His eyes are dry, his skin's like nicotine In lines that stretch to spell where youth has been This epitaph in smoke has wreathed the door You sense how much this air's been breathed before Something isn't happening here Something isn't happening here, it isn't like it should have been The Bible belt they tighten one more hole And crush the spirit so the save the soul While those out on rafts without a single oar Watched as the new wave crashed against the shore Oh, but you don't have to ask who? or wherefore? or why, ma? 'Cos that's what it's there for and this might be Weimar Don't give up the ghost when you give up your thanks 'Cos they send in the clowns before they send in the tanks Something isn't happening here, oh no Something isn't happening here, oh no His eyes are dry, his skin's like nicotine In lines that stretch to spell where youth has been And this tear came from sitting on the fence Snagged upon the pattern of events