There’s a flag out on the front porch There’s another down the street Two old men who used to wave hello Now won’t even fucking speak They’ve lived there twenty-seven years Shared ladders, tools and beer Watched each other’s children grow Were there when death came near Now they stare across those property lines Like soldiers in a war Over people on a television Who’ve never knocked upon their door [Pre-Chorus] I wonder when we learned That disagreement meant goodbye When being wrong became a wound And being right was worth the fight [Chorus] They keep us scared They keep us divided They keep us angry enough That we don’t wonder why We draw another line Find another side Turn somebody we once loved Into someone we despise And while we’re busy shouting Nobody hears a thing Maybe that’s the point Maybe they keep us angry So we never ask Who wins [Verse 2] My brother and my uncle Haven’t spoken in two years Not over money, not over women Not betrayal, blood, or tears Just two names on a ballot Neither one will ever know Two men who shared a lifetime Let two strangers make them foes There’s an empty chair at Christmas Where somebody used to sit And everybody knows the reason But nobody will mention it Tell me what the hell we won If this is what it cost We proved somebody else was wrong And look at what we lost [Chorus] They keep us scared They keep us divided They keep us angry enough That we don’t wonder why We draw another line Find another side Turn somebody we once loved Into someone we despise And while we’re busy shouting Nobody hears a thing Maybe that’s the point Maybe they keep us angry So we never ask Who wins [Verse 3] I remember drinking with a man Who thought different things than me We’d argue half the evening Then he’d buy the next whiskey Nobody called the other evil Nobody wished the other dead We just figured two grown people Could hold two thoughts inside their heads Now I carry every argument Right here inside my hand A thousand angry strangers Tell me who I ought to damn Every morning there’s a villain Every night another crime And somehow being furious Has become our favorite way to pass the time [Bridge] Maybe your neighbor isn’t evil Maybe your father isn’t lost Maybe your friend didn’t become your enemy Because of one little box he crossed Maybe we’ve been staring at each other So goddamn long We forgot to look around Maybe while we’re tearing one another apart Somebody likes the sound [Final Chorus] They keep us scared They keep us divided They keep us angry enough That we don’t wonder why We bury old friendships We leave empty chairs We trade people who actually love us For people who don’t know we’re there And while we’re busy shouting Nobody hears a thing Maybe that’s the point Maybe they keep us angry So we never ask Who wins [Outro] I don’t care who you voted for I don’t care what color hangs outside If the house across the street catches fire I’m still running to your side Because someday all these names will disappear And all these signs come down And we’ll have to look each other in the eye And figure out What the fuck we did to this town.
