I don't have to tell you things are bad..........................I don't want you to protest
Everybody knows things are bad...................................I don't want you to riot
The dollar buys a nickel's worth.....................................I don't want you to write to your congressman
Banks are going bust..........................................................Because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write
Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter...............I don't know what to do about the depression and
We know the air is unfit to breathe...............................The inflation and the crime in the streets
and our food is unfit to eat..............................................All I know is that first, you've got to get mad
And we sit, watching our TVs..........................................You, you've gotta say
While some local newscaster tells us.......................... I'm a human being, Good damn it!
That today we had fifteen homicides...........................My life has value!
And sixty-three violent crimes
As if that's the way it's supposed to be
We know things are bad...
Worse than bad... They're crazy!
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy
So we don't go out any more
We sit in our house
And slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller
And all we say is, please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms
Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials
And I won't say anything
Just leave us alone...
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone...
I want you to get MAD!