Plot
Tank Girl (Rebecca) and her friends are the only remaining citizens living in the wasteland that is Earth, where all the remaining water is controlled by Water and Power, the mega corporation/government that runs the territory. While incarcerated at W + P, Tank Girl and her new friend Jet Girl break out and steal... a tank and a jet. After meeting some mutant kangaroo/humans, and rescuing her little girl (adopted by her friends), the kangaroos and the girls kick Water and Powers' butt.
Keywords: 2030s, 21st-century, based-on-comic, based-on-comic-book, battle, battlefield, bechdel-test-passed, character-name-in-title, combat, desert
In 2033, justice rides a tank and wears lip gloss
Tank Girl: [has the Madam captive] Now - everybody throw down your guns or I scrape off all her make up! [considers the Madam's face] This might take a really long time.
Tank Girl: Lock up your sons!
Donner: Wanna dance?::Jet Girl: I don't know how.::Donner: It's okay, I brought condoms!
Tank Girl: Look, it's been swell, but the swelling's gone down.
[first lines]::Tank Girl: Listen up, cause I'm only telling you this once. I'm not bedtime story lady, so pay attention. It's 2033. The world is *screwed* now. You see, a while ago this humongous comet came crashing into the earth. Bam, total devastation. End of the world as we know it. No celebrities, no cable TV, no water. It hasn't rained in 11 years. Now 20 people gotta squeeze inside the same bathtub - so it ain't all bad.
Booga: I was a dog, but because I was really good, they moved me up to human being status. [Looks down his mutant body] Ehh... sort of.
Kesslee: Eight, eight, the burning hate. Between Sunday and Monday there lies a day so dark it will devastate.::Tank Girl: Look, if you want to torture me, spank me, lick me, do it. But if this poetry shit continues, shoot me now, please.
Tank Girl: You gotta think about it like the first time you got laid. You just gotta say: "Daddy, are you sure this is right?"::Jet Girl: [shy laugh, covering her mouth] You're sick.::Tank Girl: How come you always do that? How come you always cover your mouth when you smile? You got bad teeth or somethin'?
Tank Girl: [shakes fists around] Oh I'm so pretty! [continues shaking fists and begins to dance from foot to foot] Oh, I'm gonna hit you so hard, your children will be born bruised!
Tank Girl: I'm too young for this shit!
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many "small towns" in the United States would be regarded as villages in the United Kingdom, while many British "small towns" would qualify as cities in the United States.
The word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the original meaning of the word: a fence of any material.
In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In English, it was a small city that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead (many early English settlements in North America used stockades.) In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of palace 't Loo in Apeldoorn, which was the example for the privy garden of William and Mary at Hampton Court). In Old Norse tun means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian.
A jester, joker, jokester, fool, wit-cracker, or prankster was a person employed to tell jokes and provide general entertainment, typically for a European monarch. Jesters are thought to have typically worn brightly coloured clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern. Their hats were especially distinctive; often made of cloth, they were floppy with three points, each of which had a jingle bell at the end. The three points of the hat represent donkey's ears and nose and tail worn by jesters in earlier times. Other things distinctive about the jester were his laughter and his mock sceptre, known as a "bauble" or marotte.
The Royal Shakespeare Company provides historical context for the role of the fool:
In ancient times courts employed fools and by the Middle Ages the jester was a familiar figure. In Renaissance times, aristocratic households in Britain employed licensed fools or jesters, who sometimes dressed as other servants were dressed, but generally wore a motley (i.e. parti-coloured) coat, hood with ass's (i.e. donkey) ears or a red-flannel coxcomb and bells. Regarded as pets or mascots, they served not simply to amuse but to criticise their master or mistress and their guests. Queen Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) is said to have rebuked one of her fools for being insufficiently severe with her. Excessive behaviour, however, could lead to a fool being whipped, as Lear threatens to whip his fool.
Nowhere an hour is the speed that I fly
Greeted by vapors when I do arrive
Don't mind my story
It'll only drag you down
In a one trick town
One sick clown
Instincts on a high wire
The rain flying around
In a one trick town
The sun is a spark from the axe that I grind
The bright night of wishes, a wish to unwind
The river in winter has froze to the ground
To the one trick town
One sick clown
Instincts on a high wire
The rain flying around
In a one trick town
Nowhere an hour is the speed that I fly
Greeted by vapors when I do arrive
Don't mind the memories
They will only drag you down
In a one trick town
One sick clown
Instincts on a high wire
The rain flying around
In a one trick town
One trick town
Don't mind the memories
They will only drag you down
In a one trick town
Don't mind the memories
They will only drag you down
[Chorus:]
Oh She Felt So Lonely
When I Par' With My Homies
In The Town Town Town
[Verse:]
She Was There When I Was Down
When I Was Blue She Was Around
I Was So Lost Could Not Be Found
Was Just Wondering Around
Stranded In The Town
[Chorus]
[Verse:]
Why Do The Good Girls Love The Bad Boy Them?
And Think They Can Change Them Into Good Guys When
They Feel That Love In Them
She Says The Streets Are Full Of Pestilence
And Temptation, – I Went
Cause I Can't Stay On Her Ends
[Chorus]
[Verse:]
You Ever Feel Lonely In A Crowd?
