This Lyric is #299

The School Of Staying Alive
© 2006 Michael Sheehan

The cowboy and the spaceman need to get along these days,
Learn to give each other room to live in their own ways,
To believe in the way they see things, to behave as they believe
And to have their yarn respected in the tapestry we weave.
There are many kinds of creatures with an instinct to survive:
Every one is a natural teacher in the school of staying alive.

His trouble with the red man goes back a long, long way,
But the natives made him welcome when the cowboy came to stay -
Didn't send him an invitation, didn't know he would stay so long,
Didn't think his fallen angels would try to teach them right from wrong.
From the first they believed in sharing with any man who could survive:
Every one is a natural teacher in the school of staying alive.

The native is the father, the cowboy is the son,
The spaceman is the holy ghost and yet these three are one
In the eyes of an untouched virgin, in the heart of the Magdalene,
In the hands of the lesbian witches we betrayed and called unclean
And to every kind of creature with an instinct to survive:
Every one is a natural teacher in the school of staying alive.

The civil war is over, but the north and south still fight
To justify by any means the cause they thought was right,
But the fighting itself is evil, the slaves couldn't stay in chains
And the children live on a battlefield while their parents’ fight remains.
They're a different kind of creature with an instinct to survive:
Every one is a natural teacher in the school of staying alive.

We fought a revolution so that all men could be free,
Framed the constitution to protect our liberty -
But the bribers in the lobby and the traitors on the throne
Stole a trillion dollars while our backs were turned and left our kids to pay the loan.
All we saw were their fingers pointing at the homeless and the poor,
At the blacks and abortion mothers who couldn't make ends meet no more
And at all the battered children using drugs to numb their pain
So we re-elect the criminals while their victims take the blame.
Now the world's been filled with poisons, the ozone's fading away
And the final test in survival school is our vote on judgement day.
If we fight for our rights together, something tells me we'll survive:
Everyone is a natural teacher in the school of staying alive.



[This message has been edited by Kaley Willow (edited 06-08-2006).]

The best way to solve a problem is to stop causing it.