(Verse 1) Old Crassus bought up Rome one burning building at a time, had more money than the state, which made him feel like nothing in the end. For money's a quiet thing, and quiet never made a man feel great, so sixty years old, every omen screaming DON'T, he went anyhow. (Refrain) And it's a long way down, boys, a long way down, when every map you got says turn around. They told him, and they told him, and they told him once more, but a man chasing a parade don't hear it anymore. (Verse 2 — the parade) Well he got his parade in the end, just not the kind he'd pick, some other fella in his robe, and the crowd laid on it thick. They passed his head around a stage like a prop in the third act, and the man who wanted glory, well, he finally got it back. (Refrain) And it's a long way down, boys, a long way down, when every map you got says turn around. They told him, and they told him, and they told him once more, but a man chasing a parade don't hear it anymore. (Verse 3 / Outro, slower — the warnings) They ran the thing a hundred ways before a shot was fired, every table, every model, said the ending's dark and dire. But a stranger had a chart that promised quick and cheap and sure, and the man who loves a flatterer don't listen to the war. (Final refrain, sparse, almost spoken) It's a long way down, boys. Long way down. Every map said turn, and he drove into the ground. Sun's still up, the game's still on, remind me what it's for. Just a man and a parade that he don't get anymore.
