The Long Way Around

I don't know what to say about these days

I'm seeing people changing in the strangest ways

Even in the richer neighborhoods

People don't know when they've got it good

They've got the envy and they've got it bad

When I was a kid everything I did was trying to be free

Running up and down Tinsel Town with the fire inside of me

My planets all in retrograde, the best of all my plans got laid

I made my breaks and some mistakes

Just not the ones people think I made

I'm a long way gone

Down this wild road I'm on

It's going to take me where I'm bound

But it's the long way around

It's a little hard keeping track of what's gone wrong

The covenant unravels and the news just rolls along

I could feel my memory letting go some two or three disasters ago

It's hard to say which did more ill

Citizens United or the Gulf oil spill

I'm a long way gone

Down this wild road I'm on

It's going to take me where I'm bound

But it's the long way around

It's never been that hard to buy a gun

Now they'll sell a Glock 19 to just about anyone

The seeds of tragedy are there

In what we feel we have the right to bear

To watch our children come to harm

There in the safety of our arms

With all we disagree about the passions burn, the heart goes out

And we're a long way gone

Down this wild road we're on

It's going to take us where we're bound

It's just the long way around