Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991… Read Full Bio ↴Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, former members of the band Operation Ivy, Rancid is often credited as being among the wave of bands that revived mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States during the mid-1990s. Over their 32-year career, Rancid retained much of its original fan-base, most of which was connected to its underground musical roots.

Rancid has had two lineup changes since its inception, with Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman being continuous members. Their current lineup consists of Armstrong on guitar and vocals, Freeman on bass and vocals, Lars Frederiksen on guitar and vocals, and Branden Steineckert on drums. The band was formed by Armstrong, Freeman, and former drummer Brett Reed, who left the band in 2006 and was replaced by Steineckert. This lineup recorded their first album, with Frederiksen joining the band on their subsequent tour.

To date, Rancid has released ten studio albums, one split album, one compilation, two extended plays, and a series of live online-only albums, and has been featured on a number of compilation albums. The band has sold over four million records worldwide, making it one of the most successful punk rock groups of all time. The band rose to fame in 1994 with its second studio album, Let's Go, featuring the single "Salvation". In the following year, Rancid released its highly successful album ...And Out Come the Wolves, which produced its best-known songs "Roots Radicals", "Ruby Soho", and "Time Bomb", and was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the United States alone. Its next six albums – Life Won't Wait (1998), Rancid (2000), Indestructible (2003), Let the Dominoes Fall (2009), ...Honor Is All We Know (2014) and Trouble Maker (2017) – were also critically acclaimed, though not as commercially successful as ...And Out Come the Wolves. The band released their tenth album, Tomorrow Never Comes, in June 2023.

Studio albums
Rancid (1993)
Let's Go (1994)
...And Out Come the Wolves (1995)
Life Won't Wait (1998)
Rancid (also known as "Rancid 2000" or "Rancid 5") (2000)
Indestructible (2003)
Let the Dominoes Fall (2009)
...Honor Is All We Know (2014)
Trouble Maker (2017)
Tomorrow Never Comes (2023)

Warsaw
Rancid Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(That is the vision of the anarchist...it is also a boy's dream)

True to Warsaw, glad we did it
Beat him down with a baseball bat
Police retreated the riot scenes in fear of a baseball bat
Working class intellectuals, disillusion you for sure
Broken dreams in Warsaw, where all the dreams fall down

American baseball bat!
Demolish the discotheque!
And how many blows to his forearm and neck
'Til he lay in the schoolyard, bludgeoned to death!

December 13, '81, who remembers a loaded gun?
Who remembers the first morning of martial law?
Hey, you should bring that Louisville
Yeah man, I'll know where
Yeah man economic (??? army), hardship in Warsaw

American baseball bat!
Demolish the discotheque!
And how many blows to his forearm and neck
'Til he lay in the schoolyard, bludgeoned to death!

Hey! All alone, bludgeoned to death!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Rancid's song Warsaw paint a vivid picture of anarchy in Poland's capital city, Warsaw. The first stanza of the song describes a thrilling scene of violence, where the beating down of a person with a baseball bat is celebrated as a victory. The singer tells us that the police retreated from the scene out of fear, which further highlights their chaotic nature.

The second verse of the song shifts to a more somber tone, with the singer reflecting on the broken dreams of the working class intellectuals in the city. He laments their disillusionment and suggests that Warsaw is a place where all dreams fall down. The final part of the song provides details of a brutal murder in a schoolyard, where a person was bludgeoned to death. The words "All alone, bludgeoned to death!" are repeated at the end of the song, leaving a haunting effect.

Line by Line Meaning

True to Warsaw, glad we did it
We are proud of what we did in Warsaw and stand by it

Beat him down with a baseball bat
We used violence to achieve our goals, specifically a baseball bat

Police retreated the riot scenes in fear of a baseball bat
The police were afraid of our violent tactics and chose to retreat

Working class intellectuals, disillusion you for sure
Intelligent working-class individuals will make you question preconceived notions

Broken dreams in Warsaw, where all the dreams fall down
Warsaw is a place where dreams are shattered and never come to fruition

American baseball bat!
Our preferred tool for violent actions is an American baseball bat

Demolish the discotheque!
Destroy the places that represent the establishment and status quo, like a discotheque

And how many blows to his forearm and neck
We inflicted a significant amount of physical harm on our target

'Til he lay in the schoolyard, bludgeoned to death!
Our violent actions resulted in someone's death in a schoolyard

December 13, '81, who remembers a loaded gun?
This specific date in history is important, but it's unclear if anyone remembers a specific event like a loaded gun

Who remembers the first morning of martial law?
This specific moment in history is significant, but it's unclear if anyone remembers it

Hey, you should bring that Louisville
We need to use a Louisville Slugger baseball bat for our violent action

Yeah man, I'll know where
We know exactly where to use the baseball bat

Yeah man economic (??? army), hardship in Warsaw
There are economic struggles and an unknown factor (possibly the army) causing hardship in Warsaw

All alone, bludgeoned to death!
Our violent actions resulted in someone dying alone

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: TIMOTHY ARMSTRONG

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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