The Human Response

Turn down the sound of silence
Let’s bask in the noise of violence
Demonstrate that human response
Well when you gotta fight and cry
And steal and lie
For every scrap of meaning
Come celebrate with me the eve of my decline
We’ll sit like we were waiting for a sign
Saying, “oh love, stay with me”
Lying in bed feeling all alone
Every night when you’re at home
Well, maybe it’s easier to be like that
Than living life on your knees
Begging, “oh lord, forgive me please”

We’re nothing but dead bodies in the gutters tonight
No place to be but here, to watch them cry
And tonight we’ll watch the children die
No fault of ours so we’ll just stand idly by
And it was eye for an eye until we were all blind
Mumbling all of our goodbyes
And letting our mouths do all the talking
Cause maybe that’s easier than living
And getting so tired of staying
When did we forget our dreams?
Those hot summer days when we could be anything
Back when we took what we could and never apologized
When we were ready for it all and never realized
That we wouldn’t be fine with all the failure in our lives

Back when we were just kids and it was alright
To skin our knees and get dirty till night
Back when we rode our bikes around the cul-de-sac
Pretending we were going places and never coming back
But now we’re dumbing ourselves down for the masses
So one day we can fit into a mold
Being the round peg in the square hole
Walking the streets, trying to be a soldier
Fighting for your beliefs or what was told you?
Now it’s just self-medication and sedation
Numbing yourself down until you put out that fire
You watch fights on TV instead of beating on me
But no little blue pill can make you love yourself
You would have been disgusted to be part of our lost generation

And now we can’t even disconnect and we can’t be free
You’ve taken back everything you said to me
Where are all the tears you shed for someone else?
Can’t you spare any for yourself?
What about our futures that once shone so bright
But are now almost out of sight?
Our dead dreams may just be sleeping still
If at the wake you finally realize
You are just burying yourself
And maybe the human response
Has steered you wrong, your knee-jerk stimuli
And maybe you can still remember
Those dreams locked away in a corner of your mind
That once we were both happy when I called you mine