but you never said it was a bed of nails
you never told me 'bout the rubber hoses
or how unsteady were the justice scales

          i need the wild truth

on the street there are a billion people
they got no love, they got no hope
they got no youth, they got no beauty
they're looking backwards through a telescope

          they need the wild truth

     whatever happened to the man walking down the street
     with his hands in his pockets whistling a tune?
     science fiction and nostalgia have become the same thing

     i don't know how to make any choices anymore i mean,
     who do i vote for? i get the feeling that as soon as
     something appears in the paper it ceases to be true

     i have to meet the man who can crack this world of justice
     like a safe.  someone with the courage to allow room for
     good things to run wild

          into the wild truth

we don't need no voodoo stories
from no magic president
who tries to make a dream a fait accompli
by using phantoms for his evidence

          we need the wild truth

i tell a hundred thousand lies that twist me
into the noise where i hide my sin
my shame and scandal pull me down and kiss me
i can't live a life that might have been

          i need the wild truth

     are we supposed to take all this greed and fear and hatred
     seriously?  it's like watching dust settle it never changes
     it's too consistent

     mercy is not consistent it's like the wind
     it goes where it will. mercy is comic, and its the only
     thing worth taking seriously

          i need the wild truth