Growing Up the American Way - Johnny Crashed

Went home to see some friends the other day
They said to leave while you can kid, get away
From this town cuz it's dying and you can't hear a sound
So there ain't no use in sticking around

Cuz while the rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poor
The paint's all peeling with locks on all the doors
The roads are being traveled, they're all leading our of town
So will the last person leaving close the store down

You wonder why the kids don't want to go to school
You wonder why escape always seems to be the rule
There's something that's hanging over all of our head
And with one false move in minutes we're dead

All the town fathers forget were they're from
Protected from the screaming like a dog from the sun
When you tell them that they're dying in packs all around
They say sure kid we went looking but nothing was found

But someone ripped away that veil so thin
Exposing the skeleton that laid beneath the skin
So we all stand silent with nothing to say
Looking at the corpse as it's wasting away

When you're growing up they expect you to see
The blueness of the sky and all that endless company
But now your eyes don't see that and you know they're open wide
So unless you are mistaken your endless dream has died

So now I stand alone at the corner of the grave
Wondering what to bury and wondering what to save
The eulogies are written and now they're being read
But no-one's volunteering the things that need to be said

So gather round here people if you're going to stay
Cuz if we're going to die why not do it this way
Figure out the enemy, figure out for sure
Then start the guns a-firing until it breathes no more...