Once They Banned Imagine Songtext
von Drive‐By Truckers

We had our heart strings dangling ripe for the yanking
And lot of reasons Grabby was good
Poor huddled masses singing boots up their asses
Giving Grabby what he needed to pull

All the way back to where ghosts from the past
Were still fighting their wars from the grave
Complete with record burning and threatening and spurning
The crime of getting blood on the page

Since the big one ended we′d been mostly pretending
We'd have had the same gumption and grit
As the greatest among us when harm came upon us
We wouldn′t hesitate to defend


But with or against something's been out to get us
And it looked like something finally did
No nobler cause in our lifetime
For setting our sails to the wind

But once they banned imagine, it became the same old war it's always been
Once they banned imagine, it became the war it was when we were kids
Once they banned imagine, it became the same old war it′s always been
Once they banned imagine, it became the war it was when we were kids

Are you now or have you ever been in cahoots
With the notion that people can change?
When history happens again, if you do
Or you did you′ll be blamed

From baseless inquiry to no knocking entry
Becoming the law of the land
To half cocked excuses for bullet abuse
Regarding anything browner than tan


'Cause once they banned imagine, it became the same old war it′s always been
Once they banned imagine, it became the war it was when we were kids
Once they banned imagine, it became the same old war it's always been
Once they banned imagine, it became the war it was when we were kids