Nero

In the dawn of desperation When the peasants are beheading Every emperor with a golden crown First they'll stand with one another Then they'll turn against each other Under thunder on a battleground. With their torches, tar, and feathers Off to round up all the witches On a rail to run them out of town In a kingdom that's collapsing While I'm dancing in the ashes Playing' fiddle, watching Rome burn down You can dance around the fire With the hand that holds the power Or go cower with the gagged and bound While the vultures count the profits And the hawks are launching rockets In a garden growing mushroom clouds. You can storm the ivory towers But the knight in shining armor's Days are numbered on the body count So I'm laughing up at heaven In the arms of Armageddon Playing fiddle watching Rome burn down You can find me playing fiddle watching Rome burn down Playing' fiddle watching' Rome burn down You can find me playing fiddle watching Rome burn down Playing' fiddle watching' Rome burn down Where the tricksters and the grifters And the rich carnival barkers Sell their sulfur to a spell-bound crowd Buying tickets to the promise Of a better world a-comin' Left with nothing when their hope runs out There's a lifeboat overflowing On a rising violent ocean In the darkness where the sailors drown But I'm smiling on an island By the tidal wave horizon Playing fiddle watching Rome burn down If you're screaming in defiance Are you David or Goliath? Where the riot rages all around Call it vengeance, call it justice Call it progress, call it selfish Either way I'm gonna' have my doubts Maybe I'm just causing problems Thinking I know how to solve them So for once I'm gonna' shut my mouth. Waiting silent in the shadows Like a devil at the crossroads Playing fiddle watching Rome burn down While the charlatans are shouting Propaganda on the mountain Truth is spoken to an empty house When you ask for my opinion Are you trying to make a difference Or find something to complain about? When indulgence and consumption Leave a landscape of destruction Where it's far too late to turn back now I'll be moving on my own way Down the existential highway Playing fiddle watching Rome burn down