[Verse 1]
This city has the same name
But it's different than the one I left
The sights and sounds have changed somehow
And I'm struggling to catch my breath
Maybe I'm growing older
Maybe I haven't grown at all
But I measured myself on the train tracks
And I found I was two feet tall
The subway profits who laid in their coffins
They begged me not to nag
So I covered all their faces up
With an old faded flag
[Verse 2]
I saw Sammy on a tightrope
Reciting some old Rimbaud
Trying to feel if his heart was real
Instead of a frozen stone
The people who wandered past him
Wondered why Sam was so possessed
Til Dave drove by, said "I know why
There's an anvil on his chest"
The good old boys with their rifle toys
Shouted "Sam you're a sad-eyed f*g"
As they went home to keep a-dreaming on
Their old faded flag
[Verse 3]
Little Red is quite alarming
The wolf is a stubborn drunk
Grandma's in the backroom
Sorting ancient piles of junk
Reporters are on the bar stools
And thinking they have found some dirt
By pointing their flash bomb cameras
Up Little Red's floral skirt
But by now she's bored, she's been here before
She lights a Dunhill, takes a drag
And wraps herself discreetly in
Her old faded flag
[Verse 4]
The politicians are gathering
To set their watches back
To when the slow revolving door
Had frozen in its tracks
They take a look around themselves
It feels like the stuff of dreams
They were so sure the sheep cared more
About collecting likes and memes
Scrambling I saw them climb the steps
Of a building draped in rags
Raising their right hands
In salute to their old faded flag
[Verse 5]
I’m told that no one listens
I’m told that no one sees
I’m told my generation’s dead
From a frightful lack of means
I saw my best friends drowning
Where the first responders wept
And my Uncle Sam only sent a note
Saying “Son, you better watch your step”
Now I’m sure this crumbling floor
Was built on our crooked backs
And planted in our spinal cord
Is an old faded flag