Monday 13 June 2011

No, I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey

Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union


There'll be no more counting the cars on the garden state parkway
Nor waiting for the Fung Wah bus to carry me to who-knows-where
And when I stand tonight, 'neath the lights of the Fenway
Will I not yell like hell for the glory of the Newark Bears?

'Cause where I'm going to now, no one can ever hurt me
Where the well of human hatred is shallow and dry
No, I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to die

I'm doing 70 on 17, I'm doing 80 over 84
And I never let the Meritt Parkway magnetize me no more
Give me a brutal Somerville summer, give me a cruel New England winter
Give me the great Pine Barrens so I can see them turned into splinters

'Cause if I come in on a donkey
Let me go out on a gurney
I want to realize too late I never should have left New Jersey

I sense the enemy
They're rustling around in the trees
Oh, I thought I had gotten away
But they followed me to 02143

Woe, oh woe is me
No one knows the trouble I see
When they hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree
I'll sit beneath the leaves and weep

None of us shall be saved
Every man will be a slave
For John Brown's body lies a'mouldring in the grave
And there's rumblings down in the cave

So if it's time for choosing sides
And to show this dirty city how we do the Jersey Slide
And if it deserves a better class of criminal
Then I'm'a give it to them tonight

So we'll rally around the flag, rally around the flag
Rally around the flag, boys, rally once again, shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom
Rally around the flag, rally around the flag
Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on

"I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write with moderation. I am in earnest. I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard."

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