In the air I get to smoke a cigarette   I get to walking around the town   On my way to nowhere special   I got nothing to do today   Across the street a guy gets out an old guitar   Further along a girl goes by and I think   You gotta love this city   Look around there's girls all over   Ain't nothing like this back home   A car goes by playing 'A Protest Song'   The guy with the guitar starts to sing along   'Nothing really changes its here and then its gone'   Words in 'A Protest Song'   But what's it really saying about what's going on?   In the bar you got the tv news   You got the prices rising again they say   Five o'clock the bar is crowded   Everybody got paid today   And over there at the jukebox   Someone plays 'A Protest Song'   And people tap their feet, start to sing along   'Nothing really changes, its here and then its gone'   Words in 'A Protest Song'   But what's it really saying about what's going on?   And I wonder where it all begins   Count up all the money let me know who wins   And over there is Rosedale   A kid gets out his new guitar   And starts to write a song   About this violent world   And how there's something wrong   How nothing really changes   Its here and then its gone   But what's it really saying   About what's going on?