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