State of the Union Lyrics

Six years old on some sunny street, sky's the limit for your hopes and dreams

You imagine how big your life might be, someday you'll get there, then they'll see

The old man's been home from work the last couple weeks, sits in his chair staring at

The TV, got a drink in his hand but he smiles at you

You think everything's alright but you ain't got a clue about the state, about the state

Of the union

Jobs around here pay the same as they did back in the day when I was a kid, but it cost

Five times as much today to live in a dead end town like this

So you go to school for years to get your degree, get out and get a job that hopefully

Will get you out of debt and get you out of this town

You'll be paying that off till you're in the ground

So you pick up the night shift at a local watering hole, cause old folks around here

can't retire no more

They come shuffling in like the walking dead, they give you all their money to get them

Out of their heads

That's the state, that's the state of the union

It's been about a month now I've had this cough, but I ain't got time to take time off

Besides, what would a doctor tell me I ain't already heard

Probably send me off with some pills and a kind word

Yesterday there was blood in my hand, but they don't cover that with my insurance plan

I'm shoulda put my money into lottery tickets

It's a long shot, but at least shit, there's a chance you could win it

That's the state, that's the state of the union

We go looking for hope, some kind of Savior

Pills, presidents, conspiracies, creators

Trying to find a way through the dark, but it keeps getting later

We just need a way out of this failure

When some folks go, they go all at once

Others go slow over years and months

Some find a way to keep their heads up

Digging their way through the rubble and the rust

In every city, in every small town

Folks are just trying to put food in their mouth

Haggard and staggered and knocked to the ground

They ain't got a choice between get up or stay down

That's the state, that's the state of the union

That's the state, that's the state of the union