Cold war's going hot tonight Atomic bomb's been dropped in fright A mushroom cloud's rising with the sun Armageddon's never been this fun The potential energy has gone kinetic From a static state to one more frenetic Atoms bashing atoms, pictures crashing off the walls It's the end of the world and we're having a ball Skyscrapers no longer scraping the sky They're decomposing, they're lying in state Civilization, well, it's had a good run But Newton's laws and molecules will reign This tropical storm is gaining might A hurricane is brewing in the night Say goodbye to labors, lovers, lives, and luxuries This storm will kill them all but it won't get me! This batter's putting pine to pitch A waist-high curveball murdered like a snitch The seams are bursting and the hide is flying loose Like all our dreams that we do not pursue

I am not every man, I am the only man! In this post-Apocalypto wasteland we call modern life You're all just robots, I'm not a robot! With my heart pumping oil, sensors working overtime I keep my doors locked, I keep my pantries stocked Boarded up the windows, candles burning all night long I'm eating canned food, dried powdered bran food, And I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' My TV hates me, fucks with my circuitry All the yelling and the crying makes me think I'll lose my mind I can't watch FOX NEWS, they're always starting feuds Ignoramus necktie clones exploding in my ears I grabbed all the talking heads, went and threw them in my shed Now my backyard smells like cotton candy rotting on your gums I gotta quit watching TV, it's giving me epilePEPSI, And I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' My wallet's empty, ain't got no currency Automatic teller telling me to go get lost I barely have a job, a rusty worn down cog, Grind my teeth until the blood gums up the machine I could use some company, someone to hunt with me Instead I'm standing behind storm doors hoping they don't storm on me I got my shotgun cocked, empathy switched to off, And I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shakin' and I'm shook

Brown paper bag man gone to sleep at the bus stop Any roof'll do when you sleep under the stars When out of the darkness a dark man accosts him What starts out as words ends up going too far A knife flashed in the light that shone from the streetlamp It's a Hollywood spotlight lending focus to the scene Pressed into his flesh and pulled out with a flash Coins spilled on the sidewalk, blood's rolling down his jeans Spare change, spare change Another coin just tossed away Spare change, sparge change When it rains it pours, when you're poor it just rains His body was found lying prone in the gutter Like a cigarette butt some dick flicked in your yard After a lifetime of being routinely discarded I guess it's true, old habits die hard You don't get a funeral when you die with your hands out If you can't afford four brick walls how can you pay for a grave? If only tall boy pallbearers could carry a casket Half as well as they'd carry him away The only reason I even wrote this song for him is I thought for a second he was a different bum who I knew But Donald Ray Polk, even though you were a stranger, I'm sorry I waited until you died to even notice you

I've felt as poor as a patient's prognosis When he comes face to face with a terminal diagnosis And he's praying to Jesus, or Allah, or Moses But there's no one there to hear him in his room filled up with roses I'm just as broke as rusty ten speed With spokes made of wishes asleep in the weeds Where I planted a garden but the crows ate the seeds And if you take one step closer they're gonna make you bleed My pockets are as empty as a merry-go-round Covered in poison in the bad part of town Surrounded by snipers that shoot those kids down And except for the spinning it don't make no sound Poverty, poverty I should've got an accounting degree Poverty, poverty Who the hell studies Russian history? I may not have much but there's this hot air balloon Where we can ditch all our coin purses and shoot for the moon Way up above the cornfields we'll hold hands and spoon Wave down to the ants, we'll see 'em again soon

I am a man, a family man of decent means I've got a wife, two kids, a suburban home, hopes and dreams Thought I'd build a little nest egg, send my kids off to school Hit that silver anniversary and take a Mediterranean cruise But we had one, two many fights and some things can't be unsaid She took the kids to her mom's, found another man and left me for dead So I'll ride, ride, ride I'll ride the rails Until that train gets to where I don't know I'm going And I can start living for myself I am a man, a career man, wedded to my job On a sturdy rung of the corporate ladder and I'm headed to the top I always check my e-mail and I make eighty calls a day I kiss my boss's ass for the chance to pass him, I really earn my pay But they found this guy in India who'll work for half as much Threw me out on the street with just the shoes on my feet and said, "We'll keep in touch!" So I'll ride, ride, ride I'll ride the rails Until that train gets to where I don't know I'm going And I can start living for myself I'm a woman, I'm smart as hell, a recent graduate I got A's in my classes studying journalism, I really know my shit I'm doing this for the people, tell their stories to the world Where there's trouble and strife that'll be my life, I'm an action kind of girl But every time I interview there's a sleazy, slick-haired slob He says "You look qualified with your hips and your tits, but how are you at sucking cock?" So I'll ride, ride, ride I'll ride the rails Until that train gets to where I don't know I'm going And I can start living for myself I am a man, I'm a homeless man, clothed in tattered rags I get my sleep on a bench, my dental work from a wrench, and my food from garbage bags It hasn't always been like this, I payed rent with my paychecks But you're a step away when you haven't saved, get hurt in an accident I hobbled around the city parks 'til they picked me up for vagrancy Threw my ass in a cell and they beat me to hell and they slapped me with a fee! So I'll ride, ride, ride I'll ride the rails Until that train gets to where I don't know I'm going And I can start living for myself I am a man, I'm an American man, I'm just your average Joe I'm Willy Loman, I'm Billy Pilgrim, I'm everyone you know EXXON-MOBIL's got record profits but I can't afford a gallon of gas I'm getting laid off while the boss is paid off, say goodbye to the middle class So I'll ride, ride, ride I'll ride the rails Until that train gets to where I don't know I'm going And I can start living for myself