You can drive across the whole thing
in four days if you really wanted
leaving custom thank you notes
in all the houses you ever haunted

in this whole solar system
we've only met one type of life
it's the living kind of life
and it's not one I recognize

America

I said "excuse me" to the ocean
because I thought I had got in its way
at first I didn't think it heard me
but then I saw it wave

you can spend every living moment thinking
how can I get out alive?
but is it really then, can you really call it
hey man, just shut up and drive

I thought we'd be on the road all night when that ice storm hit in Texas
and when we pulled into the gas station it was like a frozen oasis
oh, sweet mama, does that neon sign shine for me?
Is there a street where my name glows all through the night?

and I've never read (America)
no I've never been (America)
I just never went (America)
I have never seen (America)

all my fantasies are faking orgasms
they're only in it for the money I made up for them
I trade in ideas, opinion and artistry
and my face is on every dollar

this is heaven but heaven is here
this is heaven but heaven is hard
because your lover is listening to music you don't know
and you're tangled up in the headphone wires

you know our problems, they don't end
just because we get boy/girlfriends
is this your salvation plan?

there's only one type of love
it's the loving kind of love
but when you're mad at me it's the end of times
and I'm mad at you all the other times

have I ever really been in love?
I guess I've never really been in love
have I ever really
not in the way I'm thinking

real life's a mess
but at least you're not paying rent
you've been making it, maybe even breaking even
you oughta be content

it doesn't make sense
you're still sitting on the fence
when the yard is yours
and it was money well spent

and I've never read
no, I've never been
I just never went
I have never seen
America
America
democracy
biographies

civil rights! basically
bright lights! living in the city
second prize in a beauty pageant
200 dollars, this is life, this is your life!
America!
this is heaven
this is the place