Is This America?

(album: Straight In A Gay Gay World - 1976)

Breaker, breaker, have a good day today
And a better day tomorrow
Well, keep your shiny side up and your dirty side down
Get the pedal to the metal gonna leave this town
The black girls are fighting in the streets
And the white guys are giving me the creeps
I thought the Ivy League had died
But it got loaded it got wired
Went out playing for keeps

Is this America
Is this what I see
Is this America
Won't you show it to me

One day in New York
Sunlight hits the streets
I thought I heard the sound of the second coming
But I listened again and heard the subway humming
Then one night in Dayton
In a drunken haze
I thought I saw the star of Bethlehem
But it's just the light on a Holiday Inn

Is this America
That's tricking me
Is this America
Is this what I see
Is this America
Black, red, white and blue
Is this America
Yeah, I wonder too

You serve yourself in Philly oh yes you do
No one around is gonna do it for you
You look after yourself and clean up your own trash
'Cause Philly don't deliver till Philly gets the cash
Philly don't deliver till Philly gets the cash

The hometeam is loading all the bases
Everybody's getting on everybody's cases
I've seen the evil and the good
But was I misunderstood
When I yelled out for a smile on their faces
How about a smile on your faces

Is this America
That's tricking me
Is this America
Is this what I see
Is this America
Black Red White and Blue
Is this America
Yeah, I wonder too