2004

Iraq is in the prayers of the world,
while America is burned and shot down.
The untouchables sell their Indian goods to Katie and Jocelyn.
Communicating across cultures
Bush-isms preach family and blindness while
The serpent is stripped of regeneration and made phallic as
Haiti riots for water ad Canada keeps its door unlocked and
We see the new pictures painted by Moore
So we bowl and strike down people confused for nations

And the beat goes on…
And the beat goes on

The South is in the mines and mills,
while Maine parallels in poverty from the factories
so the elders of the world head to Florida to flush out the locals
Road rage and depression are the new melancholy and loss of self
and the children feel the pain.
Aguilera reupholsters sexuality with a thin fabric
and sexual is the only feeling important to make a woman tick
The Victorian Age we claim behind bars
Yet here it is- and here we are.

And the beat goes on…
And the beat goes on

Dirt is in the hearts of men and
Women are no longer the equals or even able to help.
A crayon cannot color us like our skin.
Naked is no longer natural.
Old and unspectacular is carved into glamour
Young boys are told “be a man”
As they are wrestled from their mother’s breast
Mom comes home from work to rest before playing housewife
and that’s not enough, so Dad gets the knife

And the beat goes on…
And the beat goes on

TV informs us how we must keep evolving as a whole,
But when did the whole start?
When did this hole start?
While the fads take over and the ozone disappears,
the Native Americans will die from alcohol and poverty
and China will grow and grow.
Sierra Leone will feel the gang rapes
as Africa dies under machine guns and machetes.
Yet France and America will not see with the bills in their eyes
and the scoffing at mental health caught in their throats.

And the beat goes on…
And the beat goes on.

Australia can not get through the surf.
So onward soldiers,
Directed from a desk in an office that never believes the news
or knows that the world turns

And the beat goes on…
And the beat goes on.