Pushing thru the market  
square 
so many mothers sighing 
News had just come over,  
we had five years left to cry in 
 
News guy wept and told us  
earth was really dying 
Cried so much his face was wet 
then I knew he was not lying 
 
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies 
I saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'s 
My brain hurt like a warehouse 
it had no room to spare 
I had to cram so many things  
to store everything in there 
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people 
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people 
I never thought I'd need so many people 
 
A girl my age went off her head 
hit some tiny children 
If the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them 
 
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheel of a Cadillac 
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest 
and a queer threw up at the sight of that 
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour 
drinking milk shakes cold and long 
Smiling and waving and looking so fine 
don't think you knew you were in this song 
 
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor 
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there 
Your face, your race, the way that you talk 
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk 
 
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes 
We've got five years, what a surprise 
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot 
We've got five years, that's all we've got