White Winged Dove

I can play this guitar, I can sing a few notes
I'm old enough now in this country to vote
So I wrote me a song about the white-winged dove
And the toy gun for Christmas in place of love

I hear children yell with their hand on a gun
"I'm better than you 'cause I got one"
My playmates respect me, my mommy does too
'Cause she bought it for me to shoot whatever I choose

Sometimes I wish this gun it was real
But I can pretend that it's made out of steel
Bullets and powder and a trigger to pull
Then I'd be grown up like the rest of the world

Just a toy, just a toy, just a toy
Just a toy, just a toy, just a toy
A real one, a steel one, just a toy

When I grow up, it will be okay
To join in the army and to vote someday
Like my mommy, my country will give me a gun
To use like I did my old toy one

Nobody is born with the urge to kill
You learn it as you live and you live as you will
So buy your kids a toy gun so they will have the right
To kill mankind and the dove's last flight

The blood of this world is mixed with tears
Guns have been around for hundreds of years
If that's the way you want it, then that's the way it is
'Cause the world's what you make it and you made the rest

Daddy, oh Daddy, buy me some love
I dreamed last night I killed a white-winged dove
Everybody was dead, except for three things:
Me, my gun, and the doggone dream

In my dream, the dove, she tried to fly
My toy gun killed her and I watched her die
Then the wind sang songs like a tear from above
"Your daddy cannot buy back the white-winged dove"

Just a toy, just a toy, just a toy
Just a toy, just a toy, just a toy
A real one, a steel one, just a toy