Throwing Stones

(album: In The Dark - 1987)

Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Dizzy with eternity
Paint it with a skin of sky
Brush in some clouds and sea
Call it home for you and me
A peaceful place or so it looks from space
A closer look reveals the human race
Full of hope, full of grace
Is the human face
But afraid we may lay our home to waste

There's a fear down here we can't forget
Hasn't got a name just yet
Always awake, always around
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

Now watch as the ball revolves
And the nighttime falls
Again the hunt begins
Again the bloodwind calls
By and by, the morning sun will rise
But the darkness never goes
From some men's eyes
It strolls the sidewalks and it rolls the streets
Staking turf, dividing up meat
Nightmare spook, piece of heat
It's you and me
You and me

Click flash blade in ghetto night
Rudies looking for a fight
Rat cat alley, roll them bones
Need that cash to feed that jones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

Commissars and pin-stripe bosses
Roll the dice
Any way they fall
Guess who gets to pay the price?
Money green or proletarian gray
Selling guns 'stead of food today

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

Heartless powers try to tell us
What to think
If the spirit's sleeping
Then the flesh is ink
History's page will thus be carved in stone
And we are here, and we are on our own
On our own
On our own
On our own

If the game is lost
Then we're all the same
No one left to place or take the blame
We can leave this place and empty stone
Or that shining ball we used to call our home

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

Shipping powders back and forth
Singing "Black goes south and white comes north"
In a whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours
And the current fashion sets the pace
Lose your step, fall out of grace
And the radical, he rant and rage
Singing someone's got to turn the page
And the rich man in his summer home
Singing just leave well enough alone
But his pants are down, his cover's blown

And the politicians throwing stones
So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
And it's all too clear we're on our own
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

Picture a bright blue ball
Just spinning, spinnin, free
Dizzy with the possibilities
Ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down