I don't know what to say about these days
People, they are changing in the strangest ways
Even in the richer neighborhoods
People don't know when they've got it good
They've got the envy and they've got it bad
When I was a kid everything I did was trying to be free
Running up and down tinsel town with a fire inside of me
My planets all in retrograde and the best of all my plans got laid
I had my breaks, made mistakes
But just not the ones people think I made

And I'm a long way gone
Down this road I'm traveling on
It's gonna take me where I'm bound
But it's the long way around

It's so hard keeping track of what's gone wrong
The covenant unravels and the news keeps rolling on
I can feel my memory letting go four or five disasters ago
It's hard to say what did more - ill citizens, united or the gulf oil spill

And I'm a long way gone
Down this road I'm traveling on
It's gonna take me where I'm bound
But it's the long way around

It's never been that hard to buy a gun
But now they'll sell a Glock 19 to just about anyone
All the seeds of tragedy are there
In what we feel we have the right to bear
To watch our children come to harm
There in the safety of our arms
With all we disagree about
Our passions burn the heart goes out

And we're a long way gone
Down this road we're traveling on
It's gonna take us where we're bound
But it's the long way around