3 November 2024
Life in Wartime
by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth
I heard of a van
loaded with weapons
It’s packed up and ready to go
Heard of some grave sites,
out by the highway
A place where nobody knows.
That sound of gunfire,
off in the distance
I’m gettin’ used to it now.
Lived in a brownstone,
lived in a ghetto,
I’ve lived all over this town.
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
This ain’t no fooling around.
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain’t got time for that now.
Transmit the message to the receiver,
Hope for an answer some day.
I got three passports
A couple of visas,
You don’t even know my real name.
High on a hillside.
The trucks are loading,
Everything’s ready to roll.
I sleep in the daytime
I work in the nighttime
I might not ever get home.
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
This ain’t no fooling around.
This ain’t no Mudd Club, or C.B.G.B.,
I ain’t got time for that now.
Heard about Houston?
Heard about Detroit?
Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?
You oughta know not to
stand by that window
Someone might see you up there.
I got some groceries
some peanut butter
to last a couple of days.
But I ain’t got no speakers,
ain’t got no headphones,
ain’t got no records to play.
Why stay in college?
Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time.
Can’t write a letter,
Can’t send no postcard,
I ain’t got time for that now.
Trouble in transit,
got through the roadblock,
We blended in with the crowd.
We got computers.
We’re tapping phone lines,
I know that that ain’t allowed.
We dress like students
We dress like housewives
Or in a suit and a tie.
I’ve changed my hairstyle
so many times now,
I don’t know what I look like!
You make me shiver,
I feel so tender,
We make a pretty good team.
Don’t get exhausted,
I’ll do some driving,
You ought to get you some sleep.
Burned all my notebooks
What good are notebooks?
They won’t help me survive.
My chest is aching,
burns like a furnace.
The burning keeps me alive
keeps me alive
keeps me alive.