Wasn't it long ago
Wasn't it in a New England coast
Wasn't it the standard- people praying to
The Son and the Father and the Holy Ghost

One nation over God
Is that what we've now become?
The founding fathers left a noble legacy
To their sons and daughters
Look at what we've done
Look at what we've done

Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

See the powder on the glass
See the pillow on the street
See the charter of a modern love
With no obligations or promises to meet

Hear the fear of disease
Hear the baby never born
Hear a people crying out
"Somebody save us- Oh, please somebody save us
From what we're headed for- From what
We're headed for..."
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

The Second Decade album version:
Spoken:
American is essentially a dream
It is a dream of a land where men of all races
Of all nationalities and of all creeds
Can live together as brothers

Wasn't it long ago
Wasn't it in a New England coast
And wasn't it the standard-
People praying to
The Son and the Father and the Holy Ghost, yes

That they are endowed by their Creator - Spoken
One nation over God
With certain ineligible rights - Spoken
Is that what we've now become?
And among these are life, liberty - Spoken
The founding fathers left a noble legacy
And the pursuit of happiness - Spoken
To their sons and daughters
Their sons and daughters
Look at what we've done
Look at what we've done
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

Breakdown
Breakdown
Breakdown
Break

See the powder on the glass
See the pillow on the street
See the charter of a modern love
With no obligations or promises to meet
To meet

Hear the fear of disease
Hear the baby never born
And hear a people crying out
"Somebody save us-
Oh, please somebody save us
From what we're headed for-
From what we're headed for..."
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us

Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown

Spoken:
For the American dream reminds us
That every man is the heir of the legacy of dream
That ever since the founding fathers of our nation
Dreamed this dream
American has been, to use the big words of the psychologists and the psychiatrists use
Are schizophrenic personalities

Spoken:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Spoken:
Yeah

Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?

If Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
As we learn to bite the hand
That tries to feed us
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

Spoken:
Breakdown
Breakdown

Yeah
Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown
If we say that we are free
Who will believe us?
If we breakdown

Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown

Spoken:
This is the way of starving the American dream
The honest people who fear
Breakdown!
Who exercise that citizenship right
Are being thrown into jail
This is a way of starving the dream
We are here because of the most liberty of crime
Throughout Mississippi
This is the way of starving the dream
Because if you don't