Midnight In The City Of Destruction
Tom Morello The Nightwatchman Lyrics

There's an old green shed at the end of an overgrown driveway
At the end of a neglected path, there is a dilapidated shed painted in green.

And years ago that shed collapsed and fell
That shed fell down many years back due to its fragile state.

Years before that there was a withered dog chained up there
A sickly dog was once kept locked in that shed before the collapse.

I saved him, maybe he saved me as well
I rescued the dog before it met its end, and it may have returned the favor in some way.

Now he's gone and I think I've come undone
The dog is no more, and it feels like a part of me is missing too.

And it's midnight in the city of destruction
It's the dead of the night in a place that's truly falling apart.

There's music in the air and sweet abandon
There's a joyful tune being played, and a sense of freedom reigns.

They're singin' cross the farm in the evening breeze
The melody is being carried by the gentle night wind that passes through the fields.

But there's someone in the rows who's unwanted
In the midst of all this, there is a person who's being excluded from the celebration.

And now they've cut the faithful from the trees
The ones who once belonged to this place have been forcibly removed, uprooted like trees.

And the bulldozers move in one by one
The destructive machines are moving in and wreaking havoc on this peaceful setting.

It's midnight in the city of destruction
Once again, it's the witching hour in a place that's slowly but surely being torn apart.

I lost my guitar, my home, my hope and my good fortune
I've been robbed of everything that gave me comfort: my music, my residence, my optimism, and my luck.

I lost my grandfather, two neighbors and my friend
The people I cared about the most have all been taken away from me, leaving me alone and bereft.

I pray that God himself will come and drown the president
I hope that a higher power will intervene and remove the leader who's responsible for all this pain and misery.

If the levees break again
If the flood defenses that are supposed to protect us from disaster fail yet again.

Now we're standin' at the crossroads waitin' for instruction
We, the people directly affected by these events, are now at a crucial juncture, waiting for guidance on what to do next.

And it?s midnight in the city of destruction
As usual, it's nighttime in a place that's being destroyed from within, crying out for salvation and redemption.

There's a secret prison somewhere south of 60
Far away from here, there is an unacknowledged correctional facility hidden below the 60th parallel.

And in that secret prison there's a secret cell
Inside that classified jail, there is a confinement unit that is kept under wraps even more tightly.

And the prisoner's bound and burned, blinded and beaten
The person held in this cell has been subjected to numerous forms of torture and maltreatment: being restrained, scarred, blinded, and injured.

Still that secret prisoner keeps his secret well
Despite all the horrors he's endured, this detainee has not given up any information nor betrayed anyone.

Turn out the lights 'cause for one night that's enough, son
It's time to end this tale of woe, for it's not doing any good to dwell on these matters any longer.

It's midnight in the city of destruction
One more time, darkness descends on this decayed metropolis that seems beyond redemption.