Parent-Directed Angst: The Showdown

ALL DAY LONG I FELT LIKE
SMASHING MY FACE IN A CLEAR GLASS WINDOW.
BUT INSTEAD, I WENT OUT
AND SMASHED UP A PHONE BOOTH ROUND THE CORNER.

I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO CHOOSE MY OWN PARENTS,
I'D NEVER KNOW WHY I SHOULD BE STUCK WITH MINE.
MOMMY'S ALWAYS TRYING NOT TO EAT
AND DADDY'S ALWAYS SMELLING LIKE HE'S PICKLED IN BOOZE.

I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO CHOOSE MY OWN NAME,
I'D NEVER KNOW WHY I SHOULD BE STUCK WITH MINE.
MOMMY'S ALWAYS TALKIN' 'BOUT FAMILY PRIDE
AND DADDY'S ALWAYS HIDING 'BOUT HIS WEEK-END RIDES.

ALL DAY LONG I FELT LIKE
SMASHING MY FACE IN A CLEAR GLASS WINDOW.
BUT INSTEAD, I WENT OUT
AND SMASHED UP A STATION WAGON ROUND THE BLOCK.

I LOOKED AT THE MIRROR AND TOLD MYSELF,
I'M GLAD I STILL DON'T LOOK LIKE THEM AT LEAST.
MOMMY'S LIKE A FILM STAR IN A DISTORTED MIRROR,
AND DADDY'S LIKE A GUY WHO LOST HIS STOMACH IN THE WAR.

I WENT TO SHAKE HANDS WITH THE PRESIDENT IN MIAMI,
I WENT TO A ROCK SHOW TO SEE MICK JAGGER.
AND YOU'D NEVER BELIEVE IT, SURPRISE OF MY LIFE,
THEY HAD PAINT ON THEIR FACES JUST LIKE MY MOMMY.

AM I GOING CRAZY OR IS IT JUST YOU, DADDY?
AM I GOING NUTS OR IS IT JUST YOU, MOMMY?
AM I PLAIN GONE OR IS IT JUST THE WORLD?
DADDY, I'D RATHER HAVE YOU DEAD THAN CRAZY.

ALL DAY LONG (all day long) I FELT LIKE (I felt like)
SMASHING MY FACE IN A CLEAR GLASS WINDOW.
BUT INSTEAD, (but instead) I WENT OUT (I went out)
AND SMASHED UP A PHONE BOOTH ROUND THE CORNER.

DADDY! MOMMY!
DADDY! MOMMY!
DADDY! MOMMY!
DADDY! MOMMY!
--Yoko Ono, "I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window"

I was sayin let me out of here before I was
even born--it's such a gamble when you get a face
It's fascinatin to observe what the mirror does
but when I dine it's for the wall that I set a place

I belong to the blank generation and
I can take it or leave it each time
I belong to the ______ generation but
I can take it or leave it each time

Triangles were fallin at the window as the doctor cursed
He was a cartoon long forsaken by the public eye
The nurse adjusted her garters as I breathed my first
The doctor grabbed my throat and yelled, "God's consolation prize!"

I belong to the blank generation and
I can take it or leave it each time
I belong to the ______ generation but
I can take it or leave it each time

To hold the t.v. to my lips, the air so packed with cash
then carry it up flights of stairs and drop it in the vacant lot
To lose my train of thought and fall into your arms' tracks
and watch beneath the eyelids every passing dot

I belong to the blank generation and
I can take it or leave it each time
I belong to the ______ generation but
I can take it or leave it each time

I belong to the blank generation and
I can take it or leave it each time
I belong to the ______ generation but
I can take it or leave it each time
--Richard Hell and the Voidoids, "Blank Generation"