The cycle of life is here    To see in all of its fine simplicity   But the way we live it seems to be,    Something very weird to me   And I cry out      For pettiness like lady's chatter    Seems to complicate the matter   I grit my teeth as my senses chatter    For nothing gets me much madder   As I leap out      For big or little, great or small,    It really doesn't matter at all   The way we shuffle our feet and hem and haw,    'Cause everybody's afraid they'll fall   Or else be left out      But what's right for me or strange to you    Shouldn't make a damn on what you do   'Cause whether or not you make it through,    I thought that you already knew   That I'll keep you going      And the World War III and the World Series   Will make the same size headlines in the news      From all I've seen of politics,    It's just a greasy big money stick   That's geared to run on tongues    So slick to make you think this is all there is   Boy you're lucky (You're stuck with Humphrey)      How they con the little middle man    Into thinkin' he has got a hand   To play in the future of the Promised Land,    he owes himself to the destiny of man   Gets ridiculous      A cheap gangster hires someone   To do his dirty work with a tommy gun   While the President just points at anyone    And says "I, your country needs some killing done   Go do it now boy"      The war itself is bad enough,    It can break you down no matter how tough   But the tragedy of all the hoopla stuff,    It makes you think you can't do enough   For the shiny symbols      And the other countries feel the same as we   And regret that I have but one country to give for my life      The preacher stands in his holy shroud sayin'    "God forgives you if you do it now"   But if you come back when the chips are down,    You'll find they've all gone underground   To pray for you      A homosexual, disturbed priest feels that he can preach to me   The right way to go and raise a family    And I'm forced to look at him and say "you mean   You're guessin"      The population is getting higher,    The poverty poor, the pregnant tired   Are waiting on the Pope to be inspired    For some new contraceptive attire   Saying "It's cool now"      It's a ghost behind a one-way mirror    Listening tip-toed at the door to hear   If someone outside won't speak the year    Then they'll slip a note out how they feel   About pierced ear-lobes      But the rules made now    For the changing cows   Are a little late    And will be out of date by tomorrow      Her mother placed on virginity    Saying it was the holy place to be   For the things boys had were evilry    When it came time for matrimony   She froze and died there      Her sister at fourteen very well known thought all the kicks came lying there prone   But a fundamental fact not spoken at home left her feeling like a chewed on bone   And why she wondered      One chick who dug moving about, very liberal minded and often spoke out   How she was cool and understood no doubt with the blankets up and the lights turned out   And you're condescending      A couple together for five or six years,    A marriage license they'd never been near   But social pressure and loss of job fear    Got them married and divorced in half a year   They couldn't cut it      It's all talked about    But still it's lived around   And what is right for me    Could be perversity in any state law book      I'm told a minstrel at one time w   As allowed to sing and make his rhymes   To comment on the news of the times    And say directly what's in people's minds   And he made tips for it      But today try playing on some street curb,    Singin' the news in everyday words   The people pass by, the laughin' is heard    Or else they hit you where it hurts   They keep their ears closed      One man said "Boy, I dig your stuff,    I want you to come play in my club   I'll put your name in lights up above,   But just remember I got a club to run   So don't be too strong"      It ain't your writers who sell out,    It's the damn censors who turn about   My life learned adjectives and vowels    And say that my mouth is much too foul   To clearly speak to you      But try to hit a nail and if the hammer fails   Then the words you use to describe    That bruise is basic language      I hoboed around and sang the songs    That everybody knew and hummed along   To amuse myself I wrote some songs, talkin'    About things that could be right or wrong   And I'm a little different      A record company you know well wanted to know if my song would sell   I said, "Yes, I like it very well,    If you don't sir, you can go to help"   Somebody else change      So I kept playin' and bummin' around, singin'    To the ones who dug my sound   Some guys ask "Won't you play my town",    I ask fair bread they put me down   Their Caddie's mortgaged      Tried one deal, like "it's you and me",   This guy said he could be of some use to me   But when I found he's puttin' screws to me,   I tipped my hat and made it back to the street   Singin' new folk songs      If there's time enough,    The hill ain't too rough   What I wrote today,    I might someday play,    And make tips for it