"I don't have to tell you things are bad
Everybody knows things are bad
It's a depression
Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job
The dollar buys a nickel's worth
Banks are going bust
Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter
Punks are running wild in the street
And there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do
And there's no end to it
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat
And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster
Tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes
As if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We know things are bad – worse than bad
They're crazy
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy
So we don't go out anymore
We sit in the house
And slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller
And all we say is: 'Please at least leave us alone in our living rooms
Let me have my toaster and my TV
And my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything
Just leave us alone'
Well I'm not gonna leave you alone
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest, I don't want you to riot
I don't want you to write to your congressman
Because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write
I don't know what to do about the depression
And the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street
All I know is that first you've got to get mad
You've got to say: 'I'm a human being god-dammit!
My life has value!'
I got friends in high places and limited time
I got a long list of women who pay me in kind
I got different reasons for wasting my mind
but I don't need nothing when I wanna get high
But I gotta keep rolling
Just to get by
I got different voices inside my head
I got plenty of demons under my bed
But I don't get scared 'cause I'm already dead
And now I'm walking 'round looking like I've never been fed
I tell a million stories
With no words said
Sing me to sleep, sing me a love song
Sing me a lullaby of days gone by
Sing me to sleep, oh sing me a love song
Sing me a lullaby of days gone by
Sell my soul to the devil just to get paid
I'm taking one last breath as reality fades
Wasting time on the streets where heroes are made
And now I'm hanging 'round your place trying to get laid
I got different methods
For wasting my day
And I'm turning twenty-nine at the end of the year
Yeah, I wonder if they'll find me in the blood and the gear
I'm in a little bit of trouble 'cause I got no fear
It's like I'm crying out loud but nobody would hear
I got plenty good reasons
For hiding my tears
Sing me to sleep, sing me a love song
Sing me a lullaby of days gone by
Sing me to sleep, oh sing me a love song
Sing me a lullaby of days gone by
