Shane Koyczan, The Short Story Long - People Are Getting Better lyrics
[Shane Koyczan, The Short Story Long - People Are Getting Better lyrics]
It's alright it's okay
Ask me about tomorrow only here today
And as for next week as for next year
The future, my regards know I'll be here
They say people are getting better
People are okay
But, you see everything can be narrowed down
Into the truth behind you
You just gotta know where to look
You gotta know where to find it
They say they built a pawn shop
Right on the spot where the Devil fell
Because even when you are broke
You still got something you can sell
Hell, the guy on the podium
Says he sells truth
But, you can smell all the
Politics on his breath
He's been doing too many shots
Of taxes and death
There's a guy on my street corner
Who says he sells freedom
He'll even give me the needles if
I'm broke if I need 'em
But, you see I know what I'm missin'
So I ain't gotta try it
Because freedom ain't freedom if
You gotta buy it
But, I have no grand plan
For the great escape
And even though I got a pretty
Decent cape in my closet
When I rip open my shirt
There is no "S" on my chest
I'm no Superman
No adopted bulletproof savior of the earth
I'm just like everyone else
I have to be slapped on the ass at birth
But for what it's worth
I'm more like Clark Kent
A journalist of the humanities
That tells it like it is
And now I'm telling you
We live in a world where
Darth Vader reminds us: "This is CNN"
But even Darth Vader stuttered
When we heard about these kids
Who turned their school into a shooting range
And the whole world sat by like
A baby in a shitty diaper
Crying out for change
But what about the grade ten dropouts
With the grade two reading levels
That play Russian Roulette with guns
They found on their playground
Whispering "Don't worry
Even if it does happen
It will take less than a minute"
Because I guess, even the word "funeral"
Still has the word "fun" in it
And in order to re-insure ourselves
We listen to people
Because people say that people
Are getting better people are okay
But, if you look outside your window
The children aren't playing marbles or jacks
They are vengefully stepping on cracks
To break their mother's backs
When they can't have their way
Sure, people are getting better
People are okay
And we send our children
Running towards the future
As if the future is the place to be
And all we can see is the
Hope bleeding out of their eyes
As they look up and watch the
Airlines plummet from the skies
And they run past a young girl
In a small cubby hole
Full of corroding cement
Because she doesn't run anymore
See, she's already dropped out of the race
And in case you couldn't tell
By looking at the lesions on her face
She hangs a cardboard sign around
Her neck that reads: "I have AIDS
Please, leave me alone"
And the kids put more quarters into the phone
And then cry into the flat
Line of the dial tone and Mom and Dad say
"No, you can't come home"
They say, people are getting better
People are okay
But, I can only say that none of this is okay
The world is not okay
And I'm no better than anyone else
I'm looking for answers
Stumbling around in the dark
Curling up like a question mark
Because I don't know what to do
But, I know you have to care about the world
Because it doesn't care about you
Ask me about tomorrow only here today
And as for next week as for next year
The future, my regards know I'll be here
They say people are getting better
People are okay
But, you see everything can be narrowed down
Into the truth behind you
You just gotta know where to look
You gotta know where to find it
They say they built a pawn shop
Right on the spot where the Devil fell
Because even when you are broke
You still got something you can sell
Hell, the guy on the podium
Says he sells truth
But, you can smell all the
Politics on his breath
He's been doing too many shots
Of taxes and death
There's a guy on my street corner
Who says he sells freedom
He'll even give me the needles if
I'm broke if I need 'em
But, you see I know what I'm missin'
So I ain't gotta try it
Because freedom ain't freedom if
You gotta buy it
But, I have no grand plan
For the great escape
And even though I got a pretty
Decent cape in my closet
When I rip open my shirt
There is no "S" on my chest
I'm no Superman
No adopted bulletproof savior of the earth
I'm just like everyone else
I have to be slapped on the ass at birth
But for what it's worth
I'm more like Clark Kent
A journalist of the humanities
That tells it like it is
And now I'm telling you
We live in a world where
Darth Vader reminds us: "This is CNN"
But even Darth Vader stuttered
When we heard about these kids
Who turned their school into a shooting range
And the whole world sat by like
A baby in a shitty diaper
Crying out for change
But what about the grade ten dropouts
With the grade two reading levels
That play Russian Roulette with guns
They found on their playground
Whispering "Don't worry
Even if it does happen
It will take less than a minute"
Because I guess, even the word "funeral"
Still has the word "fun" in it
And in order to re-insure ourselves
We listen to people
Because people say that people
Are getting better people are okay
But, if you look outside your window
The children aren't playing marbles or jacks
They are vengefully stepping on cracks
To break their mother's backs
When they can't have their way
Sure, people are getting better
People are okay
And we send our children
Running towards the future
As if the future is the place to be
And all we can see is the
Hope bleeding out of their eyes
As they look up and watch the
Airlines plummet from the skies
And they run past a young girl
In a small cubby hole
Full of corroding cement
Because she doesn't run anymore
See, she's already dropped out of the race
And in case you couldn't tell
By looking at the lesions on her face
She hangs a cardboard sign around
Her neck that reads: "I have AIDS
Please, leave me alone"
And the kids put more quarters into the phone
And then cry into the flat
Line of the dial tone and Mom and Dad say
"No, you can't come home"
They say, people are getting better
People are okay
But, I can only say that none of this is okay
The world is not okay
And I'm no better than anyone else
I'm looking for answers
Stumbling around in the dark
Curling up like a question mark
Because I don't know what to do
But, I know you have to care about the world
Because it doesn't care about you