[Verse 1]
I've got this phosphorescent portrait of gentle Jesus meek and mild
I've got this harlot that I'm stuck with carrying another man's child
The solitary star announcing vacancy burnt out as we arrived
They'd throw us back across the border if they knew that we survived
[Pre-Chorus]
And they were surprised to see us
So they greeted us with palms
And they asked for ammunition
Acts of contrition and small alms
[Chorus]
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this
[Verse 2]
I've got this imaginary radio, and I'm punching up the dial
I've got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won't blow up in my eye
And everything that I thought fanciful or mocked as too extreme
Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams
[Pre-Chorus]
And I'm practicing my likeness
Of St. Francis of Assisi
And if I hold my hand outstretched
A little bird comes to me
And I might recite a small prayer if I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame and found myself in Bedlam
Stepping on the fingers that were stretching through the bars
Wailing echoes down the corridors
[Chorus]
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this
[Verse 3]
They've got this scared and decorated girl strapped to the steel trunk of a Mustang
They drove her down a cypress grove where traitors hang and stars still spangle
They dangled flags and other rags along a colored thread of twine
They dragged that bruised and purple heart along the road to Palestine
[Pre-Chorus]
Someone went off muttering
He mentioned thirty pieces
Easter saw a slaughtering
Each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces
My thoughts returned to vengeance
But I put up no resistance
Though it seemed a long way from my home
It really was no distance
[Chorus]
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this
[Pre-Chorus]
And the player piano picks out "Life Goes On"
The Ringtone rang out "Jerusalem"
Into the pit of sadness where the wretched plunge
We've buried all the innocents, we must bury revenge
We must bury revenge, we must bury revenge
[Chorus]
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this
[Outro]
In the name of the Father and the Son, in the name of gasoline and a gun
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
