Throwing Stones

Music By Bob Weir
Words By John Perry Barlow

Released July 1987

Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free Dizzy with eternity Paint it with a skin of sky, brush in some clouds and sea Call it home for you and me A peaceful place, or so it looks from space A closer look reveals the human race Full of hope, full of grace, is the human face But afraid we may lay our home to waste There's a fear down here we can't forget Hasn't got a name just yet Always awake, always around Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Now watch as the ball revolves and the night-time falls And again the hunt begins and again the blood wind calls By and by, again, the morning sun will rise But the darkness never goes from some men's eyes (Well I know) It strolls the sidewalk and it rolls the streets Staking turf, dividing up meat Nightmare spook, piece of heat It's you and me, you and me Click flash blade in ghetto night Rudy's looking for a fight Rat cat alley, roll them bones Need that cash to feed that Jones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price? Money green, or proletarian gray Selling guns instead of food today So the kids they dance and shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Heartless powers try to tell us what to think If the spirit's sleeping then the flesh is ink History's page will be neatly carved in stone The future's here, we are it, we are on our own On our own, on our own, we are on our own If the game is lost, then we're all the same No one left to place or take the blame We will leave this place an empty stone Or that shining ball of blue we call our home So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Shipping powders back and forth Singing black goes south and white comes north And the whole world full of petty wars Singing I got mine and you got yours While the current fashions set the pace Lose your step, fall out of grace The radical, he rant and rage Singing someone got to turn the page And the rich man in his summer home Singing just leave well enough alone But his pants are down, his cover's blown And the politicians throwing stones So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones 'Cause it's all too clear we're on our own Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free It's dizzying, the possibilities Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down]

Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission