The Truth - John Wesley Harding

I was arrested for disturbing the peace

But, hey, I was disturbing the war

I was waving a small white handkerchief

Singing «please don’t fight no more»

And I thought there’d be an army each side

But there were just two guys wearing very bad ties

So I shouted until my throat went hoarse

And they cut out my voicebox of course

I was taken to court in a city of gold

Where silence is a sure sign of guilt

And you can’t speak out in your own defense

Or be heard over worlds being built

And the trial was a farce as befitted a place

Where comedy and tragedy share the same face

The judge read the verdict, a curtain was raised

An audience roared out its praise

And I said

«Where's the truth around here today?

Where do fact and fiction separate?

Who’s the bug guy that we have to pay

To find the truth around here today?»

It all made the news but the story was wrong

And the photo wasn’t even of me

And the great god I love, he intoned from above

You shouldn’t sniff at free publicity

But it wasn’t the voice I’d expected to hear

It was thin and unclear like Richard Gere

And somebody said «God's had a bad fall

That’s his manager taking his calls»

And I said

«Where's the truth around here today?

Where do fact and fiction go their separate ways?

I thought we were much too clever to pray

But where’s the truth to find the truth?»

I was put in a cell for the whole afterlife

But my mind was just as free as can be

Somebody said, «just your body’s enchained»

And you can guess how that encouraged me

So I wandered and roamed for the rest of my days

I was clearing my name, I was apportioning days

And then I woke up, it was all a dream, all was well

But when I woke up, I woke up in my cell

And I said

«Where's the truth around here today?

Where do fact and fiction separate

No-one wants to be the one to say

Where’s the truth around here today?»

I was arrested for disturbing the peace…