Crab Rangoons

There are a *lot* of references to the video game series and tv show Fallout in this song! The opening line - "Truth is, the game was rigged from the start" is said by Benny (voiced by Matthew Perry) in Fallout: New Vegas. This sets the tone for the rest of the song and the series itself: capitalism is the snake that is eating its own tail, and the people with the most power and money are going to do everything they can to control it all, no matter the cost. The second line, "We put our dollars in their pockets, and their people in charge" is a reference to a line from Mr. House in Season 2 of the Fallout TV show. A blue collar worker argues that they "didn't vote for this maggot," to which Mr. House responds, "Every dollar spent is a vote cast. And that fellow right there, he has more votes than every one of those pan-headed politicians in Washington." Verse two references three specific canonical vaults: Vaults 77, 108, and 24 respectively. Vault 77 involved one man, left alone in a fallout shelter, with tons of supplies and a crate full of puppets. Vault 108 involved a lack of leadership and a cloning device, which led to a bizarre overthrow of the vault by 54 clones named "Gary." Vault 24 is seen in the Fallout television series, where mind-control chips were tested to extremely bloody ends. When life gives you sass, gotta make some sarsaparilla! Sunset Sarsaparilla was a pre-war beverage in the game. Jones Cola made it a reality this past year. It's pretty good! The end of verse 2 features one of Mr. House's most famous lines from Fallout: New Vegas - "We don't have to dream that we're important. We are." Finally, we end on a bit of a goof with Juvenile's "Slow Motion." V.A.T.S. is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, which flips into slow motion! "Caps" refers to bottlecaps, which are the primary currency in the Fallout world.

This challenge was a really fun one! I am really into sampling the works of others in the tracks that I make. Feelings by Cheyenne had some of my favorite bits, so I decided to use it as the main influence for the song. I had to choose Beans and Chocolate, as well as Hot Chocolate because we are the Crab Rangoons and I enjoyed the food references in the title. Samples used: Feelings/Cheyenne - Dollar Bin - Used throughout the entire song Beans and Chocolate/Louis Jordan - Free Bin - Verse 1 Bass Line (0:40) Hot Chocolate/Shonen Knife - International - Verse 2 Bass Line (1:52) Bleep Bloop/Klopfenpop - Tools and Instructional - Used a couple of different samples throughout the song (Coin sound on the chorus, etc.) 89 BPM/Dave Biegel - Tools and Instructional - Used a drum fill from this track for the intro bit (0:19)

Line up and suffer! We can make the filth believe
Consumer culture, creature comforts, troubles eased

Take a trip
Take a ride
Underground paradise

You can have what you like
Sell your soul - live your life

Truth is - the game was rigged from the start
We put our dollars in their pockets and their people in charge
They said the bombs would get to dropping, and the planet would char
And anything upon the surface it would begone for eons

Their peons sold you on the premise of American Dreams
You picked a vault number and they gave you the keys
To an underground paradise, a luxury accommodation
Where you and yours could wait out nuclear annihilation

Patiently you waited for your chance in the dirt
Safe and secure, your money got your future insured
Was it privilege or planning when disaster occurred
That got you into the earth? What's your bloodline worth?

And so you went to live it up, down below, surface abdicated
And then you found the true mission it was masqueraded
It isn't what you planned, and not what it seemed
But this is progress, baby, now you're living the dream

Line up and suffer! We can make the filth believe
Consumer culture, creature comforts, troubles eased

Take a trip
Take a ride
Underground paradise

You can have what you like
Sell your soul - live your life

You know I heard about

a fella in the double 7, all to himself
Just a guy doin' puppet stuff with nobody else
even solitary humans feel the need to converse
You know that Hell is other people - isolation is worse

And did you hear about the one down in hundred and eight?
They put a dead man in charge, and then knowing his fate
they cloned a single guy named gary over fifty-three times
now the vault is full of Garies - nobody else survived

and oh, poor 24, the comrades were doomed
everybody got a SPECIAL chip that made ya brain go boom
it's for the best they didn't live to grow old
cuz life has little purpose when you're being controlled

But take a lesson from your favorite Zilla
When life gives you sass
You gotta make some sarsaparilla
So your great-great-kids may someday walk under the stars
Never dreaming they're important
They'll know that they are

Line up and suffer! We can make the filth believe
Consumer culture, creature comforts, troubles eased

Take a trip
Take a ride
Underground paradise

You can have what you like
Sell your soul - live your life

And while you wait below
The rads will dissipate
But there's one simple truth
YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO BE SAVED

Yeah I like it like that
We workin' that V.A.T.S.
We're stackin them caps
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me

Yeah I like it like that
We workin' that V.A.T.S.
We're stackin them caps
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me
Slow motion for me