Piere Iskandar
Period: 4
12/13/12
Mr. Strausbaugh
Protest Music Project: Modern Music
The day-to-day used acronym B.Y.O.B. usually stands for “Bring Your Own Beer/Beef”. In this case it should be Bring Your Own Bombs. After the intro the song starts with the rhetorical shrieked question “Why do they always send the poor?” and at the end it is changed into the exclamation “They always send the poor!” which criticizes the exorbitant high number of poor people mostly with a low level of education in the US army. As “B.Y.O.B.” is naturally used in the context of garden parties is this song directly addressed to George W. Bush who should fight this war on his own and not by soldiers. This impression is emphasized by “Why don’t presidents fight the war?” (which can also be seen as presidents should fight to stop war) and “Where the F**K are you?” so he should bring his own bombs to the “party” in the “desert”. The Bush-administration and a bigger part of the American population believe that other parts of the world (which includes the Iraq) are underdeveloped and a kind of “barbarian” but by behaving like this the Bush-administration is barbarian (“Barbarism by barbaras”). This line also refers to Barbara Walters, a famous news presenter, dressed “with pointed heels” who shows the bright side of war, an act of propaganda.
They chose Moses because he led Israel out of Egypt – an alliteration to Bush who sees himself as God-like and the USA always supports Israel. His mouth is dry (“Moses’ dry mouth”) because in the dessert water and food is narrow. This can also hint at the American industry which is always thirsty and addicted to oil. Fort Knox is a symbol for money and the American economy, “breaking into Fort Knox” then stands for 9/11 which was an assault against America and the global economics and stole “their intentions” – mainly money.
This song has obvious connections to the real world and all of the horrible things that were going on during the Bush Administration. I don’t think that this song is as relevant today as it might have been during President Bush’s presidential run. It still can be considered relevant because it has many parts of the song referencing to 9/11 which still “Hits home” to people in America. I think this song could have been quite the controversial song while bush was president, because throughout the song, Serj (System Of A Down’s Lead Singer) implies that Bush thought he was the “God of America”.
Personally, I absolutely adore this song. I enjoy all of System of a Down’s songs because they all have a hidden meaning behind them and if you really care about it, you’ll find that meaning. I also like the tempo of the song. It is an extremely fast-paced song and a very loud one too. I think that the political portion of this song is quite accurate and depicts how corrupt the government was during Bush’s presidential run.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN LYRICS
"B.Y.O.B."
WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR!
Barbarisms by Barbaras
With pointed heels.
Victorious, victories kneel.
For brand new spankin' deals.
Marching forward hypocritic
And hypnotic computers.
You depend on our
