"Is this what my life amounts to?"

Says the man with the carnation in his lapel,

"I didn't know it worked this way

I thought every dog had his day"



And he'd believed in the dream

He'd waited on every corner

But now forsaken he explains

It wasn't the temptation of a woman



It was American money

I tell you it made him what he is today

It was American money

He imagined stuffing pictures of Washington

In the pocket of his raincoat



"So where has my family gone to?"

Says the man

From the fortieth floor of his hotel

Well everybody has to pay

But maybe it's in different ways



'Cause he'd believed in the dream

Why he'd met it on every corner

But he never could explain

What could made a man lose his sense of decency



It was American money

I tell you it made him what he is today

It was American money

So don't underestimate the power of

The dollar in your pocket



American money

And there's pictures of Washington

Falling from his pockets



Now they got guns in outer space

And nobody's going to win that race

'Cause when there's nowhere left to hide

You won't be taking sides



Though you believed in the dream

And it was waiting on every corner

But now it's coming down around you

Like bankers jumping from the windows of Wall Street



American money

I tell you it made us what we are today

It was American money

So don't underestimate the power

Of the dollar in your pocket



American money

I tell you, made us what we are today

It was American money

We'd imagined stuffing pictures of Washington

In the pockets of our raincoats