(verse 1)
White-bearded grandfather, where did you go?
Wise old grandfather, where did you roam?
"Up and down hills and valleys
I've slipped without racing
On the curved road and straight roads
I've been lost and wandered.
In the deserted woods
Of parks I have hidden
On the sand of the beaches
I've escaped from the darkness."
(chorus)
And the earth, it will shake
And volcanos erupt
And the mountains will break
While the oceans heat up.
(verse 2)
White-bearded grandfather, what did you perceive?
Wise old grandfather, what did you believe?
"Infants as possessions
In photos, I perceived
Gold piled on private roads
Was worthless, I believed.
Bloody white hands and their puppets
Killing, I perceived
Morally blind poets
Slamming out lies, I believed.
Pretentious smug professors
Policing young spirits, I perceived
Athletic-looking bodies
Crowding out minds, I believed.
Overcrowded prisons
Filled with framed folks, I perceived
Saints stuck on death row
Or for life, I believed." (chorus)
(verse 3)
White-bearded grandfather, what noise boomed on you?
Wise old grandfather, what sounds did prove true?
"The beat from the speakers
Drowned dancers who bloomed
The cries of the homeless
Were buried in the tunes.
The complaints of the greedy
And cynics at work
The slackers and careerists
Who gossiped in coffee shops.
The frustrated shoppers
Chattering in malls
The cheers of the unconscious
In stadiums and concert halls.
The honks of the horns
On the gridlocked highways
The trucks slowing down
As the hitchhikers prayed.
The exploding missiles falling
On foreign lands
The mothers all weeping
As they held their slain children." (chorus)
(verse 4)
White-bearded grandfather, who did you touch?
Wise old grandfather, who opened up?
"I touched a young neighbor
Who played on the trumpet
Who opened up her lips
As she flew through a forest.
I touched a laughing runaway
In an underground cavern
Who opened up her heart
And rejected the pattern.
I touched an old traveler
On a coast-to-coast train ride
Who opened up his soul
And revealed how his dreams had died.
i touched a failed artist
Who burnt all his writings
And who opened up his secrets
In mysterious chanting.
I touched a sad singer
Whose voice was now aging
Who opened up her beauty
So she wouldn't go crazy." (chorus)
(verse 5)
White-bearded grandfather, what more will you do?
Wise old grandfather, what more do you know?
"I'll sing out some warnings
And expose their folly
I'll dig up the truth
And upset the jolly.
I'll die with the hungry
And poor and forsaken
And share what I've learned
With the slaves of our masters.
And whisper my vision
And promise of freedom
And stand like a rock
Until I'm cremated.
And leave those behind me
All that I discovered
And hope the final victory
Will be won by free lovers." (chorus)