That's just what they told me
You could be a patriot
Don't you love your country?
Don't you wanna die for it?

How could they enlist me?
I was only seventeen
It's better to be thankful
Than challenge their authority

This is how the world is
This is how they suck you in
Manipulate the broken
To suffer every consequence
They gave me a machine gun
But I don't wanna hurt no one
There's nothing here to fight for
This is someone else's war

That's just what they told me
Son, you could be a patriot
Defender of your country
Protector of the innocent

We'll beat 'em with a clenched fist
By order of your government
They said we were the good guys
But what if we're the terrorists?

This is how the world is
This is how they suck you in
Manipulate the broken
To suffer every consequence
They gave me a machine gun
But I don't wanna hurt no one
There's nothing here to fight for
This is someone else's war

This is how the world ends
This is how they suck you in
Manipulate the broken
To suffer every consequence
I'm only a statistic
And no one even gives a shit
The treatment for my shell shock
Yeah, they won't even pay for it

I fired that machine gun
I never meant to hurt no one
And as my friends and foes bleed
We satisfy a rich man's greed

Maybe I don't know a damn thing
I've never been through anything
This is all I can be
A voice for someone else's grief
He fired that machine gun
She never meant to hurt no one
'Cause once you leave a headstone
You never really make it home