Well I'm about to get sick, from watching my TV
Checking out the news, until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean they say that every day, is just a rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change my friend is anybody's guess

So I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin', hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin', every time I hear them sayin'
There's no way to delay that trouble coming every day
No way to delay that trouble coming every day

Wednesday I watched the riot, seen the cops out on the street
Watched thеm throwing rocks and stuff and choking in the heat
Listenеd to reports about the whisky passin’ round
Seen the smoke and fire and the market burning down
Watched while everybody on his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash and slash and bust and burn

And I’m watchin' and I’m waitin', hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’, every time I hear them sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day

Well I seen the fires burnin', the local people turnin'
On the merchants and the shops, who used to sell them brooms and mops
And every other household item, watched the mob just turn and bite them
And they say it served them right, because a few of them were white
And it's the same across the nation, black and white discrimination
Yellin' 'You can't understand me' and all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV, and all that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day, each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in, because the colour of his skin
Just don't appeal to him

You know we got to sit around at home and watch us think again
But I bet there won't be many left to see it really end
Because the fire in the street ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people don't you know that it could start

On any street, in any town, in any state, if any clown
Decides that now's the time is right, for some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree, there ain't no great society

As it applies to you and me, our country isn't free
And the law refuse to see, if all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor, unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four, won't amount to nothin' more
Than watch rats go across the floor, and make up songs about the poor

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin', hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin' every time I hear them sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day