When I was little I was scared of earthquakes
Out in california that's where the earth shakes
Techtronic motion, it was terrifying
I'd think of windows breaking and I'd think of people dying
The bay bridge collapsed in 1989
Richter scale 6.8, buildings shook a real long time
I was in the other room when I heard my mother scream
Thought adults were invincible it wasn't what it seemed
15 seconds later there were dozens left dead
I'd get scared at night and climb into my parents' bed
I still get chills when I see photographs
Of the freeways that were cracked and the buildings that collapsed
So I'd act out in class shaking other people's desks
Yelling "earthquake!", to cope with the stress
Using comedy, like I still do today
20 years later nightmares haven't gone away

Impermanence, what you gonna do about it?
Impermanence, run for your life? I doubt it
Impermanence, I think about it every single day
Everything falls apart, nothing you can do or say

There was an oakland hills fire in 1991
People burned to death, I was very young
They evacuated us to my grandparents' house
We grabbed the cat and dog in the volvo we were out
Turned the news on, it was terrifying
I was freaked out and my mom was crying
And my sister too, but grandma turned it off
She said, "is this something that we really need to watch?"
One thing I remember so clearly to this day
Is an image in my head that won't seem to go away
A car was crushed, a doll was melting on the seat
The burnt black eyes were all that I could see
Some nights I can't sleep, I still see her face
Her eyes they still haunt me, I'm stuck in that place
I try to make it go away, all I think of is the flames
That week was so traumatic, I've never been the same

I was leaving for college, my dad woke me up
He said, "we've been attacked," and sure enough
Terrorists had hit the world trade center
The pentagon too, I clearly remember
Sitting with my mom, now she was quiet
It was raining bodies, dripping down the sidewalk
Ten years later our economy's in crisis
Bin laden and his boys, they were not the nicest
The earth is so alive so expect defenestration
Constantly evolving decimating antiquation
Collapsing new buildings, einsturzende neubauten
The cities will all crumble when man has been forgotten
The buddhists believed that change is eternal
Heraclitus thought that the world is an inferno
One day we're here and the next we're gone,
Impermanence, that's the point of this song