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"Holiday in Cambodia" was the second single by the Dead Kennedys. The record
was released in May 1980 on Alternative Tentacles with "Police Truck" as the b-side. The title track was
re-recorded for the band's first album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting
Vegetables (1980).
"Holiday in Cambodia" was the only Dead Kennedys' song to have a music video.
The video intersperses footage of the band playing the song with real-life
scenes from the Vietnam war, complete with moshpit-like footage of rioters at the U.S embassy.
The song appears to be an attack upon both Eastern totalitarianism and Western complacency. The
song's lyrics offer a satirical view of the young, self-righteous American upper
class (So you been to school/For a year or two/And you know you’ve seen it
all/In daddy’s car/Thinkin’ you’ll go far...) and contrast such a lifestyle with
a brutal depiction of the horrible Pol
Pot regime of Cambodia (Well
you’ll work harder/With a gun in your back/For a bowl of rice a day/Slave for
soldiers/Till you starve/Then your head is skewered on a stake).
Holiday In Cambodia Single Cover
LYRICS:
So you been to school
For a year or two
And you know youve seen it all
In daddys car
Thinkin youll go far
Back east your type dont crawl
Play ethnicky jazz
To parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin that you know
How the niggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul
Its time to taste what you most fear
Right guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear
Its a holiday in cambodia
Its tough, kid, but its life
Its a holiday in cambodia
Dont forget to pack a wife
Youre a star-belly sneech
You suck like a leach
You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch
So you can get rich
But your boss gets richer off you
Well youll work harder
With a gun in your back
For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers
Till you starve
Then your head is skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one
Now you can go where they get things done
What you need, my son.
Is a holiday in cambodia
Where people dress in black
A holiday in cambodia
Where youll kiss ass or crack
Pol pot, pol pot, pol pot, pol pot, etc.
And its a holiday in cambodia
Where youll do what youre told
A holiday in cambodia
Where the slums got so much soul
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