"Buffalo, 1981" lyrics

Hungry people want food, so the wealthy make committees
And they say things like, "The problem is single-parent families"
And the parents they imprison weren't gonna be good anyway
And the parents they employ should be grateful when they're paid

From the redwoods to the Gulf Stream to the buffalo roaming between
You told me that the president fired your mom
And a bunch of other labor lawyers in 1981
You were touched with all the radiance a sudden sun discloses
Circulating roses with air traffic controllers
Now the same parade's been happening, been going back and forth
We could've made protected classes of the masses of the poor

From the redwoods to the Gulf Stream to the buffalo roaming between
This scarcity, this poverty, this apple on the dappled tree
Is eaten by somebody using someone else's teeth
This dripping spit, hit-or-miss debtor lord wilderness
Cats with the tails snipped that wail when the wind shifts
You can buy a body, sell a body, build a body store
The USA hates you being poor

There's a lot that's getting through the walls
There's a wolfing of the warbler's calls
When you're looking at your feet and there's a tremor in the land
Of the lives that came before, that you may never understand
Though you listen, though you try
That old diamond, that old sky

Nothing comes from nothing, but there's nowhere else to start
There's a raven in the rafters, and he's aiming for your heart
There's a way of congregating where you give someone your hand
And keep the other one wide open for whoever else comes in
There's a song worth singing when somebody's at your door
When I say, "This is mine." What I mean is "It's yours"