From the recording If You Ask Me I'll Tell You
Lyrics
he said “i’m off to fight a war”
she went down to her knees on the kitchen floor
and said “son, won’t you stick around a little more?”
he said “i’m doing this all for you”
in his baseball cap and combat boots
his mom couldn’t tell if he was twelve or twenty two
they talked all night till she passed out
he opened the back door as the rain came down
and went off to be a man or something
does anybody really know a goddamn thing?
(I want answers)
every time I ask why I hear silence ring
we can’t fathom being
stuck in a world so big
hurtling through space on an invisible string oh
can anybody really know a goddam thing?
She said “I want to turn him in
But who knows if they’ll believe me or him?
And it sucks to tell the whole world all about my sins”
Her best friend smiled and said “I know”
But baby this is his crime it was never yours
And the hardest moves will unblock the biggest doors
They walked on up in the broad daylight
To the front of the station holding hands real tight
And set off to draw a line between wrong and right
chorus
He said “it’s all the same to me
I could stand up and fight or just let it be
Bulldoze a forest or plant a thousand trees
She just laughed and said “you fool,
Go ahead let darkness get the best of you
But I’ll Seize each day, there are so precious few”
Like an alarm went off, he woke right up
Couldn’t believe he let himself get so numb
And went off to find a cause or something
chorus