It's not the end Forget what I said that fucking letter says I'm not going over I'm not crossing oceans for them It's not defense And I won't let the business of making new soldiers Roll over our making promises We'll tell them That I was only joking When I said all those things I swore I meant at the time Either joking or lying So better the stateside than brave the great desert divide The whole ride over, I was growing wings And better the road stretched out ahead than the cheap threat of me stretched out dead What's do think over? Just grab your fucking things There'll be no statewide searches For some AWOL stateside kid like me I swear it'll just be a few weeks Of hotel rooms and diner foods, or face the new American exchange Of one rifle for every wife I'll lose Listen, I've been thinking that we'll take all we've got And I can dodge the draft and you can quit your job And we'll make these fuckers catch me if they want me They'll find me a fighter after all So better the stateside than brave the great desert divide Sound the sirens for a long drive Better the days in for weeks than the days away in the desert streets So sound the psalms of retreat