Blood on the tracks
By the city limit line
Where the predawn express
Rolls careless through the night
Past the suburbs all named for
Heroes dead and gone
Buried not so long before
The year we were born
And this wasteland is my land
This wasteland is yours
From the atom bomb islands
To our televised wars
This wasteland is your land
This wasteland is mine
Its paradise as advertised
An unholy empire in decline
Follow the iron tracks down
To the tenement heights of K Town
Where the angles of justice and peace
Turn tricks for the bent chief of police
Where the guillotines rise and fall
And the lights just flicker in city hall
Where the princes can rinse their hands clean
The obstructions of the law
And this wasteland is my land
This wasteland is yours
From the atom bomb islands
To our televised wars
This wasteland is your land
This wasteland is mine
Its paradise as advertised
An unholy empire in decline
The mayor's on a tear down on E Street
Wears his party badge and a laurel wreath
And a sword by his side to deputise
Those who would tow the line
And the man all in black and rags
About his shoulders wears the flag
On his flute of bone
Plays the national song on command
And this wasteland is my land
This wasteland is yours
From the atom bomb islands
To our televised wars
This wasteland is your land
This wasteland is mine
Its paradise as advertised
An unholy empire in decline