Total Football
Parquet Courts Lyrics

We are conductors of sound, heat and energy
We create and control music, passion, and power in everything we do

And I bet that you thought you had us figured out from the start
You made assumptions about us based on superficial first impressions

We are conduits of clear electricity
We transmit electric energy with precision and clarity

Now you're back on the pitch to take the apparatus apart
Now you face us again, trying to break down what we've built

You're an ancient now
You're outdated and irrelevant

On your own
Isolated and unsupported

Rebels
Those who resist the status quo

Teachers
Those who educate and inform

Strikers
Those who hit hard and fast

Sweepers
Those who clean up and cover for others' mistakes

Better
Superior in skill and ability

Protected
Defended and sheltered from harm

Whenever
At any time or place

Collected
Calm and composed in the face of adversity

We are troubled by your soft curiosity
We are bothered by your insincere interest and superficial inquiry

But delighted to be anti everything you were taught
We take pleasure in rejecting and challenging the conventional wisdom that you accept unquestioningly

Are you put off by our footloose fluidity
Do you find our unpredictable and free-flowing style unsettling

Have your hurt caucasian feelings left you so distraught?
Are you upset and offended because your privileged white status has been threatened

Are you quite done now?
Are you finished with your petty attempts to undermine us

Not at all
We are still going strong

Workers
Those who labor and toil for a living

Authors
Those who write and create new works

Poets
Those who express beauty and emotion through words

Stoppers
Those who prevent progress and change

Power
Influence and control over others

Resembled
They resembled each other in significant ways

If we are
Assuming that we are

Assembled
Brought together for a common purpose

Only through those
The only way to achieve our goal is through those

Who stay awake
Who remain alert and aware

Can an institution
Only then can a system or organization

Be dismantled
Be taken apart and abolished

It is dishonest
It is deceptive and false

Nay a sin
In fact, it is a sin

To stand for any anthem
To pledge allegiance to any national symbol

That attempts to drown
Which tries to silence and suppress

Out the roar of oppression
The powerful cry for freedom and justice from the oppressed

Hesse total football
The football played by Hermann Hesse, characterized by individualism and self-expression

Twombly total football
The football played by Cy Twombly, characterized by artistic creativity and experimentation

Tzara total football
The football played by Tristan Tzara, characterized by absurdity and humor

Mina total football
The football played by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, characterized by precision and simplicity

Panthers total football
The football played by Black Panther Party members, characterized by revolutionary fervor and social consciousness

Kobra total football
The football played by Käthe Kollwitz, characterized by emotional intensity and political commitment

Dada total football
The football played by Dadaists, characterized by irrationality and anti-art

Beatles total football
The football played by The Beatles, characterized by innovation and experimentation

Swapping parts and roles
Exchanging positions and functions

Is not acting, but
It is not merely performing, but

Rather
Instead

Emancipation
The liberation from oppression and control

From expectation
From the pressure to conform to preconceived ideas

Collectivism and autonomy
Working together and independent self-governance

Are not mutually exclusive
They can coexist and enhance each other

Those who find discomfort
Those who are uneasy and anxious

In your goals of liberation
In your aspirations for freedom

Will be issued
Will receive

No apology
No expression of regret

And fuck Tom Brady
And we express our disdain for the quarterback Tom Brady