The Ballad of a Heavy June

Gather 'round and listen close, the summer air is thick and hot A nation holds its breath to see the future that they've got Two old men upon a stage, beneath the television's glare To fight for the same old crown they both have had a turn to wear One man's voice, it cracked and strayed, a river lost in desert sand And whispers grew in his own house, a tremor shaking through the land Oh, the wheel of fortune spins and spins, the story's old, the ink is new

Singin' the ballad of the day for me and you From the halls of power to the dusty street, you hear the same old weary tune Beneath the hot and heavy June The other stood and spoke his lines, of walls and deals and glories past A fighter's stance, a steady voice, a shadow that he's long since cast But truth got tangled in the words, a fact-checker's weary sigh As half the country cheered him on and the other half just asked him why

And all the while, the world looks on, at the eagle with the weary wings And wonders at the song of choice the divided choir sings Oh, the wheel of fortune spins and spins, the story's old, the ink is new Singin' the ballad of the day for me and you From the halls of power to the dusty street, you hear the same old weary tune Beneath the hot and heavy June Meanwhile the court in robes of black sent rulings down like summer rain

On a woman's right in Idaho, on a homeless man's despair and pain They chipped away at old beliefs, of how the government should run Small decisions, one by one, that change the world for everyone Oh, the wheel of fortune spins and spins, the story's old, the ink is new Singin' the ballad of the day for me and you From the halls of power to the dusty street, you hear the same old weary tune Beneath the hot and heavy June