Ain't No Reason

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way
We do it every day

Preachers on the podiums speaking of saints
Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape
Cursing my name

I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing
You could spend your whole life working for something
Just to have it taken away

People walk around pushing back their debts
Wearing paychecks like necklaces and bracelets
Talking about nothing, not thinking 'bout death
Every little heartbeat, every little breath

People walk a tight rope on a razor's edge
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons
It could be a bomb, or a bullet, or a pen
Or thought, or a word, or a sentence

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I don't know why I say the things I say
But I say them anyway

But love will come, set me free
Love will come, set me free, I do believe
Love will come, set me free, I know it will
Love will come, set me free, yeah

Prison walls still standing tall
Some things never change at all
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all
Keep on building bombs, gonna drop them all

Working your fingers bare to the bone
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul
Like a lung, that's filled with coal
Suffocating slow

The wind blows wild and I may move
But politicians lie and I am not fooled
You don't need no reason or a three-piece suit
To argue the truth

The air on my skin and the world under my toes
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes
Chaos and commotion wherever I go
Love I try to follow

Love will come, set me free
Love will come, set me free, I do believe
Love will come, set me free, I know it will
Yes, Love will come, set me free, yeah

There ain't no reason things are this way
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way
We do it every day