And Above Your Head There Is This Big Black Cloud
And Only You Can Figure This Out
It's Like Findin' Food Durin' A Drought
[Chorus]
Oh I Just Can't Settle Down
(V1)
I used to be so scared of going to Manners Mall
Of walking past those staring eyes that made me feel so small
Creeping up and down trying to find a fault to see
So they could lock me up inside and throw away the key
(V2)
I've tried being someone else just so I could belong
I've lived my life in fear of putting one foot wrong
Although your words may hurt me it's time for me to go
I'm trying to be myself now
And I think that you should know thatâ¦
(CH)
I can go into town by myself if I want to
Look around at the world with my own eyes
I don't have to be afraid
Why do we try to be the same competing with each other
All dressed up in brown cords and pyjamas
Pretending to be cool
(V3)
I watched the world go by through the window of my mind
But how I saw myself made friends hard to find
I wasn't sure you liked me although I think you tried
I wanted you to like me, to fill the hole inside
(V4)
Accepting who I am did not come from being the best
Or earning popularity by passing all your tests
The thing that helped me most
Was when the realisation came
That there is a God who love's me
(V1)
I used to be so scared of going to Manners Mall
Of walking past those staring eyes that made me feel so small
Creeping up and down trying to find a fault to see
So they could lock me up inside and throw away the key
(V2)
I€™ve tried being someone else just so I could belong
I€™ve lived my life in fear of putting one foot wrong
Although your words may hurt me it€™s time for me to go
I€™m trying to be myself now
And I think that you should know that€
(CH)
I can go into town by myself if I want to
Look around at the world with my own eyes
I don€™t have to be afraid
Why do we try to be the same competing with each other
All dressed up in brown cords and pyjamas
Pretending to be cool
(V3)
I watched the world go by through the window of my mind
But how I saw myself made friends hard to find
I wasn€™t sure you liked me although I think you tried
I wanted you to like me, to fill the hole inside
(V4)
Accepting who I am did not come from being the best
Or earning popularity by passing all your tests
The thing that helped me most
Was when the realisation came
That there is a God who love€™s me
Who knows me by my name
I want get out of here
So many fake faces
Who want to hit me
Without doubt
Leave me alone
Into my free world
Leave me alone
Into my world
They don’t care for me
And destroy my dreams
They want my mouth closed
My brain without thoughts
Leave me alone
Into my free world
Leave me alone
There's a town out there I spent a little time,
I almost didn't make it out alive.
But since I did I thought I'd write a song,
About the things I saw while I was there.
Well I saw a lot of people, but they all looked the same,
They had the same clothes, they had the same name.
Oh, I took off runnin' right out of that town,
Hope I never have to go back again.
Chorus:
I won't tell ya just where it is,
Case I ever have to go back again.
But you're going to know it, if you ever pass through,
Provided that they let you in.
Well the moms and the dads they drove the same cars,
They had the same jobs and the didn't think alot.
And if I didn't think I'd get in trouble with the law,
Tell ya I'd have laughed out loud.
Kids got the same grades, the wore they same shoes
Struttin' in maroon velcro kangaroos,
Which I liked enough, I tried to get a pair
But they didn't have any to spare
Chorus
I could tell right away I wouldn't fit in.
Had the right color eyes and the right color skin.
But I didn't know the work or the magic word,
And I think they knew that I smoked a bit from time to time
You know the usual girl, I'll take it on the rocks
You can catch me here every night like I'm on the clock
I know this neighborhood and all the local mom and pops
We own these blocks like prisoners that were on the rock
But this ain't Alcatraz, this is an alkie trap
Bar hoppers and big talkers and starting tabs
Hand shakes with fake smiles and shark attacks
Networking and head jerk gettin lots of crap
Huh, some of these cats I went to school with 'em
Run into 'em they be telling me that I'm doing it
They give me props, but it's hard to find the truth in it
Green bottles in hand with devils juice in 'em
Sixth street down six feet we digging deep
Like we own the place, know my face, get in free
The wasted minutes of our lives is the hidden fee
But who am I to preach
Yeah they know me around here
Call me the hometown hero
Holla when I roll down Pico
Let's get another round here
Homie drinks on me
Because you know I get them drinks for free
Girl you ain't from around here
And that's probably a good thing
Because I ain't trying to mess up a good thing
This is my town here
As much as I love it I wanna leave
But this town won't set me free
I seen them younguns they tatted with town pride
With not the slightest clue what's happening outside
Saying that they run shit, fighting about dumb shit
When they not one fifth of the man, ain't that some shit
We live our lives on the fly, we just roll the dice
With no idea you're a grain in the bowl of rice
The OGs told me nothing no advice
My closest friends left me hanging on the coldest nights
Where the women and pretty linen are overpriced
Gold diggers, their goal's becoming trophy wives
Tell me how that easy money make you feel girl
It's gon' be painful when you come into the real world
I ain't lying you a dime though
But you're drinking yourself down to a five though
Going out every night, you a wine-o
The same faces all the places that I go
Yeah they know me around here
Call me the hometown hero
Holla when I roll down Pico
Let's get another round here
Homie drinks on me
Because you know I get them drinks for free
Girl you ain't from around here
And that's probably a good thing
Because I ain't trying to mess up a good thing
This is my town here
As much as I love it I wanna leave
But this town won't set me free
I took a break then came back, ain't nothing changed
The same cats from way back, oh what's his name?
Big homie in his late 20s clutching canes
Old girl, who been known to do them slutty things
I seen the parts of the world that some would never reach
This town will anchor you down, and never set you free
They said a local legend is the most I'll ever be
Until I put my town on the map, for everyone to see
Here I am y'all, I got a lot to share
I ain't telling made up stories on my rocking chair
I see you there trying so hard not to care
You saying that you wanna go far, but you're scared
Nah brotha, it don't work like that
You took a step out and took the first flight back
I guess some of us are just cursed like that
But I wasn't birthed like that
Yeah they know me around here
Call me the hometown hero
Holla when I roll down Pico
Let's get another round here
Homie drinks on me
Because you know I get them drinks for free
Girl you ain't from around here
And that's probably a good thing
Because I ain't trying to mess up a good thing
This is my town here
As much as I love it I wanna leave