Starin' so far away
And each new act of war is tonight's entertainment
Well, the animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness
Well, I should stop pointing fingers, reserve my judgment
Of all those public action figures, the cowboy presidents
Well, I guess we all fit into your slogan on that fast food marquee
He knows there's worse things than bein' alone
I'm not angry, it happens, but you just can't do it again"
Now, a mother takes loans out, sends her kids off to colleges
While a coroner kneels beneath a great wooden crucifix
With all these wishes I make, I should buy somethin' real
A baby cries hard in an apartment complex
'Honesty, accuracy is just popular opinion
For all you goddamn people
An ambition, I’ve found, can lead only to failure
While poison ink spews from a speechwriter's pen
Weak from whiskey and pills in a Chicago hospital
The city's driving me out of my mind
Well, ABC, NBC, CBS, bullshit
We're still the pawns in their game
He knows he don't have to say it, so it, it don't bother him
I’ve seen a child, he's caught in the sad trap of gravity
And there is nothing you could do that would ever change this
Tonight, it is a goddamn song
I do not read the reviews, no, I am not singin' for you
And got my grades back and forgot just as easily
And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help
It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody
We must stumble blindly forward, repeatin' history
He stopped me and said, "Child, I love you regardless
I got the Blues, that's me, that's me
Well, my teachers, they built this retaining wall memory
Red-blooded, white-skinned, oh and the Blues, oh and the Blues
While a million objects pass through my periphery
So loud behind the bullhorn, so proud they can't admit
As they take eye for an eye until no one can see
Next time he will not aim so high, yeah, next time neither will I
But at least I got an A and so I don't have them to blame
I tried talking, just whispered, "So sorry, so selfish"
Well, I stood droppin' a coin into the pit of a well
But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility?
When they've made a mistake
They give us fact or fiction? I guess an even split
All those multiple choices I answered so quickly
Well, I awoke in relief, my sheets and tubes were all tangled
And lands in the grass and weeps for his dignity
And so I’ve learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
And the approval rating's high and so someone's gonna die
Now I’m rubbin' my eyes 'cause they’re startin' to bother me
At least a telephone call home
And my father was there in a chair by the window
As I pass in a car buried under the influence
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree
How grateful I was then to be part of the mystery
I mean, why wait around, if it's just to surrender?
Her family’s reduced to names on a shoppin' list
I’ve been starin' too long at the screen
And so now I try to keep up, I’ve been exchangin' my currency
