Quiet desperation

Sittin' on a milk crate morning noon and night
Fantasizing the American dream
You're lookin' pretty good and you've got yourself
Convinced that the nightmare ain't as bad as it seems
You try your best to hide yourself
Beneath a turned up collar and a plastic bag
Is all you got to show
And your books inside your shopping cart
Is probably the best education that you've ever gonna know
The guy in the Mercedes just hollared with a dollar
Better grab it cause the signal's turning green
And while you're at it put the jug behind the picket fence
Because the cop that just went by sho'looking mean
Institution, contribution, restitution, destitution
Doesn't mean a thing to you now
You're the freeway feature film your audience is driving by
So maybe you should stand and take a bow

(chorus)
You're living in desperation
And you never have felt complete
You live in antecipation of another day on the street
Sing with me

You're sitting in that same spot you want to go home
But there ain't no home but home on the range
You've forgotten what you look like
And it looks like you've forgotten that
The look inside your eyes is very strange
Ain't nothing left to hide
You're stripped of all your pride
And all you feel inside is a hole a mile wide
You're the freeway desperado and a perfect living model
Of a land that hasn't any good excuse

(repeat chorus)

You're sitting on your milk crate
With your blanket wrapped around you
And I see you sittin' day after day
I'd really like to talk but I know if I approached
You'd probably get up and walk away
You wishing that your home of the American dream
Wasn't only smog and exhaust
I love you desperado and all I've got to say is
You let me know how much I'm really lost

(repeat chorus)