Degenerates?

When I was 16 years old
My friend's dad told me
That only degenerates go to nightclubs

I thought
So what?
What’s a degenerate?

That was the same year I recorded a record in my parent's apartment
Called Campaigning in Empty Apartments From Room to Room
It was the first record I'd recorded in 6 years
And my first time recording vocals on Lithium

So what?
What’s a degenerate?

6 years later
My friend who played sitar on the last song on that record told me
That he lost the keys to his apartment because he's a degenerate

That was around the same time I realized the world is made of plastic

You know
Here comes the new plastic
Same as the old plastic
The classic plastic

Classic half-wit tone-deaf horseshit yelling
Rock and roll is dead
All the great songs have already been written
All the great drugs have already been taken
All the great cars have already been driven
And all the great love was a lie
And other unintelligible drivel

Plastic is a life that you can buy

So what?
What's a degenerate?

The day I meet the reaper
My body will find a new enclosure
A brand new heart to beat around
But my old corpse
With its vampiric ideas
And tidbits of useless information
Will degenerate into dust

Like every crook on Wall Street
Every song ever written
Every poser in Brooklyn
Every fucking angel
Every friend of mine driven aimlessly around by a great dead cat in the sky

Death is a life that you cannot buy
And that
That is a degenerate