Twenty Thirty-Four

 

`Twenty Thirty-Four' protest folk song lyrics

A dystopian protest folk song from early 21st-century about how U.S. and Western European society might look in the "Era of Permanent War" in the year 2034.

(refrain)
It was 2034
In the Era of Permanent War
He lived in a room alone
Where a camera taped his every move
His emails were monitored
Along with smartphone conversations
All worked until 75
But few at that age were alive.

(verses)
All the money he earned went for rent
All the food they gave him was just junk
One firm controlled all markets
And no unions limited profits
Six days a week all did work
Without benefits for the sick
Ten hours a day were required
And those caught talking were soon fired.

If you were sacked from your job
You were forced to move from the men's dorms
And locked in a prison all day
And beaten at night viciously
Then marched into the poison showers
To save the cost of caring for elders
No homeless men roamed the streets
'Cause cops shot them down secretly. (refrain)

Every month on the TV screen
Showed a new foreign war battle scene
Every year a building collapsed
And thousands would die at the office
Foreign agents would be blamed
And in revenge the space weapons would rain
On cities outside the USA
And the earth was destroyed day-by-day.

Young women now faced the draft
And were forced to be in combat
Eight years of war service
Were required if you failed to enlist
Soldiers occupied campus bases
And gyms replaced library spaces
Music still had a Rock beat
And selfish people ripped-off the weak. (refrain)

In 2034 they proclaimed:
"We live in a new Golden Age
Our robots now keep us all free
And reveal what your brains are thinking
Only the jealous complain
Because they're losers and untrained
The able can all become rich
In a society that we've made perfect." (refrain)