I’ve been waiting for something to happen . .
For a week, or a month, or a year . . .
With the blood in the ink of the headlines . .
And the sound of the crowd in my ear . .
You might ask what it takes to remember . .
When you know . . that you've seen it before . .
Where a government lies to a people . .
And a country is drifting to war . . .

 And there's a shadow . . on the faces . .
Of the men . . who send the guns . .
To the wars . . that are fought in places . .
Where their business . . interest runs . . 

On the radio talk shows and the tv . .
You hear one thing . . again and again . .
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom . .
And we come to the aid of a friend . .
But who are the ones . . that we call our friends . .
These governments . . killing their own . .
Or the people who finally can't take any more . .
And they pick up a gun, or a brick, or a stone . .
An there are lives in the balance . .
There are . . . people under fire . .
There are . . . children at the cannons . .
And there is blood on the wire . . . 

There's a shadow . . on the faces . .
Of the men . . who fan the flames . .
Of the wars . . that are fought in places . .
But we can't even . . say the names . .

They sell us . . the president . . the same way . .
They sell us our clothes and our cars . .
They sell us everything from youth to religion . .
The same time they sell us our wars . .
I wanna know who the men in the shadows are . .
I wanna hear somebody asking them why . .
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are . .
But they're never the ones . . to fight or to die . .

An there are lives in the balance . .
There are . . . people under fire . .
There are . . . children at the cannons . .
And there is blood on the wire . . .