I don't have to tell you things are bad
Everybody knows things are bad
It's a depression

Everybody's out of work
Or scared of losing their job
The dollar buys a nickel's worth,
Banks are going bust,
Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter
Punks are running wild in the street
And there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do
And there's no end to it

We know the air is unfit to breathe
And our food is unfit to eat
And we sit watching our TVs
While some local newscaster tells us
That today we had fifteen homicides
And sixty three violent crimes,
As if that's the way it's supposed to be

We all know things are bad,
Worse than bad
They're crazy

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy
So we don't go out any more
We sit in the house
And slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller
And all we say is, "Please,
At least leave us alone in our living rooms.
Let me have my toaster and my TV
And my steel-belted radials,
And I won't say anything.
Just leave us alone."

Well, I'm not going to leave you alone
I want you to get mad

I don't want you to protest
I don't want you to riot
I don't want you to write to your Congressman
Because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write

I don't know what to do about the depression
And the inflation
And the Russians
And the crime in the street

All I know is that first,
You've got to get mad
You've gotta say,
"I'm a human being, god damn it.
My life has value!"

I want you to get up now
I want all of you to get up out of your chairs
I want you to get up right now
And go to the window,
Open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell,
And I'm not going to take this anymore!" (x2)

The world we're living in is getting smaller,
And all we say is, "Please,
At least leave us alone in our living rooms.
Let me have my toaster and my TV
And my steel-belted radials,
And I won't say anything.
Just leave us alone."

Well, I'm not going to leave you alone
I want you to get mad

I don't want you to protest
I don't want you to riot
I don't want you to write to your Congressman
Because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write

I don't know what to do about the depression
And the inflation
And the Russians
And the crime in the street

All I know is that first,
You've got to get mad
You've gotta say,
"I'm a human being, god damn it.
My life has value!"

I want you to get up now
I want all of you to get up out of your chairs
I want you to get up right now
And go to the window,
Open it and stick your head out and yell
"I'm as mad as hell,
And I'm not going to take this anymore!"