[Verse 1: Captain Rapp]
You better wake up to what's going down
Your eyes are closed but your ears hear the sound
There are cries in the wind, that thought makes you cringe
He's dead and gone, you lost another friend who was young in age but old in sinnin'
Gangbangin', hangin', he was slanging' the juice
The skunk was bunk and his death was the proof
Another life ended all too soon
With a tag on the toe in a coroner's room
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel

[Hook: Kimberly Ball]
I can't stand it
You can't stand it
Is this the way that it's planned?
I can't stand it
You can't stand it
Bad times

[Verse 2: Captain Rapp]
The world evolves while inflation soars
The American Dream is unseen for sure
And when employees where you work take a company loss
The boss must minimize a staggering cost
You get a day off, a layoff and a letter to stay off
And now you don't work no more
That position at the plant you really did need
Head of the house, five kids to feed
You tried everything but it's just not fair
To have a able-bodied man apply for welfare
A city cries out it's mass hysteria
One wounded, four dead in a California area
Innocent victims are all slain
Relatives and neighbors experience the pain
They hold back tears, just got to take a stand
Ordering padlocks and guns in a heavy demand
The fears won't rest until they're all behind bars
For the rest of his life before we bury the scar
There's a frame of the father and a very young daughter
Memories in his mind, love once had he fathered
Is there any way to compensate
A persons life so great of faith
Heaven knows this can't go on
Too many things are going wrong
Who will save us from ourselves
This world has turned to Hell
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel
[Hook]

[Verse 3]
Help me, help me, help me, help me
All those eyes they're all out to get me
Wars and murders, when will it cease
I'm being robbed, someone call the police
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel

[Verse 4]
Weather plays havoc on the eastern states
Floods, hurricanes and you can't escape
Tornadoes drop trees, hurling home and debris
Leaving' little behind but death and injury
Gonorrhea, syphilis spread like the plague
Doctors afraid to treat the victim of AIDS
The world is threatened by a nuclear war
Americans die in El Salvador
The Pope holds a ... solidarity
In a speech to see the people's severity
Begin meets Reagan, Camp David Accord
And they say Reagan will run in '84
Bad education is just a revelation
But still each year kids regretting graduation
The third world sends out a hunger plea
Teenagers running loose
Sexual child abuse
The bible tells us it's just a prophecy
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel
[Hook]

[Verse 5]
Like inmates in prison, life on death row
Guards, gates and homes of stucco
Never really know if you live or go
Why the courts are saying "Son, we told you so
You're a menace to society, a threat and danger
We sentence you to die to death by gas chamber"
Can man say it's proper, take a life for a life
The only real judge is the Almighty Christ
A woman who loves you she thinks about your plight
Hurt and worth few visitation rights
Sitting home pregnant, consider the options
Drifting between abortion or adoption
The distortion of abortion is the Devil's strategy
Created by the economic uncertainty
Lawmakers of monger lawbreakers in hunger
You struggle for power, we all feel the plunder
Terrorism, cynicism, communism, suicide
Atheism, animism, brutalism, homicide
Heaven knows this can't go on
Too many things are going wrong
Who will save us from ourselves
This world has turned to Hell
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel
[Hook]

[Verse 6]
Headrags and khakis, dress cool with the gang
Guns and knives and you're down to bang
Your family's poor and life's a big bore
To survive in the ghetto you must be hardcore
You just kick it on the set, a job you never sweat
'Cause a application form is too complex
Your brain deflated by a PCP curse
A lady with a thought of snatching her purse
An elderly victim leaves her home
Headed for the neighborhood savings and loan
You tip and you sneak to elude her eye
You wanna grab the purse on the very first try
But your timing was off and you committed yourself
You said forget this purse, you're gonna go through a Hell
So it's time to get rough, she called your bluff
You pulled out your knife and you cut her real tough
She was murdered on the the street, short of time
Another little old lady a victim of crime
Bad times, these are for real
Bad times is what you and I feel