[Verse 1]
I was about fifteen
I was walking the beach
I was racing a wave
It knocked me off my feet
I fell into the tide
It spat me back on the sand
I laughed without a clue
How lucky I was to land
[Chorus]
It's been a long, long time
Since my life was spared
It's been a long, long time
But I'm still not scared
[Verse 2]
It was the dawn of man
I held the bone in my hand
I was as hungry as death
Wandering through the sand
I met a wild boar
My bone came down with a crack
I tasted flesh and blood
And swore I'd never look back
[Chorus]
It's been a long, long time
But I had just begun
It's been a long, long time
Out in the African sun
It's been a long, long time
Since I learned that skill
It's been a long, long time
Since my very first kill
[Bridge]
If anyone's out there to see what we have done
Can somebody tell me what we are to become?
Our tiny lives
They fly right by
This goodly frame, it does not care
If we live or die
[Verse 3]
It was the month of June
In Tiananmen square
The tanks were on TV
But I was not yet there
The guns, they all went pop
We heard the screams and shouts
I was brought into this world
As they were taken out
[Chorus]
It's been a long, long time
So many people to mourn
It's been a long, long time
Since the day I was born
It's been a long, long time
And yet no time at all
It's been a long, long time
And yet no time at all
[Outro]
If anyone's out there to see what I have done
Can somebody tell me what I am to become?
Our tiny lives
They fly right by
Who were they? And next to them
Who the hell am I?