Some kids from the apartments   Were out playing in a field   When they came across a clubhouse in the sky   But the big kids pulled the ladder up   Once they got inside   And the little kids below began to cry      In the valley city families struggle to survive   Minimum wage becomes their self esteem   And the real estate developer   Took over their hillside   A thousand homes like only in their dreams      One of these days   We might understand   The last will be first in the end   And if we wait too long   For them to come down to the rest of us   There's gonna be a fire in the tree house      Children ought to play together   Someone throw the ladder down      Small children and their mothers   Brave the winter all alone   They pray their sun will shine another day   I know they call it the homeland   But it must not feel like home   Go on and hang your heads, Daddy's far away      One of these days   We might understand   The last will be first in the end   And if we wait too long   For them to come down to the rest of us   There's gonna be a fire in the tree house      Children ought to play together   Someone throw the ladder down   Children ought to play together   Someone throw the ladder down      Must we beat our brothers down?   Must we make our sisters frown?   If we look into their eyes   Surely we will recognize   Our own true flesh and blood   Our own flesh and blood   Our own