You can build it up or you can break it downnYou can tell it, Kid, you're on the wrong side of the town.nYou can wear it out or you can wisen upnYou can drink white risky from your old man's coffee cup*nnBut don't forget about the time you wasted all those pretty daysnLying silent in the bedroom while they vanished in the hazenThe possibilities you'll find will only serve to change your open mindnLay there long enough and you'll end up getting borednUntil you realize all you need is just the truth and a couple simple bar chordsnnYou can talk and talk or you can shut your mouthnYou can burn the photographs in the shed behind the housenYou can crane your neck to see the rising sunnOr you can sit and wait for it with an old sod off shot gunnBut it'll creep up on behind you from the place you least expectnAnd then break your bleeding heart before it rings your weary necknAnd even though it never quite belongs, sneaks into your every single songnAll those petty things you never meant to saynLike, Hi there, nice to meet you, please drive safely, have a very pleasant day.nnYou can blink or gawk at the hand that you've been dealednBut either way you know your crops are rottin' in the fieldnYou can go to mass, you can go to churchnYou can make believe your blood ain't meant for wettin' down the dirtnnSo throw a palm tree on the fire, girl - watch those leaves ignitenAnd sing the blues out on some island 40 days and 40 nightsnAnd maybe all that Mexico blood you spill on that cracking bridge of yours will last you until the firelight is gone and leaves you coldnSleeping with the gray whales, white bones, and black ghosts until the day that you get oldnnYou can protest wars, say the president's a liarnBut in this type of town, you're only preaching to the choirnCause the thing that's gonna get us ain't the one we're protestingnIt's all happened before, it will all happen againnAnd the only thing I claim to know about the enemynThey use a dash of violence and a dire look of subtletynSo go ahead, expose those evil plansnCause you always got an inside mannDo whatever makes you feel finenJust know whatever you swallow's always attached to some sort of lie