It’s a Sorry World

You can go to war when you're eighteen
But you can't buy a beer
You can launch missiles from a submarine
But you can't buy a pistol here
You can breathe chemical weapons fumes
But they don't want you to smoke
So when you're shooting up a bar in Baghdad
Don't order a rum and Coke

You can have sex when you're seventeen
You just can't have a cigarette
You ain't old enough for a slot machine
Or to lay down a football bet
But they'll take you at the clinic if you're fifteen
And your folks don't have to know
Or you can take penicillin
Just don't watch people getting naked on video

You can bе a governor at twenty one
Or a prеsident at thirty five
You can be the senator from South Carolina
If you can just stay alive
They'll throw you in with sharks when you're twelve years old
Teach you to scuba dive
But when you're ninety four and can't see anymore
They'll still let you drive

Just don't get caught with no beer in your hand
If you just turned eighteen
They don't mind you owning an acetylene torch
And a gallon of gasoline
You just can't buy smokes at the liquor store
Or y'all will both go to jail
But they'll sell you the rope so you can hang yourself
While you're listening to Nine Inch Nails

It's a sorry world
It's a sorry world
It's a sorry world when you can raise young'uns
But you can't smoke a Marlboro

It's a sorry world
It's a sorry world
It's a sorry world when you're seventeen
And you can't call a call girl