National Straitjacket

Lyrics

[Verse 1] In a neighborhood right next to yours There's a car in the garage you never could afford A pretty girl, she'd probably leave you, bored Like the ignorant signs up in every yard There's a ball player who's seldom scored And he's leaning back on his lack of glory Like it's a tissue worn to dry his tears It's so sad [Verse 2] On a hillside rendered unrecognizable A reporter slowly sat at a table For a student who is willing and able While a candidate whose lead is unstable Is debating an artist so undefinable That she counts on eccentricity To explain all the things that don't come out right It's so sad. (So sad) [Verse 3] Broken trust is rolling down my streets Smiling and waving to every person it meets Now there's a farmer empty-handed in defeat Waving back, smiling in that same summer heat While a disconnected cop with no shoes on his feet Is reaching out for his balding heroes And the mistakes they never knew they were making To me it seems so sad. (So sad) The same mistakes they're still making, so sad. (So sad) [Bridge] Hometown stuck in the same situation Not enough choices for you New town offering the same accommodations Too many to choose Right, right [Interlude] [Verse 4] In a clearing at the top of a mountain They're a hundred million strong and counting Getting baptized in the drinking fountain Can't hear myself think thanks to all of the shouting I never knew it took so much anger touting To save a couple wayward souls From the sins of the city and the things that they learned It's so sad (So sad) [Verse 5] In a box where nothing ever grows A beggar is wearing the clothes He's standing right there at the window Of a stockholder who no matter what knows While Marines are out there crawling on sore elbows Protecting us from fire and brimstone and ourselves Like a national straitjacket, it's so sad A national straitjacket, so fucking sad Yeah!