Come Out and Play (Keep ’Em Separated)

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“Come Out And Play” was released in 1994 on Offspring’s Smash album. The song is about… Read More

Mar. 10, 19941 viewer130.2K views

Come Out and Play (Keep ’Em Separated) Lyrics

[Intro]
You gotta keep 'em separated

[Verse 1]
Like the latest fashion
Like a spreading disease
The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom
Gettin' weapons with the greatest of ease
The gangs stake out their own campus locale
And if they catch you slippin', then it's all over, pal
If one guy's colors and the other's don't mix
They're gonna bash it up, bash it up, bash it up, bash it up...

[Chorus]
Hey! Man, you talkin' back to me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey! Man, you disrespectin' me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey, don't pay no mind
If you're under 18, you won't be doing any time
Hey! Come out and play

[Verse 2]
By the time you hear the siren
It's already too late
One goes to the morgue, and the other to jail
One guy's wasted, and the other's a waste
It goes down the same as the thousand before
No one's getting smarter
No one's learning the score
Your never-ending spree of death and violence and hate
Is gonna tie your own rope, tie your own rope, tie your own...

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[Chorus]
Hey! Man, you disrespectin' me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey! Man, you talkin' back to me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey, don't pay no mind
If you're under 18, you won't be doing any time
Hey! Come out and play

[Verse 3]
It goes down the same as the thousand before
No one's getting smarter
No one's learning the score
Your never-ending spree of death and violence and hate
Is gonna tie your own rope, tie your own rope, tie your own...

[Chorus]
Hey! Man, you talkin' back to me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey! Man, you disrespectin' me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated
Hey, don't pay no mind
If you're under 18, you won't be doing any time
Hey! Come out and play

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About

Genius Annotation

“Come Out And Play” was released in 1994 on Offspring’s Smash album.

The song is about the seemingly unending cycle of youth violence, particularly in schools. However, Dexter originally got the idea for the song from an experiment cooling Erlenmeyer flasks full of hot liquids while attending college.

The song peaked on the U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks in 1994/1995.

The song title on the album as originally released is simply “Come Out and Play”. A number of versions of the singles, however, list it as the better known “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)”.