Piles of bodies on the nightclub floor
the drugs that arrive from a distant shore
poppies in fields get torched in a war
on everything we ever knew before

Didn't you used to buy this stuff
to feed your youth to keep them dazed?
even as you talk of a war on drugs
the name on the cheque says cia

burn the supply and raise the price
on the streets where the votes were disallowed
the voice against war is the voice of the poor
and those that turned their heads around

so when you see us laughing its a sign of self defense
a mirror for the madness that replaces common sense

flags get flown on the way back home
from the wars that end when the whistle's blown
kit supplied from a factory, sewn
for a fraction of the price where the rice gets grown
patriotic fervour rests
its legs on desperations back
when asked to justify itself
it wrapped its silence in a flag
and the big man cheers for the price of a beer
and the peace distraction brings
away from the news and the darkened views
as empires spread their wings

so when you see us laughing its a sign of self defense
a mirror for the madness that replaces common sense