If I run uphill, I'm out of breath   If I spend all my money, I've got no money left   If I place all my chips on only one bet, I'm all in   And it's a surefire bet I'm going to die   So I'm taking up praying on Sunday nights   And it's not that I believe in your all might   But I might as well   As insurance or bail   Because institution's like a big bright light   And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight   And you've been in the desert underneath the charging sky   It's just you and God   But what if God's not there?   But his name is on your dollar bill   Which just became cab fare   For the evangelists, the communists, the lefts, and the rights   And the hypocrites and the jesuits and the blacks and the whites   In the belly of the beast in the Atlanta streets   Or up in Laurel Canyon, the verge of Middle East   Still they're dying on the dark continent   It's been happening long enough to mention it   Have I mentioned my parents are getting back together again?   It's been twenty-five years   Of spreading infection   Somehow we're not affected   So my mom, she brushes her hair   And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard   And I share with my friends a couple of beers   In the Atlanta streets   In the belly of the beast