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A Disorder Called Childhood

from Short Songs from the Slums of Science (2015) by Volvo Physics

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lyrics

Somewhere out there
There are millions of kids who
Just like me
Were told that they were diseased
Many of these same kids are given
Prescription amphetamines
To cure a disorder called childhood
I myself was around 6
When they tried to get me
So I wrote this song for us
It goes something like this

Energy’s not a crime
Though you might guess
That people of passion
Have been banished
From the West
Gasping with boredom
Torpor set in
Electric heads
And trembling hands
Always grasping
For something more
To fill our hearts
The cardinal question is
Will we start?

And from the front of the classroom comes the answer
Resounding and clear
The teacher says:

No, you suck
Shit out of luck
If you can’t take tests
Then you’re probably fucked (x2)

At which point my friends and I stand up
And fire back with a clever comeback
That sounds like this

Emptiness is a sin
Worth our condemnation
Only climb the jagged hills
Of sorrow and elation
Sing the songs of birth
And maybe of death
But not in between
That ravine is pointless
Let’s live hard and fast and good
Just like Hemmingway said we should

The teacher’s now called in the principle
Who clears her throat and reiterates the
Tired point of the tired status quo
And she says, a little faster
And with a little more force

No, you suck
You’re shit out of luck
If you can't take tests
Then you’re probably fucked (x3)
No

At this point my friend have taken a seat
Leaving only me standing
I have an intentionally poisonous look in my eyes
As I clear my throat and address the class
With the following pre-prepared speech:

“Fuck all the teachers
And school administrators
Who bullied me
Into thinking
I was no good
Who sent me
To therapy
And terrorized my family
To put a six year old
On a cocktail of drugs
I was only a kid
I was only a kid
I was only a kid”

credits

from Short Songs from the Slums of Science (2015), released August 11, 2015

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Volvo Physics Somerville, Massachusetts

I'm doing science if and only if I'm not doing this.

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