The tension in the air is swelling like a bubble about to break
Students have shut down universities and taken to the streets
The DNC has left Chicago burned and frayed

Cover your eyes
You think America’s recovered from the self-inflicted wounds it took in 1968?
Still Corretta led his people through the Memphis streets
In spite of the nightmare that was made out of a dream

Young men sent overseas, their names are in a lottery that kills
There are social clashes, body counts, and rioting on TV screens
A bullet put another Kennedy to sleep

Cover your eyes
You think America’s recovered from the self-inflicted wounds it took in 1968?
Still Corretta led his people through the Memphis streets
In spite of the nightmare that was made out of a dream

So why this disconnect in our youth after 40 years?
Peace tried and failed while the radio played “As my guitar gently weeps”
Where’s the rage in the young towards war and hatred based on race?
The CIA silenced “The people’s new Messiah,” and now history repeats
Are we so blind to see this country hasn’t changed?

Cover your eyes
You think America’s recovered from the self-inflicted wounds it took in 1968?
Still Corretta led his people through the Memphis streets
In spite of the nightmare that was made out of a dream