I think sometimes war is necessary

But I pray every night for peace on Earth

I hand out my dollars to the homeless

But believe that every able soul should work


My daddy gave me my shotgun 

That I'll hand down to my son

Try to teach him everything it means


I'm a man of my convictions

Call me wrong, call me right

But I bring my better angels to every fight

You may not like where I'm going

But you sure know where I stand

So hate me if you want to

But love me if you can


I stand by the right to speak freely

But I worry 'bout what kids learn from TV 

And before all this debatin' turns to angry words and hate

Maybe we should just agree to disagree

And I believe that Jesus looks down here and sees us

And if you ask him he would say


I'm a man of my convictions

Call me wrong, call me right

But I bring my better angels to every fight

You may not like where I'm going

But you sure know where I stand

So hate me if you want to

But love me if you can


You may not like where I'm going

But you sure know where I stand

So go on hate me if you want to 

But love me if you can

Yeah love me if you can