Songtext Defend atlantis The Flobots

Defend atlantis

That was as far as the tide came in
I remember the starfish and the wails of the sirens then
We replaced the tridents, embraced Poseidon
And discovered ourselves living on an island

We flow like water across the lost city
Chalk prophecies and washed off graffiti
In continents
Trade-off for payoff
And high concepts, then lost to K-Os
Many tales radiate from one nexus
Defending a dream of a new directive
A call from the deep sums up a notion
The day when the people bum-rushed the ocean

[Chorus]
From the beaches, they ran to meet the day after
Underneath the waves
Won't repeat the same chapter
Knew what they had to do

That which creates life has power to take it right back
Fucking with the icecaps
We've gotta push the tide back
We can survive collapse if we don't get sidetracked
If we visualize living underwater
Hidden by prisms
Countries fall but people transition if one for all we live in that vision
Hundred dollar bill origami
Balloon inflation, new world economy
We float on tsunami to global warming
We need structures to control what's coming
Corporate monopolies--obsolete
The philosophy leaves us lost at sea
But from Marwar to Cochabamba
We are the warriors that won't get conquered
'Cause rising tides drown all villages
Divided fighters succumb to pillage
Rescuers--whatever your latitude--
It's time to pioneer a new world attitude
Put local cycles first we're Global Islanders with nothing left to plunder

[Chorus]

For centuries human beings have pursued the meaning of Atlantis
Central to their teaching is that it's existence answers man's essential questions--
Much like the feeding of the 5,000
Even if the facts aren't accurate, the story's magic is alive

Of utmost importance to convert the impertinent
Atlantis holds the answer to man's ills at their most pertinent
Aspersions easily dispersed when I certainly answer
The most diverse aversions when I firstly channel...

Is this all that you hold
For a warriors role?
The ground shakes
You claim my country--not my soul
I fought I toiled, for the lost in the waves
And I will not tire--I die no slave
If the seas my grave
I sleep with my city
My people, my oath
My shame, my city is that
I cannot save my city
From waves that claim you
And curse the gods who can't explain
Who to blame
At the end of the reign
Heed me
The season passes Atlas
His keeps in the sediment
Failing monumentally
And leaving no monuments to see
Only sea to shining sea

And survival hinged on the ascent by the humble
And the sirens wailed as the empire crumbled?

With nothing left to plunder
Corporations drowned
Waves clapped like thunder and stormed the gates with sound
Forming a new nation now--

As the icecaps melted water levels rose
We raised our hands together and made the levees hold
Heals in the sand, we revealed the depths below

The population of starfish exploded from the ocean
Survival we unified to focus on
And the voices were many but we spoke as one

As the tale was retold, we multiplied
And swelled across the fault lines to halt the tide
We let the altars die to keep our pulse alive

And from the barren wastelands of naked trash
We stitched together a shelter from fallen nation's flags
And chose to build a future from an ancient past

The crowns of thorns was worn
we put the tritons down
We found new forms of anchors deep inside the ground

The world is an island now.