My eyes were tight and burning
 When I came to in the cell


With a hundred true believers
 Sent to spend the night in Hell


They'll be picking up their ribbons
 Disappear into the crowd


And waiting for dispatches
 That will come through clear and loud

I walked around a corner
 There was something going down


Heard a siren from behind me
 Someone threw me to the ground


They were kicking me as I
 Curled into a ball


Then the boots went marching on
 And the sky began to fall

A soldier rolled me over
 I couldn't see his face


His black boot on my throat
 While he sprayed my eyes with mace


He was acting on instructions
 He was answering a call


He pulled me by the collar
 Threw me up against the wall

He said "Take me to your leader."
 I said, "I don't understand


I was only on my way home
 Wasn't there to make some kind of stand


It's not Selma, It's not Montgomery 
It's not 1968


That show's in syndication
 And we already paid the freight.”

I could barely make him out
 My eyes all tears and blood


I reached out to touch his face 
And he hit me with a club


I heard a woman laughing 
And then beckon him away


He gave me one last shove
 Then headed back into the fray

Deep inside you hear a voice
 Telling you that everything has rotten


Sitting in your living room
 Watching as we're racing to the bottom

The smoke and tear gas drifted off
 I could make shapes out of the dark


They chained me in the wagon
 Just for being in the park


I passed out in my filth
 And I woke up to a fight


Restless and exhausted
 It went on and on like that all night.

On and on.