Upon this rock let us build our church Said the lions of the colosseum And as the Christians wander in We can lock the doors and eat 'em Drink the blood of the saints Roll the poor for pocket change Then on our knees we will give thanks Said the lions of the colosseum I saw Dorothy Day on the barricades She was hanging with comrade Jesus But the lions did not see a thing They were rendering unto Caesar Roman soldiers did their best To silence those who would protest They had a warrant out for Dorothy's arrest From the lions of the colosseum In chains of ancient history The church is a museum Cobwebs hang like rosaries Inside a mausoleum Whose surfaces are clean and white While inside rotting corpses lie And so they like to keep the lid on tight Those lions of the colosseum Let us build a tower to the sky And let it reach to heaven We shall be as gods, we shall not die And our reign shall be forever So the lions built from age to age Til they made a Babel of the faith And tore the body in a thousand different ways Like in the colosseum Now on the satellite TV Everyday you see 'em Live from the lap of luxury It's the lions of the colosseum With politicians, millionaires You won't see Mother Teresa there Just the holy rollers with the manes of hair Lions of the colosseum But there's rebel graffiti on the walls Inside the colosseum Down below in the catacombs The defiant ones are meeting Hiding in the underground Blood brothers pa** the cup around And they pay no heed to the roaring sound Of the lions of the colosseum Don't you pay no heed to the roaring sound Of the lions of the colosseum