Lives In The Balance - Jackson Browne

[Ell.a]

I've been waiting for something to happenFor a week or a month or a yearWith the blood in the ink of the headlinesAnd the sound of the crowd in my earYou might ask what it takes to rememberWhen you know that youve seen it beforeWhere a government lies to a peopleAnd a country is drifting to warAnd theres a shadow on the facesOf the men who send the gunsTo the wars that are fought in placesWhere their business interest runsOn the radio talk shows and the t.v.You hear one thing again and againHow the u.s.a. stands for freedomAnd we come to the aid of a friendBut who are the ones that we call our friends--These governments killing their own?Or the people who finally cant take any moreAnd they pick up a gun or a brick or a stoneThere are lives in the balanceThere are people under fireThere are children at the cannonsAnd there is blood on the wireTheres a shadow on the facesOf the men who fan the flamesOf the wars that are fought in placesWhere we cant even say the namesThey sell us the president the same wayThey sell us our clothes and our carsThey sell us every thing from youth to religionThe same time they sell us our warsI want to know who the men in the shadows areI want to hear somebody asking them whyThey can be counted on to tell us who our enemies areBut theyre never the ones to fight or to dieAnd there are lives in the balanceThere are people under fireThere are children at the cannonsAnd there is blood on the wire

 

Lyrics by Jackson Browne---> Homepage