It's been a long, long, long, long
Long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, time
When I was a kid, I used to draw airplanes, with stars and bars shooting down airplanes, adorned with hammers and sickles
I bought a hundred water guns so I could save the world, saving my lunch money and stealing my father's quarters, dimes, and nickels
I discovered religion watching Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia and destroying the d**h Star by letting go and closing his eyes
And I devoured comic books, Greek colored mythologies taught me right and wrong, and if you believe, you can fly
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
I remember listening to songs about trains and feeling the rush of wonder at the possibility that the world was infinite and accessible all at the same time. And then it was songs about highways and born to be wild and little red corvette and the road went on forever in my mind
But now it's clogged bumper to bumper with stinking SUVs and two-story pickup trucks that can drive over anything except the two-story pickup truck right in front of it
Not even the highways look the same, Starbucks and 711s and Walmarts jam the feeder roads. We don't live around this mess, we live under it
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
Since I felt fine
Now all the songs are about gangsters and guns and the TV speeds by at 100 d**hs an hour and everyone wants to pull off the crime of the century
Steal two hundred gazillion dollars, enough to buy myself an island and build a real honest-to-God train on it for no one but me
And get away with it. Get away with it. We Americans are freedom-loving people and nothing says freedom like getting away with it
We went from Billy the Kid to Richard Nixon, Enron, X-on, O.J. Simpson...
We used to dream about heroes, but now it's just how to beat the system
So where to we go to dream now? Up on the roof of the projects, straining through the city lights to see if they've built golden arches on the moon yet?
Self-medicated, Half-sedated, trying our best to stay distracted, living life according to the TV set
Corporations owning nations, telling us "don't change the station, it's the only safe way to win the human race."
I wonder how the world sees us
Rich beyond compare, powerful without equal, a spoiled, drunk, 15-year-old waving a gun in their face
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
It's been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
Since I felt fine