Can you say “feel like shit”?
Yea maybe sometimes I do feel like shit
I ain’t happy ’bout it, but I’d rather feel like shit than be full of shit!

And if I offended you, oh I’m sorry…
But maybe you need to be offended
But here’s my apology and one more thing… fuck you!

“You Can’t Bring Me Down”, Suicidal Tendencies, Lights… Camera…  Revolution!, 1990

Click here to view the embedded video.

What the hell’s going on around here?

First off-let’s take it from the start
Straight out-can’t change what’s in my heart
No one-can tear my beliefs apart, you can’t bring me

You ain’t-never seen no one like me
Prevail-regardless what the cost might be
Power-flows inside of me, you can’t bring me

Never-fall as long as I try
Refuse-to be a part of your lie
Even-if it means I die, you can’t bring me

You…can’t…bring…me…down!

Who the hell you calling crazy? You wouldn’t know what crazy was
If Charles Manson was eating fruit loops on your front porch….

Time out-let’s get something clear
I speak-more truth than you want to hear
Scapegoat-to cover up your fear, you can’t bring me

You ain’t-never seen so much might
Fight for-what I know is right
What up-you got yourself a fight, you can’t bring me

Stand up-we’ll all sing along
Together-ain’t nothin’ as strong
Won’t quit-we ain’t in the wrong, you can’t bring me

You…can’t…bring…me…down!

Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, no!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, you can’t bring me down!

Tell them what’s up Rocky!

You…can’t…bring…me…down!

Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, no!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, you can’t bring me down!

So why you trying to bring me?
Well you can’t bring me down…No, no, no, no
Can’t bring me down….No, no, no, no, no, no
Can’t bring me down….No, no, no, no, no, no
Can’t bring me down….No, no, no, no, no, no
So why you trying to bring?
Well you can’t bring me down

Just cause you don’t understand what’s going on don’t mean it don’t make no sense
And just cause you don’t like it, don’t mean it ain’t no good
And let me tell you something;

Before you go taking a walk in my world
You better take a look at the real world
Cause this ain’t no Mister Roger’s Neighborhood

Can you say “feel like shit”?
Yea maybe sometimes I do feel like shit
I ain’t happy ’bout it, but I’d rather feel like shit than be full of shit!

And if I offended you, oh I’m sorry…
But maybe you need to be offended
But here’s my apology and one more thing…fuck you!

Cos you…can’t…bring…me…down!

Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, no!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, no!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, no!
Bring me down-you can’t bring me down, you can’t bring me down!

Can’t bring me down!
Can’t bring me down!
Can’t bring me down!

Suicidal!

Oh BTW: the fact that the name “Mike” appears in this song is sheer coincidence. Just like the massive military/civilian drills for multiple simultaneous terrorist airline hijackings were on 9/11.

Sometimes I try to do things and it just doesn’t work out the way I wanted to.
I get real frustrated and I try hard to do it and I take my time and it doesn’t work out the way I wanted to.
It’s like I concentrate real hard and it doesn’t work out
Everything I do and everything I try never turns out
It’s like I need time to figure these things out
But there’s always someone there going

Hey Mike:
You know we’ve been noticing you’ve been having a lot of problems lately.
You know, maybe you should get away and maybe you should talk about it, maybe you’ll feel a lot better

And I go:
No it’s okay, you know I’ll figure it out, just leave me alone I’ll figure it out. You know I’ll just work by myself.

And they go:
Well you know if you want to talk about it I’ll be here you know and you’ll probably feel a lot better if you talk about it.

And I go:
No I don’t want to I’m okay, I’ll figure it out myself and they just keep bugging me and they just keep bugging me and it builds up inside and it builds up inside.

So you’re gonna be institutionalized
You’ll come out brainwashed with bloodshot eyes
You won’t have any say
They’ll brainwash you until you see their way.

[Chorus:]
I’m not crazy – in an institution
You’re the one who’s crazy – in an institution
You’re driving me crazy – in an institution

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

I was in my room and I was just like staring at the wall thinking about everything
But then again I was thinking about nothing
And then my mom came in and I didn’t even know she was there she called my name
And I didn’t even hear it, and then she started screaming: MIKE! MIKE!
And I go:
What, what’s the matter
And she goes:
What’s the matter with you?
I go:
There’s nothing-wrong mom.
And she goes:
Don’t tell me that, you’re on drugs!
And I go:
No mom I’m not on drugs I’m okay, I was just thinking you know, why don’t you get me a Pepsi.
And she goes:
NO you’re on drugs!
I go:
Mom I’m okay, I’m just thinking.
She goes:
No you’re not thinking, you’re on drugs! Normal people don’t act that way!
I go:
Mom just give me a Pepsi please
All I want is a Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to me
All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to me.
Just a Pepsi.

They give you a white shirt with long sleeves
Tied around you’re back, you’re treated like thieves
Drug you up because they’re lazy
It’s too much work to help a crazy

[Chorus]

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

I was sitting in my room and my mom and my dad came in and they pulled up a chair and they sat down, they go:
Mike, we need to talk to you
And I go:
Okay what’s the matter
They go:
Me and your mom have been noticing lately that you’ve been having a lot of problems,
You’ve been going off for no reason and we’re afraid you’re gonna hurt somebody,
We’re afraid you’re gonna hurt yourself.
So we decided that it would be in your interest if we put you somewhere
Where you could get the help that you need.
And I go:
Wait, what do you mean, what are you talking about, we decided!?
My best interest?! How can you know what’s my best interest is?
How can you say what my best interest is? What are you trying to say, I’m crazy?
When I went to your schools, I went to your churches,
I went to your institutional learning facilities?! So how can you say I’m crazy.

They say they’re gonna fix my brain
Alleviate my suffering and my pain
But by the time they fix my head
Mentally I’ll be dead

[Chorus]

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

It doesn’t matter I’ll probably get hit by a car anyway

The abuses that go on at these facilities are all too routine, and the mentality which perpetuates them is positively medieval. That the State’s anointed “caregivers” might need “employee empathy training” to deal with their fellow human beings only hints at just how far off the rails many of these institutions have run.

The diagnosis is horrible and Rad Geek’s prescription just as simple and obvious as it is apt:

What is really needed is a power change, so that psychiatric wards are no longer artificially packed by court order, so that patients can leave and seek help through other means if conditions become unbearable, and so that supposed patients are no longer treated against their will and held down at the mercy of their helper-captors. If you make a hospital into a prison camp, then it should be no surprise when the hospital caregivers start acting like prison camp guards. The only thing to do — the only thing you can do that will not just recreate the same problem in a superficially different form — is to respect the will of patients, to treat violence against them as a real crime worthy of punishment, to repeal the laws that privilege and protect their captors, and to break open the doors and tear off the straitjackets that hold them back from living their lives as human beings, rather than as objects of pity and coercion.