The brutal sun’s oppressive heat
Two thousand miles crossed on their feet
Children, parents, and elderly
Come to a slab of gray concrete
What makes a person want to leave
A place they call their home country?
They never heard Tom Petty sing
"Don’t have to live like a refugee"

We’ve got to break this thing down

See all those huddled masses yearn
Their homes are burned
They can’t return
They’re calling out and begging please
Look down your nose
They’re on their knees
What is the cause of the disease
That makes you lose all empathy?
Scream "It’s a Christian nation"
While they use their hair to wash your feet

We gotta break this thing down

From Mexico to Palestine
But most of all the wall that’s in your mind

Mind if I just put you into their shoes?
Or, if you lack imagination
Your previous generations’ desperation
To leave their original nation
So, you know,
Sentiments for your grandparents
Reveal just what a hypocrite you are

We’ve got to break this thing down

Between Pakistan and India
Remain the scars of the imperial

We’ve got to break this thing down

Flotillas of the desperate flee
Across the Mediterranean Sea

We’ve got to break this thing down

The kids have washed up on the shore
And there’s only going to be more

We’ve got to break this thing down

They sleep in cages on the floor
Of an abandoned big box store

We’ve got to break this thing down

Innocent victims of a war
One that we probably paid for.

Look in their eyes
Humanity recognized, don’t say:
"I didn’t notice. I couldn’t..."
Listen to them
You can’t hear their words and say:
"I didn’t notice. I couldn’t..."
Listen to them
You can’t hear their words and not say:

We’ve got to break this thing down