you better wake up to what s going down your eyes are closed but your ears hear the sound there are cries in the wind that thought makes you cringe he s dead and gone you lost another friend who was young in age but old in sinnin gangbangin hangin he was slanging the juice the skunk was bunk and his death was the proof another life ended all too soon with a tag on the toe in a coroner s room bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel i can t stand it you can t stand it is this the way that it s planned i can t stand it you can t stand it bad times the world evolves while inflation soars the american dream is unseen for sure and when employees where you work take a company loss the boss must minimize a staggering cost you get a day off a layoff and a letter to stay off and now you don t work no more that position at the plant you really did need head of the house five kids to feed you tried everything but it s just not fair to have a able bodied man apply for welfare a city cries out it s mass hysteria one wounded four dead in a california area innocent victims are all slain relatives and neighbors experience the pain they hold back tears just got to take a stand ordering padlocks and guns in a heavy demand the fears won t rest until they re all behind bars for the rest of his life before we bury the scar there s a frame of the father and a very young daughter memories in his mind love once had he fathered is there any way to compensate a persons life so great of faith heaven knows this can t go on too many things are going wrong who will save us from ourselves this world has turned to hell bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel  help me help me help me help me all those eyes they re all out to get me wars and murders when will it cease i m being robbed someone call the police bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel weather plays havoc on the eastern states floods hurricanes and you can t escape tornadoes drop trees hurling home and debris leaving little behind but death and injury gonorrhea syphilis spread like the plague doctors afraid to treat the victim of aids the world is threatened by a nuclear war americans die in el salvador the pope holds a solidarity in a speech to see the people s severity begin meets reagan camp david accord and they say reagan will run in 84 bad education is just a revelation but still each year kids regretting graduation the third world sends out a hunger plea teenagers running loose sexual child abuse the bible tells us it s just a prophecy bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel like inmates in prison life on death row guards gates and homes of stucco never really know if you live or go why the courts are saying son we told you so you re a menace to society a threat and danger we sentence you to die to death by gas chamber can man say it s proper take a life for a life the only real judge is the almighty christ a woman who loves you she thinks about your plight hurt and worth few visitation rights sitting home pregnant consider the options drifting between abortion or adoption the distortion of abortion is the devil s strategy created by the economic uncertainty lawmakers of monger lawbreakers in hunger you struggle for power we all feel the plunder terrorism cynicism communism suicide atheism animism brutalism homicide heaven knows this can t go on too many things are going wrong who will save us from ourselves this world has turned to hell bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel headrags and khakis dress cool with the gang guns and knives and you re down to bang your family s poor and life s a big bore to survive in the ghetto you must be hardcore you just kick it on the set a job you never sweat cause a application form is too complex your brain deflated by a pcp curse a lady with a thought of snatching her purse an elderly victim leaves her home headed for the neighborhood savings and loan you tip and you sneak to elude her eye you wanna grab the purse on the very first try but your timing was off and you committed yourself you said forget this purse you re gonna go through a hell so it s time to get rough she called your bluff you pulled out your knife and you cut her real tough she was murdered on the the street short of time another little old lady a victim of crime bad times these are for real bad times is what you and i feel