omorka | Gonna need a new polical icon (Reply)

It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.

When I was a kid, I used to draw airplanes with stars and bars
shooting down airplanes adorned with hammers and sickles.
I bought a hundred water guns so I could save the world,
saving my lunch money and stealing my father's quarters, dimes, and nickels.

I discovered religion watching Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star
by letting go and closing his eyes.
And I devoured comic books, four-colored mythologies taught me right and wrong,
and if you believe, you can fly.

It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.

I remember listening to songs about trains and feeling the rush of wonder at the possibility
that the world was infinite and accessible all at the same time.
And then it was songs about highways and "Born to be Wild" and "Little Red Corvette,"
and the road went on forever in my mind.

But now it's clogged bumper to bumper with stinking SUVs and two-story pickup trucks
that can drive over anything except the two-story pickup truck right in front of it.
Now even the highways look the same, Starbucks and 711s and Walmarts jam the feeder roads.
We don't live around this mess, we live under it.

It's been a long, long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
Since I felt fine.

Now all the songs are about gangsters and guns and the TV speeds by at 100 deaths an hour
and everyone wants to pull off the crime of the century.
Steal two hundred gazillion dollars, enough to buy myself an island
and build a real honest-to-God train on it for no-one but me

And get away with it. Get away with it. We Americans are freedom-loving people
and nothing says freedom like getting away with it.
We went from Billy the Kid to Richard Nixon, Enron, Exxon, O.J. Simpson,
We used to dream about heroes, but now it's just how to beat the system.

So where to we go to dream now? Up on the roof of the projects, straining through the city lights
to see if they've built golden arches on the moon yet?
Self-medicated, half-sedated, trying our best to stay distracted,
living life according to the TV set.

Corporations owning nations, telling us "don't change the station,
it's the only safe way to win the human race."
I wonder how the world sees us - rich beyond compare, powerful without equal,
a spoiled, drunk 15-year-old waving a gun in their face.

It's been a long, long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.
It's been a long, long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time
Since I felt fine.
- Guy Forsyth, "Long Long Time"