I was watching the news on my TV
I saw another flag-draped coffin
It's something I'm starting to see, just a little too often
American boys fighting wars on foreign shores
That's what people are talking about
Some have a little and some have not
I'm getting by with what I've got
The rich getting richer & the poor stay poor
People in the middle can't take the pressure no more
White power, black power, fight the power, power to the people, people get ready
I said people get ready to go to Zion
That's what people are talking about
Civil rights and civil war
War on drugs at your front door
FBI and the CIA
Looking for terrorists in the USA
Segregation and immigration
The deportation of people from our great nation
That's what people are talking about
All you Republicans and Democrats
The election is over, what do you think of that
Colored coded maps for Red and Blue states
I watched it on TV I still can't get it straight
Politicians playing their tricks, same old speech and rhetoric
Vote for me, I'll grant you clemency
That's what people are talking about
Racial profiling and police brutality,
People living with HIV, that's reality
Gun control, abortion rights and birth control
Televangelist said he's gonna save your soul
He wants to tell you what to do
He said God knows what's right for you
He said Hallelujah, I said what's it to ya
Can I get a witness? Amen
That's what people are talking about
Hurricane Katrina wiped out the gulf coast
Flooded the queen of the Mississippi, hit the poor people the most
Homeless people walking around on flooded streets
Got no clothes to wear and food to eat
Oh the misery of poverty strips away a good man's dignity
That's what people are talking about
Nuclear bombs and nuclear powers
I still can't believe they flew planes into the towers
They couldn't find the weapons of mass destruction
Now the American taxpayer is paying for reconstruction
Sex crimes and war crimes on prime time it's the sign of our times
That's what people are talking about
Old men say that freedom is not free
But it's always the young men dying in the wars overseas
Women dressed in black protesting down at the Swarthmore train station
They're protesting the war and the state of the nation
Wouldn't it be nice if we could declare war on war
So we don't have to have war no more
Wouldn't it be nice if we could declare war on war
So we don't have to have war no more
That's what people should be talking about
Today
That's what we should be talking about
That's what I say
Too many young men dying in that war overseas gotta bring them back home
Women and child crying ain't seen their daddy for so long
Too long, too long, too long we're fighting this war
Does anybody here know what we're fighting for
Seems like it really doesn't matter anymore
Gotta stop that war, Stop that war