Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines

and their speech is growing increasingly unkind

They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me

and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash

I'm walkin' home tonight

The streets are glowing 'neath the pale moonlight

I look around, there's not a soul in sight

and I'm walkin' home
Once again I hear my mother's voice

and all us kids making a bunch of noise

If I'm not careful I might start to cry

Just walkin' home tonight

I turn my head and hear the screen door slam

and there he is, that tall and dark-haired man

I traveled high, I traveled low

and there was no place I didn't go

looking for this kind of happy with you
I had a love, it wasn't right

and I spent so many lonely nights

yearning for this kind of happy with you

Happy with you, happy with you

I love the things that you do

It took such a long time that I thought I'd never find

this kind of happy with you

There's a wall in Washington

and it's made of cold black granite

They say 60,000 names are etched there in it

in that wall in Washington

A father, he traveled from far away

to walk the path 'til he finds that name

He reaches his hand up and traces each letter

The tears they fall as his memories gather

for the boy who filled his heart with pride

A cold wind against my shoulder woke me up in the middle of the night

An Autumn leaf was scraping against my window

like it was trying hard to get inside

and then a ghost that I had met before kept me up 'til dawn
and everything I thought was right was suddenly all wrong

He said, "Your score is looking pretty bad"

and then he asked me what it was that I had to show

She's got a phone in one hand, a hairbrush in the other

and she says, "Life's too short to stay home and be a mother"

She says she can have it all 'cause that's The New Deal

so God give her a hand, 'cause she needs one for the wheel

When he gets home from work, it's well after seven

But he drives a nice car so he thinks he's in Heaven

I wrote my mother yesterday 'cause I had some things that I had to say

and I know that when she reads them she's gonna cry

But in the end I hope she sees

that I'm just trying to break free
'cause I've been walking 'round with secrets now, too long

Back when I was barely ten Mom brought home a new boyfriend

and I know that times were bad and he made her feel good

It was a long time ago, I was a girl 'bout 12 years old

on my back staring up into the dark summer sky

when I said, "God, tomorrow I can't see

but I'll stick close to you if you'll stick close to me!"
and that night I prayed "Keep me God! Keep me God."

Now, I don't know just where God lives

ain't all that sure just exactly who God is

We both know the reason why you've called

so stop wasting time trying to soften up my fall

I know you wanna sweeten up the taste
but if you don't mind, I'll just take my sorrow straight

You almost make it seem like something nice

the way you take your bad news and you pour it over ice

That's a kindness I don't appreciate

'cause I like to take my sorrow straight

I went to church on Sunday, I swung my chariot low

Reached up to kiss the deacon, he said "You'd better go"

Trouble, I'm in trouble with him

Trouble's where I'm going
Trouble's the only place I've ever been

Let's buy a watermelon, swallow all the seeds

Forget what Mama told us, do everything we please

Trouble, trouble again

Trouble's where we're going

When my mornin' comes around, no one else will be there

so I won't have to worry about what I'm supposed to say

and I alone will know that I climbed that great big mountain
and that's all that will matter when my mornin' comes around

When my mornin' comes around, I will look back on this valley

at these sidewalks and alleys where I lingered for so long