It's a psychopathic isolation daydream come alive
The worker drones still serve their queen though she's destroyed the hive
Instead there's bigger houses and some better cars to drive
A screen to feel connected
A pill to kill the pain
A ladder to convince you that your climbing's not in vain
A mortgage and a mouth to feed that keep you up at night
"You may reach the top one day," they say, "if you play your cards right"
First, they took the farms, and then they built the factories
But then they took the factory jobs and they sent them overseas
They raised all the tuitions and told us all to get degrees
Now we're deeper into debt
Deeper in despair
Deeper underwater and we're running out of air
But if you want to see the rainbow, you must put up with the rain
"You may reach the top one day," they say. "There's no need to complain"
There's something percolating in the poorest parts of town
There's new cafes and restaurants and new money all around
And everywhere you go, you hear the same familiar sound
From Detroit to San Francisco
From Brooklyn to the South
In everything that goes into or comes out of your mouth
In the shirt upon your back or the very bedroom where you sleep
"You may reach the top one day," they say, "but it ain't coming cheap"
The suicide is sprawled upon the bloody bathroom floor
A policeman shot another boy and no one knows what for
I try to listen to the wind blow, but you can't hear it anymore
There's only smoke and static
There's only noise and fear
There's only so much talking until you tune out all you hear
There's only buried bodies trying to shout up through the dirt
"You may reach the top one day," they say, "but someone's getting hurt"
Our new path to heaven's paved with hundred dollar bills
And a hundred ways to justify the people that we kill
We have now more than ever, but that won't satisfy us still
Every drop of oil
Every drop of blood
Everyone who fights back lying facedown in the mud
Everything belongs to us no matter what the price
"You may reach the top one day," they say, "but you'll have to sacrifice"