Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)

Well the animals laugh
From the dark of the wilderness
A baby cries hard
In an apartment complex

As I pass in a car
Buried under the influence
The cities driving me out
of my mind

I've seen a child he's caught
In the sad trap of gravity
He falls from the lowest
Branch of the apple tree

And lands in the grass
And weeps for his dignity
Next time he will not aim so high
Yeah, next time neither will I

Now, a mother takes loans out
Sends her kids off to colleges
Her family's reduced
To names on a shopping list

While a coroner kneels
Beneath the great wooden crucifix
He knows there's worse things than being
Alone.

And so I've learned to retreat
At the first sign of danger
I mean, why wait around if
It's just to surrender

And ambition I've found
Can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No I am not singing for you
(Woo)

Well I stood droppin' a coin
Into the pit of a well
And I would throw my whole billfold
If I thought it would help

With all these wishes I make
I should buy something real
At least a telephone
Call home

Well my teachers they built
This retaining wall of memory
All those multiple choices
I answered so quickly

And got my grades back
And forgot just as easily
But at least I got an A
And so I don't have them to blame

Well I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgment
Of all those public action figures
And cowboy presidents
So loud behind the bull-horns
So proud they can't admit
When they've made a mistake

While poison ink spews
From a speech writers pen
He knows he don't have to say it
So it don't bother him

Honesty accuracy
It's just popular opinion
And the approval ratings high
And so someone's gonna die

Well ABC NBC CBS bullshit
They give us fact or fiction
I guess an even split
And each new act of war's tonight's entertainment
We're still the pawns in their game

As they take eye for an eye
Until no one can see
We must stumble blindly forward
Repeating history

Well I guess we all fit into that slogan
On your fast food marquee
Red blooded white skinned and oh the blues
Oh and the blues I got the blues that's me

Well I awoke in relief
My sheets and tubes were all tangled
Weak from whiskey and pills
In a Chicago hospital

And my father was there
In a chair by the window
Starin' so far away
I tried talking just whispered
So sorry so selfish
He stopped me and said
Child, I love you regardless
There nothing you could do
That would ever change this
I'm not angry, it happens
But you just can't do it again

And so now I try to keep up
I been exchanging my currency
While a million objects
Pass though my periphery
Now I'm rubbin' my eyes
'Cause they're starting to bother me
I been staring too long at the screen

But where was it when I first heard
That sweet sound of humility
It came to my ears in the
Goddamned loveliest melody

How grateful I was then
To be part of the mystery
To love and to be loved
Lets just hope that is enough