There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way
We do it every day
Preachers on the podiums speaking the sayings
Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape
Cursing my name
I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing
You could spend your whole life working for something
Just to have it taken away
People walk around pushing back their debts
Wearing paychecks like necklaces and bracelets
Talking about nothing, not thinking 'bout death
Every little heartbeat, every little breath
People walk a tight rope on a razors edge
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons
It could be a bomb, or a bullet or a pen
Or thought, or a word or a sentence
There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I don't know why I say the things I say
But I say them anyway
Prison walls still standing tall
Some things never change at all
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all
Keep on building bombs, gonna drop them all
Working your fingers bare to the bone
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul
Like a lung, it's filled with cold
Suffocating slow
The wind blows wild and I may move
The politicians lie and I am not a fool
You don't need no razor or a three piece suit
To argue the truth
They air on my skin in the world under my toes
Slavery stitched to the fabric of my clothes
Love I try to follow
There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way
We do it every day
