Sinèad

somebody had to do it, I guess it had to be you
right there on the big TV, tearing a picture of the pope in two
challenging the over-stuffed assumptions of our brains
nothin’ like a little reality to go against the grain

oh I know some people got mad but what can you do
somebody always complains when you talk too true
illuminate the violence of the miter and the rod
and they’ll tear you limb from limb in the name of god

Americans don’t know anything about the great dead weight
of living half smothered underneath some ancient potentate
tithing to a foreign power, starving by degrees
all those women in bondage with no control of their sexualities

dangerous times for speaking your mind

oh they booed you in New York City, I could almost hear ’em holler
where the cheapest of the cheap seats went for eighty dollars
paying tribute to the great man, the conscience of a by-gone age
politically correct nostalgia running rough shod on the stage

a million dollars worth of superstars were waiting in the wings
but for all the myth of comeraderie no one did a thing
to the annals of the safe and famous some may want to drink a toast
but the one who took a chance is the one that I’ll remember most

dangerous times for speaking your mind

all along the road to ruin the streets are paved with gold
and the postures of hypocrisy are something to behold
when the rebels of a generation come to pander to authority
and the one that was the ally now becomes the enemy

so I’ll pantomime the daylight and I’ll travel by the moon
I’m waiting for the firestorm I know it’s coming soon
the dragon is awakening, it’s slumber is undone
somebody had to do it, it could’ve been any one

dangerous times for speaking your mind