Restless

I listen to this CD a bunch now that my brother burned me a copy of it. I mentioned in an earlier post that we rocked out as children to Elton John's Breaking Hearts. At 7 years old, I more or less enjoyed the melody and sang along to meaningless words. At 29 I sing along but now I understand the lyrics. This one particular tune, Restless, amazes me since it was obviously written in the early 80s, probably about the Cold War and other global issues. Twenty to twenty five years ago. It's uncanny that despite its references to political issues of days bygone, so much of the words resonate in 2007 (and certainly in the years since 9/11).

Restless
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Breaking Hearts

It's a hot summer night in the blackboard jungle
Crime sits heavy on the city shoulder
Can't get no work, I can't get a job
I just sit and play my radio in the parking lot

Well they're breaking down doors in foreign countries
Everybody thinks somebody's hiding something
There's talk on the street and the nation is worried
But you can't talk back when you're dead, when you're dead and
buried

(chorus)

And Everybody's restless
Everybody's scared
Everybody's looking for something that just ain't there
Everybody's restless

Everybody's scared, they think we're all in danger
Everyone's taking cover from someone else's anger
The walls have ears, Big Brother's watching
They tell us that we're poisoned from everything that we're
touching

(chorus)

Well we could be children from the way we're acting
We feed ourselves lies and then we scream for action
We just breed and we lose our nerve
And there's bombs going off in every corner of the world

(chorus)