The Roots - Wake Me Up lyrics

I've got this phosphorescent portrait of gentle Jesus meek and mild 
I've got this harlot that I'm stuck with carrying another man's child 
The solitary star announcing vacancy burnt out as we arrived 
They'd throw us back across the border if they knew that we survived And they were surprised to see us 
So they greeted us with palms 
They asked for ammunition, acts of contrition and small alms 
 Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up With a slap or a kiss Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up There must be something better than this 
I've got this imaginary radio, and I'm punching up the dial 
I've got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won't blow up in my eye 
And everything that I thought fanciful or mocked as too extreme 
Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams 
And I'm practising my likeness of St. Francis of Assisi 
And if I hold my hand outstretched 
A little bird comes to me 
 
And I might recite a small prayer 
If I ever said them 
I lay down on an iron frame 
And found myself in Bedlam 
Stepping on the fingers that were stretching through the bars 
Wailing echoes down the corridors 
 
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up With a slap or a kiss Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up There must be something better than this 
They've got this scared and decorated girl strapped to the steel trunk of a Mustang 
They drove her down a cypress grove where traitors hang and stars still spangle 
They dangled flags and other rags along a coloured thread of twine 
They dragged that bruised and purple heart along the road to Palestine 
 
Someone went off muttering, he mentioned thirty pieces 
Easter saw a slaughtering, each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces 
 My thoughts returned to vengeance but I put up no resistance 
Though I seemed a long way from my home 
It really was no distance 
 
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up With a slap or a kiss Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up There must be something better than this 
And the player piano picks out "Life Goes On" 
The Ringtone rang out "Jerusalem" 
Into the pit of sadness 
Where the wretched plunge 
We've buried all the Innocents 
We must bury revenge 
 
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up There must be something better than this There must be something better than this There must be something better than this 
In the name of the Father and the Son In the name of Gasoline and a Gun Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up