If I run uphill, I'm out of breath If I spend all my money, I've got no money left If I place all my chips on only one bet, I'm all in And it's a surefire bet I'm going to die So I'm taking up praying on Sunday nights And it's not that I believe in your all might But I might as well As insurance or bail Because institution's like a big bright lie And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight And you've been in the desert underneath the charging sky It's just you and God But what if God's not there? But his name is on your dollar bill Which just became cab fare For the evangelist, the communist, the lefts and the rights
And the hypocrites and the jesuits and the blacks and the whites In the belly of the beast In the Atlanta streets Or up in Laurel Canyon The Middle East Still they're dying on the dark continent It's been happening long enough to mention it Have I mentioned my parents are getting back together again? It's been twenty-five years Of spreading infection Somehow we're not affected So my mom, she brushes her hair And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard And I share with my friends a couple of beers In the Atlanta streets In the belly of the beast