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 cla** 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 d**h, 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