The Wealth and the Wanting

words and music © 1993 by Howard Ashby Kranz D G D G

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I was raised in trim green pastures, on the inside of the white fence,

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With clean clothes and an allowance, and compulsory education,

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And almost enough of everything I could think of how to ask for

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And a hawk’s eye view And a hawk’s eye view And a hawk’s eye view of the wealth and the wanting.

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So I put in my forty hours, and I loved my friends and family

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Until a weekly hour’s religion was enough to raise the question:

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I was dealing with a God who could not fit into that time frame,

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So I turned away So I turned away So I turned away from the wealth and the wanting.

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Now I walk the city streets, or I walk down by the river,

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Splashed with oily dust and garbage, and with lively sounds and faces,

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Plugging quarters in the video, picking numbers for the sweepstakes,

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But you just can’t buy But you just can’t buy But you just can’t buy the wealth or the wanting.

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Now they’re beating the crap out of Rodney King,

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And the jury says it’s reasonable force.

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Now they’re sniping at the firemen, and Rodney King

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Distractedly pleads, “It just ain’t right, It just ain’t right, It just ain’t right .

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There’s a God inside my heart, there’s a God up on the mountain.

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There’s a face on every coin, there’s a soul in every pebble.

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There’s a sadness in the mall; there’s a richness in the alley,

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And we’ve got to deal And we’ve got to deal And we’ve got to deal with the wealth and the wanting.