This is my favorite Dead Kennedys song…really.
For me, what really makes this work is the tremendous glee with which Jello Biafra sings this one. Whether this is meant to be sarcastic or it’s a little more serious, it’s obvious that he’s really having just so much fun with this one. Also, it does rock, and it’s got that trademark Dead Kennedys snark.
And of course, the lyrics:
We ain’t going to the party
We ain’t going to the game
We ain’t going to the disco
Ain’t gonna cruise down main
We’re stealing people’s mail
stealing people’s mail
stealing people’s mail
On a Friday night
Drivin’ in the mountains
Winding ’round and ’round
Rummage through your mailboxes
Take your mail back to town
And we got license plates, wedding gifts, tax returns
Checks to politicians from real estate firms
Money, bills and cancelled checks
Pretty funny pictures of your kids
We’re stealing people’s mail
On a Friday night
We’re stealing people’s mail
By the pale moonlight
We got grocery sackful after grocery sackful
After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
After grocery sackful after grocery sackful
Of the private lives of you
Ha Ha
People say that we’re crazy
We’re sick and all alone
But when we read your letters
We’re rolling on the floor
We got more license plates, wedding gifts, tax returns
Checks to politicians from real estate firms
Money, bills and cancelled checks
We cut relationships with your friends
We’re gonna steal your mail
On a Friday night
Gonna steal your mail
By the pale moonlight
We better not get caught
We’ll be dumped in institutions
Where we’ll be drugged and shocked
‘Til we come out born-again Christians…
April 6th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I love that song. The Dead Kennedys really had an amazing sense of humor with their songs, and yet they actually had a lot of serious things to say — and they could rock. This is a classic song, hands down!
April 6th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Yes, I would definitely agree. Jello Biafra’s voice really set the tone for most of their songs….I need to schedule a few more of those.