The Three Great Stimulants

I picked the morning paper off the floor It was full of other people's little wars Wouldn't they like their peace? Don't we get bored? And we call for the three great stimulants Of the exhausted ones Artifice, brutality and innocence Artifice and innocence No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets And the drone of planes at night has never frightened me I keep the hours and the company that I please And we call for the three great stimulants Of the exhausted ones Artifice, brutality and innocence Artifice and innocence Oh, and deep in the night Our appetites find us Release us and blind us Deep in the night While madmen sit up building bombs And making laws and bars They'd like to slam free choice behind us I saw a little lawyer on the tube He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!" Call for the three great stimulants Of the exhausted ones Artifice, brutality and innocence Artifice and innocence Oh, and deep in the night Appetites find us Release us and blind us Deep in the night While madmen sit up building bombs And making laws and bars They're gonna slam free choice behind us Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker Great forests fell like buffalo Everything got sicker And to the bitter end Big business bickered And they call for the three great stimulants Of the exhausted ones Artifice, brutality and innocence Artifice and innocence Oh, these times Oh, these changing times Changing the hearts of all mankind Oh, these changing times Oh, these times, these times, these times Oh, these changing times Changing the hearts of all mankind Oh, these troubled times Ooh, these times Oh, these changing times Changing the hearts of all mankind Oh, these changing times