Bad Religion’s Anesthesia has been a staple in my life since I was around 19 years old. My friend Kevin McCall who I consider one of the major factors of me being a musician introduced me to BR on one of many occasions which we were sitting at his house or skating on his half pipe or watching Monty Python, I don’t remember. What I do remember is the time he and I went to the now renamed, closed or whatever, Metropol, and watched from the upstairs above the stage VIP area Bad Religion perform for several hours.
“Ok, I can die now” we both agreed.
This band, and the Against the Grain album, are still in my regular rotation. There are so many catchy, thought-provoking lyrics that as a young man expanded my vocabulary and inspired my curiosity beyond what school, religion and other social structures had to offer. If you didn’t know; Greg Graffin, lead singer of BR has a pretty impressive resume. Here’s a portion taken from Wikipedia that speaks to his academics:
“Graffin attended El Camino Real High School, then obtained both his BA Biology, BS Geology and master’s in Geology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He went on to earn his PhD in Zoology from Cornell University.[5] The PhD dissertation was supervised by William B. Provine.[6] After years of being out-of-print, the title of his dissertation changed to “Evolution and Religion: Questioning the Beliefs of the World’s Eminent Evolutionists”.[7]
Graffin returned to UCLA where he taught natural science courses.[8] In a June 2008 interview with Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley, he mentioned that Graffin would be teaching there from January to March 2009.[9] In April 2011, Graffin revealed that he would return to Cornell University that fall to co-teach for 14 weeks.[10]
In 2011 the new type species Qiliania graffini of an extinct bird from the lower Cretaceous was named after Graffin “for his contributions to evolutionary biology, his public out-reach through music, and his inspiration to young scientists around the world”.[11]“
That intellect and what I felt was almost alien thinking relative to everything I was taught or observed so far in life about the world and how society works/views itself helped mold the man I would become. Here are the lyrics to Anesthesia. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would get a chance to actually sing these lyrics in front of anyone but you Kevin. We would often recite these lyrics, as well as many from this album, each taking a line, over coffee at Kings into the AM, many, many a night. I dedicate this song to you every time I perform it brother. You are deeply missed.
Oh yeah and as a reminder, these lyrics are sung at a blazing speed. Listen here
Anesthesia by Bad Religion Released in 1990:
Everybody is talking about the girl
Who went and killed the delivery man
But she looks so kind and gentle,
It just doesn’t stand to reason
I saw her right there just the other night
As stately as a slot machine
But when she looked my way
Something mad as hell came over me
Anesthesia, Mona Lisa
I’ve got a little gun, here comes oblivion
I never loved you, how did you find me?
The cops will never prove complicity
Now Anna
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
All good children go to heaven
I remember your face that August night
When we lied about the beautiful time to come
And that crazy old man who came much too late
And caused a chain reaction
I’ve been hanging out there for eleven long years
Like a church mouse wondering where the cat has gone
And looking at you now is driving me to distraction
Anesthesia, my Mona Lisa
I’ve got a little gun, here comes oblivion
I never loved you, how did you find me?
The cops will never prove complicity
Now Anna
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
All good children go to heaven
Written by Shawn
