I feel
 But I'm on the path to knowledge, the darkness won't last longer
 That which does not kill me, only makes me stronger
 
 Repeat chorus
 
 Things change
 Things change
 Things change
 Things change
  
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