| Lyrics: | "An extremely quiet child" they called you in your school report
"He's always taken interest in
the subjects that he's taught"
So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your
drive
To notify your parents of the manner in which you died.
At St. Patrick's every
Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins
"Oh, he's unconcerned with competition, he never cares
to win"
But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun
And his parents never thought
of him as their troubled son.
"Now you'll never get to Heaven" Mama said.
Remember
Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Grow up straight and true blue
Run along to
bed"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking.
They had you holed up in a downtown bar
screaming for a priest
Some gook said "His brains just snapped" then someone called the
police
You'd knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down
Oh, you'd pulled a gun
and told them all to lay still on the ground.
Promising to hurt no-one, providing they
were still
A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed
That gun
butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm
Oh, your childhood cried out in your head,
"They mean to do you harm".
"Don't ever ride on the devil's knee" Mama said
Remember
Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Pay your penance well, my child
Fear where angels
tread"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking.
Within an hour the news had reached the
media machine
A male Caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens'
The area had been
sealed off, the kids sent home from school
Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the
Kicking Mule.
Oh, they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside
"Throw
out your gun , walk out slow just keep your hands held high"
But they pumped you full of rifle
shells as you stepped out the door
Oh, you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance
of the law.
"You've slept too long in silence" Mama said
Remember Mama
said
Ticking, ticking
"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up with strange notions in your
head"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking |
