Next World War

[Verse 1] They drew the lines in dust On a table full of ash Fat men in pressed white shirts Talk slow with the world in glass My brother wore the wind On a patched-up green old coat He said, “If they call my name” He’d swallow dirt and laugh [Pre-Chorus] And the radio said calm While the windows shook awake Every mother in the block Knew the sound a siren makes Boots on stairwells, doors thrown wide Names like stones in every mouth The sky looked like a verdict And it never looked back down [Chorus] This is the next world war (Next world war) It starts in a chair, not a shore (Next world war) And we all pay to score We all pay to score This is the next world war [Verse 2] Fuel lines, train yards, ration bread Black smoke over the canal Kids learned flags from broken poles Not from books hung in a hall My sister kept her shoes by the bed In case the roof came down She said, “If I hear that knock” I’m not staying in this town [Pre-Chorus] And the radio said calm While the windows shook awake Every mother in the block Knew the sound a siren makes Boots on stairwells, doors thrown wide Names like stones in every mouth The sky looked like a verdict And it never looked back down [Chorus] This is the next world war (Next world war) It starts in a chair, not a shore (Next world war) And we all pay to score We all pay to score This is the next world war [Bridge] Somebody’s son in a flood-lit yard Staring at a pitted plate Somebody’s wife on a concrete floor Counting days by the taste of rain When the leaders hide their hands The dead still learn their names History don’t knock twice It comes in through the frame [Final Chorus] This is the next world war (Next world war) It starts in a chair, not a shore (Next world war) And we all pay to score We all pay to score This is the next world war (Next world war) There’s no clean place to fall (No clean place) When the map turns black on all On all, on all