License $0.00
Free download
Creative Commons license
Commercial uses of this track are NOT allowed.
Adaptations of this track are NOT allowed to be shared.
You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the artist.
Song Info
Genre
Charts
Peak #131
Peak in subgenre #55
Author
Paul Glidden
Rights
2002 Doubting Thomas Music
Uploaded
March 28, 2011
Track Files
MP3
MP3 6.2 MB • 128 kbps • 6:43
Story behind the song
"Metric" is about waiting for promises that aren't going to be kept. The narrator, who began grade school in the waning months of the 1960s, was promised many things-- including the metric system. The public school system was relentless in pushing the practicality of this universal base-10 measuring system. No more twelve-inches-to-a-foot, three-feet-to-a-yard. No more unwieldy furlongs and pecks. Say good-bye to the Euro-centric English System all together. Metrics would link volume, weight, and distance on a global basis. One cubic centimeter of water would weigh one milligram anywhere. The planet could unite around this common system of measurement. But it never materialized. Instead, the song's narrator was subjected to a great deal of events and concepts that were not on the list of Coming Attractions. Here he dutifully notes them, but is still awaiting the metric system-- or at least an explanation for its absence. Incidentally, I used every instrument in the house when recording this song. This version is my post-industrial mix.
Lyrics
Peace with honor, spheres of influence, hearts and minds and falling dominoes
Urban sprawl, satellite nations, global villages and pirate radio stations
Twinkie defense, amnesty, stagflation, codependency, women's liberation
Consumer confidence, October surprise, NASA's presence in space falling from the skies.
If you ask me, it's an incomplete mission,
When we're still waiting for the metric system
I don't see how we can just dismiss 'em
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms.
Supply side economics, self-empowerment, plausible deniability, zero tolerance
Cross training, mommy track, rockumentary, small movies, big money, zero accountability
Latch key kids, green mail, survivalists, golden parachutes, West Bank separatists
Keating Five, working poor, deficit spending, glasnost, perestroika, closure but no ending.
If you ask me, it's an incomplete mission,
When we're still waiting for the metric system
The whole world is on it, we can't dismiss 'em
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms.
New world order, interleague play, soccer moms, information superhighway
Health care providers, political will, enterprise zones, friends of Bill
Hate crimes, domestic violence, political correctness, conspiracy theories, domestic terrorists
Ethnic cleansing, genocide revealed, assisted suicide, human shield.
If you ask me, it's an incomplete mission,
When we're still waiting for the metric system
The whole world is on it, we can't dismiss 'em
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms.
Dimpled ballots, homeland security, hurricane amnesia, pat down anarchy
Amber alerts, embedded journalists, WMDs, shoe bomb terrorists
Al Qaeda network, ground zero, Taliban government, civilian heroes
Killer hockey dads, tobacco tax increase, predatory pricing, pedophile priests.
If you ask me, it’s an incomplete mission
When we’re still waiting for the metric system
The whole world is on it, they can’t resist 'em
Centimeters, milligrams, kilograms, and kilograms
Centimeters, milligrams, kilometers, and kilograms
Song Likes
On
Playlists
