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Alien - a song about the stereotypes of autism

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TaciturnPhantom
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18 Apr 2014, 2:20 pm

I wrote this song to focus on the stereotypes of autism from my own experiences (I have often been called emotionless and expressionless. I also tend to not notice the facial expressions that I pull and how I walk; a few people have also told me that I will not be able to cope once I leave home). I do not mean to cause offence.

VERSE:
Dragging your feet against the ground
With your fingers twisted into claws
And a snarl across your lips.
You don't stand a chance in this world,
Oh no, you don't stand a chance.
Not with your malfunctioning mind
And your broken speech, your broken words.
Oh no, you don't stand a chance in this world.

BRIDGE:
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)

CHORUS:
Hey, hey, alien!
What's inside your head?
Hey, hey, alien!
What's in there?
Where do you come from?
Where do you stand?
Hey, alien!

VERSE:
Your obsessions so deep and immersing,
And love of routines, damn near impossible to smash
Even in a world of chaos and disorder!
You stand on the edges of the crowds,
Watching us, observing us
Like the solitary outsider you are and nothing more.

BRIDGE:
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)

CHORUS:
Hey, hey, alien!
What's inside your head?
Hey, hey, alien!
What's in there?
Where do you come from?
Where do you stand?
Hey, alien!

VERSE:
You don't stand a chance in this world
Not with your screams and tantrums
And lack of empathy, your misunderstanding.
Oh no, you don't stand a chance in this world
With your fragile shell and brittle skeleton.
Oh no, not in this world you don't...

BRIDGE:
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)
Expressionless and emotionless...
(Expressionless and emotionless...)

CHORUS:
Hey, hey, alien!
What's inside your head?
Hey, hey, alien!
What's in there?
Where do you come from?
Where do you stand?
Hey, alien!


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I apologise for any spelling or grammatical mistakes that I may make. I have severe hearing loss in both ears.


Ganondox
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19 Apr 2014, 3:18 am

Now it needs to be sung and musiked.


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Cinnamon and sugary
Softly Spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

Autism FAQs http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt186115.html


mr_bigmouth_502
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19 Apr 2014, 4:55 am

For some reason I'm trying to imagine it as a thrash metal song with snarled vocals, probably because I have this stuck in my head:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYZk2Y1b-A[/youtube]
It kind of makes sense, because as a 20 year old aspie, I feel kind of like a soldier who's seen s**t, lived through terrible experiences, and feels sort of shell-shocked as a result. Not that my problems are anything compared to the problems of actual war vets, but I think you know what I mean.



Kiriae
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19 Apr 2014, 7:33 am

Whats up with this song?
It's a song a middle school bully could sing against an autistic child to show how much he hates him. Are you serious? What is your point writing something like that? Do you want to make someone commit suicide? Only the chorus sounds nice. Rest is just depressing. Especially the "You don't stand a chance in this world" repeated all the time. You should replace it with something positive like: "No matter what obstacles I will keep on living. Be strong. Survive!"



TaciturnPhantom
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19 Apr 2014, 8:32 am

Kiriae wrote:
Whats up with this song?
It's a song a middle school bully could sing against an autistic child to show how much he hates him. Are you serious? What is your point writing something like that? Do you want to make someone commit suicide? Only the chorus sounds nice. Rest is just depressing. Especially the "You don't stand a chance in this world" repeated all the time. You should replace it with something positive like: "No matter what obstacles I will keep on living. Be strong. Survive!"


It was supposed to highlight the painful experiences that I've had to endure throughout school. Having my confidence destroyed with people telling me that I won't be able to cope later on in life.

Dammit. It's a load of s***e. This is one song I'll throw away for sure.



TaciturnPhantom
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19 Apr 2014, 1:53 pm

Don't worry. I feel like I deserve negative comments,



mr_bigmouth_502
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19 Apr 2014, 9:04 pm

Thinking about it now, the lyrics sound like something Jonathan Davis of KoRn would've written if he were autistic. AFAIK he isn't, though he was definitely bullied when he was in school. A lot of kids thought he was gay because he was a fan of the '80s New Romantic movement, and as a result he was subject to a good amount of homophobic abuse, despite the fact that he isn't actually gay. This is a song he wrote about it (warning some NSFW language):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D891v5YiJU[/youtube]

The part of this song that reminds me the most of the song you wrote is the chorus, where the perspective switches to the bullies shouting "fa***t!" at Johnathan.



Ganondox
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20 Apr 2014, 1:00 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
For some reason I'm trying to imagine it as a thrash metal song with snarled vocals, probably because I have this stuck in my head:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYZk2Y1b-A[/youtube]
It kind of makes sense, because as a 20 year old aspie, I feel kind of like a soldier who's seen sh**, lived through terrible experiences, and feels sort of shell-shocked as a result. Not that my problems are anything compared to the problems of actual war vets, but I think you know what I mean.


I agree, the lyrics are very much thrash styled with their aggressive undertones and lack of rhyme and conventional meter, and the "heys" fit for a shout, though the bridge seems more nu metally, like brought up with Korn.


_________________
Cinnamon and sugary
Softly Spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes

Autism FAQs http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt186115.html


mr_bigmouth_502
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20 Apr 2014, 10:57 pm

Ganondox wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
For some reason I'm trying to imagine it as a thrash metal song with snarled vocals, probably because I have this stuck in my head:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYZk2Y1b-A[/youtube]
It kind of makes sense, because as a 20 year old aspie, I feel kind of like a soldier who's seen sh**, lived through terrible experiences, and feels sort of shell-shocked as a result. Not that my problems are anything compared to the problems of actual war vets, but I think you know what I mean.


I agree, the lyrics are very much thrash styled with their aggressive undertones and lack of rhyme and conventional meter, and the "heys" fit for a shout, though the bridge seems more nu metally, like brought up with Korn.


When I was singing it out in my head, the bridges kind of threw me off, as the rest of the song definitely has that thrash feel to it. If you took the same subject matter and kept a similar bridge, but reworked the rest of the structure and lyrics, it would probably work quite well as a nu-metal song. Like I mentioned earlier, the lyrics themselves sort of strike me as something Johnathan Davis would've written if he were an aspie.



angelcake
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02 May 2014, 5:07 pm

hi phantom ,
you do NOT deserv negativ comments,that is rubbish.your song is so strong an pasionate an angry.i think u were realy brave to post it . i love it ,an it has made me feel inspired to know that somone else has had such awful things said to them an survived an turned ther anger into art. cos you are an artist for sure .
keep writing , keep fighting ! !! X


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mr_bigmouth_502
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04 May 2014, 1:52 am

angelcake wrote:
hi phantom ,
you do NOT deserv negativ comments,that is rubbish.your song is so strong an pasionate an angry.i think u were realy brave to post it . i love it ,an it has made me feel inspired to know that somone else has had such awful things said to them an survived an turned ther anger into art. cos you are an artist for sure .
keep writing , keep fighting ! !! X


I agree. It takes guts to write songs like this, songs which deal with your personal demons in such a passionate manner. Most songwriters don't have the guts to do this, so they write about frivolous fluff like sex, drugs, and partying.