Tom Waits — Road to Peace

Young Abdel Madi Shabneh was only eighteen years old He was the youngest of nine children He'd never spent a night away from home And his mother held his photograph up in the New York Times You see the killing has intensified along the road to peace He was a tall thin boy with a wispy moustache Disguised as an Orthodox Jew On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War II And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away More retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace Now at King George Avenue and Jaffa Road Passengers boarded bus 14A In the aisle next to the driver, Abdel Madi Shabneh The last thing that he said on Earth was 'God is great and God is good' And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace Now in response to this, another kiss of death was visited upon Yashir Tehah, Israel says is an Hamas Senior militant Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed his white Opel And it killed his wife and his three-year-old child Leaving only blackened skeletons They found his toddler's bottle and a pair of small shoes And they waved them in front of the cameras But Israel said they did not know that his wife and child were in the car There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace Israel launched its latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers Though thousands dead and wounded on both sides Most of them Middle Eastern civilians They fill their children full of hate to fight an old man's war And die upon the road to peace 'This is our land, we will fight with all our force,' Say the Palestinians and the Jews And each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance If the right eye offends thee, then you must pluck it out And Mahmoud Abbas and Sharon had been lost Out along the road to peace Once Kissinger said, "We have no friends, America only has interests" And now our President wants to be seen as a hero And he's hungry for re-election But Bush is reluctant to risk his future with the fear of his political failures So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press Ten thousand miles from the road to peace In a video that they found at the home of Abdel Madi Shabneh He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy He was an excellent student, he studied so hard It was as if he had a future He told his mother that he had a test that day Out along the road to peace The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army With guns and tanks and bullets? And If God is great and God is good Why can't he change the hearts of men? Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help Maybe God himself, he needs all of our help Maybe God himself is lost and needs help He's out upon the road to peace Maybe God himself is lost and needs help Maybe God himself needs all of our help And he's lost upon the road to peace And he's lost upon the road to peace Out upon the road to peace