I am a backseat driver from America
They drive on the left on falls road
The man at the wheel's name is Shamus
We pass a child on the corner he knows
And Shamus says,"now what chance has that kid got?"
And I say from the back, "I don't know"
He says, "There's barbed wire at all these exits..
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go."
It's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go.
A cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
And he's the only trash here I see
And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when the children should sleep
But, they'll slip to their window and they'll see him
And they'll think that white hood's all they need
It's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in Chicago for those kids to go.
I was a child in the sixties
Dreams could be held through TV
With Disney and Cronkite and martin Luther
And, I believed, I believed, I believed.
Now, I am the backstreet driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war ... I am the root of all evil
Lord, I can't drive on the left side of the road
It's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in this world for these kids to go