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