A wise man was telling stories to me   About the places he had been to   And the things that he had seen      A quiet voice is singing something to me   An age old song about the home of the brave   In this land here of the free   One time one night in America      A lady dressed in white with the man she loved   Standing along the side of their pickup truck   A shot rang out in the night   Just when everything seemed right   Another headline written down in America      The guy that lived next door in #305   Took the kids to the park and disappeared   About half past nine   Who will ever know   How much she loved them so   That dark night alone in America      A quiet voice is singing something to me   An age old song about the home of the brave   In this land here of the free   One time one night in America      Four small boys playing ball in a parking lot   A preacher, a teacher, and the other became a cop   A car skidded into the rain   Making the last little one a saint   One more light goes out in America      A young girl tosses a coin in the wishing well   She hopes for a heaven while for her   There's just this hell   She gave away her life   To become somebody's wife   Another wish unanswered in America      People having so much faith   Die too soon while all the rest come late   We write a song that no one sings   On a cold black stone   Where a lasting peace will finally bring      The sunlight plays upon my windowpane   I wake up to a world that's still the same   My father said to be strong   And that a good man could never do wrong   In a dream I had last night in America      A wise man was telling storie to me   About the places he had been to   And the things that he had seen      A quiet voice is singing something to me   An age old song about the home of the brave   In this land here of the free   One time one night in America