Fifty in Five Lyrics

[Verse]
Terror cleared the skyline and anger clouded judgement
So they spent a thousand nighttimes in the desert fighting something
That they couldn't find, that made it something that they couldn't fight

Left us lamenting all the wrongs that they couldn't right
This is for the second time, we've been here before
From Vietnam to Saddam, we always needin' a war
Neo-conservatives rose up like Viet Cong
Their fingers on the trigger, we won't be here for long
They killed MLK and they named a day after him
They killed JFK and named an airport after him
Some guy shot a monster called Reagan so he could bone
A girl named Jodie Foster, if only he'd known

We tested nukes in the atmosphere, the sea and the dirt
And they tested all these missiles just to see if they worked

Now France got 'em, Russia got 'em, India and Pakistan
Korea want 'em
, States want 'em pointed at the Taliban
Iran and Afghanistan, sands of the Arab lands
Orders from portable commands in armoured caravans
Internet, 3G cellular phones
Serial killers built mini-cells in their homes
And we had Manson, Bundy, Gacy, Son of Sam
Macarena, Superman, Chicken Dance, Running Man
Generation X and Generation Y
And the generation next will degenerate and die
'Cause we got holes in the Ozone that we put there ourselves
Now the poles are a no-go, earth's cooking itself

And we can't look at ourselves so we got saline, Botox
Eighteen, fake tits, nineteen, detox
Don't stop, get it, get it, can't afford it? Get it credit
Buy it, spend it, try it, getting fat? Then you better shed it
Ab Swing, Blublocker, 2Pac or Biggie
East coast, West coast, Fat Joe or 50
Thatcher the shifty Iron Lady, Tony Blair
A princess died, some say 'cause she got Dodi there
Whitlam, Keating, Hawke, and a promise
Of no children in poverty, wish that could have been honest

We had Abbott and Costello, right wing overlords
Promises and children, they threw 'em both overboard
Overwrought refugees thrown to a group home
Or jailed for the crime of looking for a new home

Elvis died, Hendrix died, Lennon died, genocide
In Africa, Serbia, Cambodia
, pesticides
Bio-toxins, chemical warfare
All's fair in love and war, more work for the pallbearer
More terror, more unjust search and seizures
A tidal wave came and claimed the coast of Indonesia
Quakes in Iran, Japan and California
Greenhouse gas turned the world into a sauna
The trauma of mortars, martyrs, slaughters
Of partners, mourners, fathers and daughters
They chased us, caught us, numbered us to sort us
Raped us, scorned us, to break us they bought us
Third world kidneys for captains of industry
Uprising in the street, corruption in the ministry
A blowjob brought about the fall of a dynasty
And MP3s saw the fall of an industry
Doubled population, halved accommodation
Carved up resources and we starved the poorer nations
Beirut, Chechnya, all hell broke loose
Berlin, nineteen-eighty-nine man, the wall fell
Cold war ended but that didn't stop more shells
Waco lit up the sky like burnin' oil wells
A world laid waste with addiction
Tell Orwell truth's always stranger than fiction
Big Brother's on closed circuit TV and on cable
Reality's now scripted, celebrities for sale
Jeopardy and jail, seized, deposed
Remedies and penalties for failed CEOs
We had the Enron collapse and white-collar crime
Investors they were taxed a dollar for a dime
The blue chip companies and blue-sky mines
We no longer choose sides, we choose sidelines
Rich bleeding the kind, blind leading the blind
And history repeats, no competing with time
Gasses eating the minds of the vets that they bring home
The plague of Agent Orange
, Gulf War syndrome
Soldiers sent home, post-traumatic stress leave
STDs 'cause the sleeve ain't sexy
AIDS shook the eighties, grim reaper with a bowling ball
Metallica "Kill 'Em All", let God scold 'em all
The Guildford Four, Chicago Seven
Mumia, Mandela, Ocean's Eleven
Half past twelve on Friday the Thirteenth
Dawn of the Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street
Weapons free environment, war zone, phone home
Melanoma grow as we soak in the ozone
Home-grown, Hydro, cocaine, Nitro
Werewolf in London, American Psycho
Check, cyclones, bushfires, Bush firing scuds
Baby boomers, Woodstock, what happened to the love?
What happened to the cubs? They fed 'em to the wolves
Set a trial for paedophiles, they let 'em in the schools
Set 'em on the students, turned 'em on the kids
And everyone responsible should burn for what they did
And if they try to deny then an eye for an eye

The government and church on which we try to rely
Both rob us till it hurts chasing lie after lie
Like astronauts chasin' a pie in the sky

They landed on the moon but can't seem to return there
Makes some question if they ever really were there

And if they were there now and they looked back
Could we look them in the eye, could we look back?
'Cause when we look back at what we have done
Can you believe what we have become?
[Outro]
And as we walk into the sun
Can you believe what we have become?
As we walk into the sun

[Produced by Suffa]

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

Suffa’s sole solo track acts as State of the Art’s closing number. In response to Tinkerbells Fairydust’s 1967 cult-classic song “Twenty Ten”, Suffa attempts to sum up mankind’s last fifty years in five minutes by acknowledging historical events, namedropping figures and tragedies, and more.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Hilltop Hoods say about "Fifty in Five"?
Genius Answer

During a Myspace track-by-track breakdown, Suffa broke the track down, stating:

The last track on the album is “Fifty in Five.” It’s my solo track. I found the sample from a group called Tinkerbells Fairydust' [song] “Twenty Ten.” The song was written in the ‘60s, [and] they were asking what the world would be like in 2010. So this is my response to that sample, over that sample. So it’s fifty years in five minutes. I wrote it over a period of 3 months and recorded it over about 10, [maybe 12] recording sessions. We got John Bartlett playing keys on it. He also wrote the string arrangements. It closes off the album.

What have the Hoods said about the music video?
Genius Answer

This animation was originally put together by John Engelhardt as a visual for the ‘Still Standing’ tour. We later considered releasing ‘Fifty in Five’ as the fourth single from ‘State of the Art’, and using these visuals for the video. However, we never ended up releasing a fourth single.

via YouTube

Credits
Produced By
Vocals
Recording Engineer
Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Additional Keys
Additional Guitar
Scratches
Recorded At
Take Away Studios, The Suffering City, Mixmaster Studios
Release Date
June 12, 2009
Songs That Interpolate Fifty in Five
View Fifty in Five samples
Tags
Comments