Wasteland Lyrics - Dan Bern

I saw the best of my generation playing pinball 

Make-up on, all caked up 

Looking like some kind of china doll 

With all of Adolf Hitler's moves down cold 

As they stood up in front 

Of a rock and roll band 

And always moving upward and ever upward 

To this gentle golden promised land 

With the smartest of them all 

Moonlighting as a word processor 

And the strongest of them all 

Checking IDs outside a saloon 

And the prettiest of all 

Taking off her clothes 

In front of men 

Whose eyes look like they were in some little hick town 

Near Omaha 

Watching the police chief 

Run his car off the side of a bridge 

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I saw a men with dreams 

Like the ones I'd had 

Beg quarters outside the Seven-Eleven 

Till it got so they didn't affect me anymore 

Than the mailboxes I'd passed 

'Cept that sometimes 

I'd put somthing in the mailbox 

I'd had the wind at my back 

Now I felt it cold in my face 

And for an awful long time now 

You were the only one who ever 

Called me late at night 

And I really never noticed 

Till after you stopped calling 

And the emptiness 

And silence 

Got so heavy 

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Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the promised land 

Broken up in Disneyland 

Broken up in the plastic land 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland 

I saw dead Marilyn Monroe 

Strung up on every street corner in Hollywood 

Like some two bit whore 

Offering a discount rate 

And I wondered how Joe Dimaggio felt 

I saw dead James Dean's ghost 

Wandering the sidewalk looking troubled 

And I wondered how his mama felt 

I saw signs that said "Headshots done for cheap" 

Signs that said "Extras wanted, top dollars paid" 

Signs for "Haircuts" 

Signs for "Manicures" 

And signs for "Tanning salons" 

And signs for "Wardrobe specialists" 

Signs for "Cosmetic surgery" 

And signs for "Assertiveness training" 

And I stopped to read them all 

And every single block 

Looked like every single block 

Looked like every single block 

Looked like every single block 

But she kept driving 

'Cause everyone else kept driving 

And cause gridlock is evil 

And not knowing anywhere is evil 

And those that had money 

Looked good but weren't too happy 

And those who didn't have money 

Didn't look so good and weren't too happy either 

And in a city of three million 

Two hundred and sixty nine thousand 

Nine hundred eighty four 

Everyone was lonely 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the promised land 

Broken up in Disneyland 

Broken up in the plastic land 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland 

And I watched as everyone I knew 

Spent their lives 

Trying to be watched on stage 

Watched on film 

Or listened to on a record 

And they thought 

"Well, maybe that way 

I could get a little love out of this life" 

And I watched as the best of my generation 

Abandoned their dreams 

And settled for making a little money 

I watched TV 

Read the papers 

Listend to the radio 

And made all the fancy scenes 

And said all the right words 

And wore all the right clothes 

And knew the names of the hip people 

But I still felt out of touch 

So I stopped watching TV 

And reading the papers 

And listening to the radio 

And making the fancy scenes 

And saying the right words 

And wearing the right clothes 

And knowing the names of the hip people 

And I felt more out of touch than ever 

But I didn't care anymore 

And I felt you slipping away 

And I felt myself slipping from you 

And I wanted more than anything else 

For it to rain for one whole day 

Like it used to 

But all there ever was was sun 

Relentless sun 

Hot beating sun 

And everyone wore their sunglasses 

And walked around like flies 

Under magnifyng glass 

With their eyes removed 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the promised land 

Broken up in Disneyland 

Broken up in the plastic land 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland 

Broken up in the wasteland