New America

Let your mind wander
Look beyond the shadows
Focus on the skyline,
Read the silhouettes
Your deepest desires
Are a picture of tomorrow
All your darkest fears
Are just a vestige of regret
And it's wo-oh oh oh
It seems like such a long way to go
As obstacles get bigger,
Prevailing winds blow stronger
And the fire continues to grow
Don't let shallow water limit your perception
Heed the new horizon
Muster to it fast
The moments of your yesterdays
Are in the wake behind you
You can't assess the future
If you're living in the past
Keep it stoked!
If you are committed
To a life of understanding
Then there's no agenda
For vengeance in your life
Sharpen all your senses,
Face the opposition
You can overcome
With fortitude and mental might
And it's wo-oh oh oh
It seems like such a long way to go
As obstacles get bigger,
Prevailing winds blow stronger
And the fire continues to grow
In your soul
So be bold, let it grow
Don't let it die
Let it burn!

Shut your eyes
See the future's distant shore
March ahead
More enlightened than before
And there's sure to be bumps and distractions
But i know we'll get through
There will be me, there will be you
There will be a way
Unresolved repercussions from your life
Fortified with the vitriol of strife
And you can be gridlocked by predictions,
But you're wise grab the prize
Then revise, realize
There will be a way
Hey... ho
And i don't know where we are going
But we're here on this ride
And we'll stand side by side
All along the way
Follow me to the future's distant shore
Vagary needn't haunt us anymore
And now it's time to set the agenda,
Learn the past, make it last
Share the wealth, hold your fire,
Conserve life, make it right
Kill the hate, negotiate
There will be a way

It could happen to you,
A defect from the wasted outskirts of los angeles
With a crumpled-up pass for the rtd
And no authority or trajectory
On the brink of insanity
You'd better believe it
Because it's written all over your face
Just a neighborhood reject,
Out of step and out of place
You'd better believe it
Would you ever have thought
Persistence could prevail
Against the almost
Unbearable weight of the system?
With nothing better to do,
And no one else who you can look up to
You'd better believe it
Because it's written all over your face
A political defect,
Out of step and out of place
You'd better believe it
And the future is bright
When ideas run astray
So turn out the light,
A punk can't have a say
Sometimes desire is all that's there
Who said life was fair?

Do you know the cost of future misery?
Have you lost your sense of sustainability?
We are just a step away
From realizing what we strive to be
But we've got to break out
From this insulated, blind and lame senility
Wake up the new america wo-oh!
Transcend the mass hysteria wo-oh!
Change is the thing you're wary of wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
Laurels, human triumph
Bestowments from the past
Victories don't mean a thing
If they don't last
We are just marching toward extinction
With blinders on our eyes
Jeopardizing everything
We've learned and come to realize
You call that wise?
Open your eyes america wo-oh!
See through the lies they tell to us wo-oh!
Confront the fears that worry us wo-oh!
We need a new america wo-oh!
We don't have to be afraid to re-invent
We've got to start to build
Progress and implement
For when we take our fill
And never pay the price
We only build ourselves
A fleeting, false paradise
You can live in staunch denial
And mark me as your enemy
But i'm just a voice among the throng
Who want a brighter destiny
They say with me
We are the new america wo-oh!
This is the new america? wo-oh

We don't need any more mountains
Because the trail builders
Failed to give us passage there
So we can't reach the sky
We don't need any more failure
There is human tragedy
That's written everywhere
And we are all too young to die
Like a mystery that's here to stay
Some people never go away
Cuz they've got something to say
Don't sell me short!
You've been wrong too long
Don't brush me off
Just because i don't belong
Like it or not i'm all you've got,
Dispose when i'm shot
Just don't sell me short,
I might not be who you thought
We don't need any more fables
Because the writers have passed
And left us lessonless
And we must find our own way
We don't need any more privilege
There is vivid desperation
That is powerless
That no surplus can repay
Like the fix of rapture in a trance
Oh, fates are sealed by circumstance
So you've got to take a chance
Don't sell me short!
You've been wrong too long
Don't brush me off
Just because i don't belong
Pass me on by, ignore my cry,
Forget me when i die
Just don't sell me short,
Not while i'm still alive
Everybody's talking about heaven on earth,
I'm still trying to figure out
Just what i'm worth
I'm full of emotion
And stuff you can't contain
And you just want to
Flush me down the drain
But you can't make me go away

A rhapsody! contestants in disguise
A nation of desire
But who will win the prize?
The people stand united,
Reluctantly aligned
Copying and lying
Are the favorite past-time
You've got a chance
To confront the world today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

Common life depicted on afternoon tv,
Is spiked to give the miserable a vogue identity
Hate your neighbors,
Cheat your friends,
They don't discriminate
Popularity and fame don't care
If you're a reprobate

You've got a chance
To confront the world today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

I'm tired of all this
Shakespearean misinformation
I want to win the game
You've got the right intentions
But who's got time to think?
You've got a noon appointment,
You've got to hit the links
You're talking in the stratosphere,
You're curled up on the floor
With such a wealth of information,
Why are you so poor?
You've got a chance
To be relevant today
Desperate romance
Is the curse of castaways
What good is skill
If you don't make it to the dance?
(don't you believe what the wise men have to say)
Despite circumstance
You've got a chance

Well, it was punk-fifteen in the morning
And it was time to stand my ground
And as the gawks and stares bombarded me
You know, i didn't even hear a sound
No one gave a damn
If i was there or away
If i died and went to hell,
They'd throw a party on my grave
And they'd all say
"this kid is just a fool, he'll never be cool
They might as well just ship him off
To some other school"
Plain destitute
Just a little too guilty, just a little too soon
That day was just like any other day
No work, and no pay
I knew that paradise was some other place
And i'd get there another day
I will find it before i expire
'cuz i've got the desire
Well, it was punk-fifteen in the evening
And it was time to set the town on fire
I saw my boots and my hair
As reflected in the mirror
Reveal a streetkid named desire
I didn't give a damn
Because i was just dying to be
And as the hollywood street scene
Left its mark on me
I changed from a boy into a man
I said "never again!"
I stuck out my chin when i should have ran
Shit in the fan
I was driven so hard
By the sound of my heart
But that day was just like any other day
No work, and no pay
I knew that paradise was some other place
And i'd get there another day
I will find it before i expire
'cuz i've got the desire
When the walls surround
In deeper shades of blue
And there's no voice of reason inside you
And you search for meaning
On an empty shelf
Then you're always dreaming
Of somewhere else
Today is just like any other day
No fear, no restraint
I know that paradise is some other place
And i will get there another day
You can come with me,
No conditions or fares
Somehow, somewhere,
I will find it before i expire,
'cuz i've got the desire