Lives in the Balance

I wanna hear somebody asking them why
There is blood on the wire
There are people under fire

There is blood on the wire
There is blood on the wire
So they pick up a brick or a gun or a stone
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
How the USA stands for freedom
I wanna hear somebody asking them why

Shadows on the faces
To those wars that are fought in places

Of the men who fan the flames
You might ask what it takes to remember
Where their business interest runs

There are children at the cannons
How we come to the aid of a friend
You hear one thing again and again
I wanna know who these men in the shadows are
To those wars that are fought in places
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
These governments killing their own?
Or is it the ones who can't take any more?
There are people under fire
How governments lie to their people
And now nations are driven to war
There is

And the sound of the crowd in my ear
I wanna know who these men in the shadows are
Of the men who send the guns
There are lives in the balance
But they are never around to fight or to die

When you think that you've heard it before
Where their business interest runs
There are children at the cannons
Well, who are these ones we call our friends
There is blood on the wire
We can't even pronounce their names
There is blood on the wire
There is
There are lives in the balance
Shadows on the faces
There is blood on the wire
There are lives in the balance

There is blood on the wire
There are shadows on the faces

There are people under fire
But they are never around to fight or to die
There is blood on the wire
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
Of the men who send the guns
On the radio, talk shows and TV
There are children at the cannons

To those wars that are fought in places

There is blood on the wire