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About This Track
“Prison Song” is the opening track to System of a Down’s 2001 album Toxicity. The song was released as an unofficial airplay-only single, and a promotional live video of the song was released.
Written by Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian, the lyrics are about the United States prison industrial complex, the world’s largest. The song expresses the belief that the government is partially responsible for the spread of the use of illegal drugs and thus somewhat responsible for the fact that more than half of the inmates in American federal prisons are there for drug-related charges. Though the song is mostly sung by lead vocalist, Tankian, a few lines preceding the chorus are sung by Malakian, who mocks, “I buy my crack, I smack my bitch, right here in Hollywood”. The “…right here in Hollywood” verse has been changed in concerts depending where it is performed, such as Vancouver, L.A., Chicago. Some lines that stand out are: “All research and successful drug policies show that treatment should be increased/ And law enforcement decreased/ while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences,” “Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world/ Drugs are now your global policy now you police the globe… drug money is used to rig elections/ And train brutal corporate sponsored dictators/ Around the world” “Minor drug offenders fill your prisons/You don’t even flinch…”
This is one of the few songs on “Toxicity” to utilize Serj’s infamous death grunt.
There was a CD with the demo version of the song released by System of a Down called Beno’s Copy.
Written by Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian, the lyrics are about the United States prison industrial complex, the world’s largest. The song expresses the belief that the government is partially responsible for the spread of the use of illegal drugs and thus somewhat responsible for the fact that more than half of the inmates in American federal prisons are there for drug-related charges. Though the song is mostly sung by lead vocalist, Tankian, a few lines preceding the chorus are sung by Malakian, who mocks, “I buy my crack, I smack my bitch, right here in Hollywood”. The “…right here in Hollywood” verse has been changed in concerts depending where it is performed, such as Vancouver, L.A., Chicago. Some lines that stand out are: “All research and successful drug policies show that treatment should be increased/ And law enforcement decreased/ while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences,” “Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world/ Drugs are now your global policy now you police the globe… drug money is used to rig elections/ And train brutal corporate sponsored dictators/ Around the world” “Minor drug offenders fill your prisons/You don’t even flinch…”
This is one of the few songs on “Toxicity” to utilize Serj’s infamous death grunt.
There was a CD with the demo version of the song released by System of a Down called Beno’s Copy.
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Albums featuring this track
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Toxicity
System of a Down
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12th Annual Kroq Almost Acoustic
System of a Down Buy- Download Album
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Toxicity
System of a Down Buy- Download Album
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Shouts
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niceverdict wrote:
THEY TRYIN TO BUILD A PRISON.....................
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IColdEmbraceI wrote:
RAWR
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vixxtaa wrote:
SOAD - First track on my "recommended radio" and it's my fave band! OH YEAH! :D
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my_name_is_what wrote:
Nothing special in this song(
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murilobob wrote:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ta-fr%C3%B3idis/125664164211231
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vafinchmtlhead wrote:
another prison system another prison system another prison sytem-aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh for you and me ----
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jasterofpuppets wrote:
mandatory minimum sentences..............................
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BIG-D313 wrote:
THEY'RE building a prison... for you and me to live in.
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WeedJ666 wrote:
hell yeah jeremy
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WeedJ666 wrote:
I Fukin Love This Band Period.
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JeremyMensch wrote:
this country's drug policies are a fucking joke and are highly unfair
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niceverdict wrote:
kapow!
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skwidthefawks wrote:
I like the demo version better.
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camune wrote:
Left propaganda
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Fuhghettaboutit wrote:
fuck yeah!
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Roseholy wrote:
YEAH
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SargentAwsome wrote:
this cocain makes me feel like i'm on song
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ADAMLEEGUZMAN wrote:
hell this song rock little crazy but awsome...
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FooVines wrote:
theyre bad
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Huggkruka wrote:
What could possibly go wrong with outsourcing the prison management...
Track Stats
2,670,025 Scrobbles
501,679 Listeners
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Recent Activity
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xxxx9Mxxxx added Prison Song to their Loved Tracks. 45 minutes ago
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Alex12Reyes added Prison Song to Alex12Reyes’s library. 2 hours ago
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Brovahkiin, kaiserver, ahamay007 and 21 other people loved System of a Down – Prison Song. 5 hours ago
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Liarcshel added Prison Song to Liarcshel’s library. Saturday evening
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fauconnoir, stretch1793, Khajiit_Sawyer and 3 other people loved System of a Down – Prison Song. Saturday evening
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andersnilsson88 added Prison Song to andersnilsson88’s library. Saturday afternoon
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E1nor and beckie loved System of a Down – Prison Song. Saturday morning
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pagan70, betsy1980 and greengod69 added System of a Down – Prison Song to their libraries. Saturday morning
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Jean_Jimbo tagged Prison Song with ‘nu metal’. Friday evening
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Jean_Jimbo, kwr1983, hemiboy9 and 20 other people loved System of a Down – Prison Song. Friday evening
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