A go-to anthem for all sorts of social issues—not a call to arms, but rather a prayer that the Higher Power always find a way for cooler heads to prevail and for decent people (especially the ones we love) to be shielded from the violent radicalism that always seems to be brewing below the surface.
lyrics
There’s a voice calling out in the air and on the streets
There’s diaries, struggles, and final calls
And me I’m stone tired but I can’t fall asleep
Trying to make sense of it all
There’s a prophet singing about a deafening silence
He begs and pleads when are you gonna come down
But I just wanna roll over and shut out the noise and violence
Even though I’ve always got one ear to the ground
Oh Lord, protect me and mine tonight
Wherever they are make sure they reach the morning light
Oh Lord, send me happy dreams tonight
Don’t let the vision be obscured from sight
There’s a moon shining down and a neighborhood’s at peace
And for now all seems still and quiet
But the bills are running out and time’s running out on the lease
And I wonder how long before the next riot
All we need is a hair trigger to set balloon tempers off
For the storm to rise up in a fury
The masses unschooled act out passions unthought
Pronounce sentence with no court, judge, or jury
Oh Lord, protect this city tonight
The whole country, the whole world—let them all bathe in light
Oh Lord, protect all those I love tonight
And all those who know how to love, by them do right
I reach out into the crib and caress my baby’s cheek
Beneath my fingertips I can feel her stirring
What a sense of contentment she must be in as she sleeps
Like a cat in a human lap purring
Oh how I wish I could feel some of that contentment myself
And not conjure up all these worst case scenes
Instead of tossing and turning and shaking and burning
And wrestling with my internal screams
Oh Lord, protect me from myself tonight
And from my own imagination—I don’t have the strength to fight
Oh Lord, there’s nothing I can do about it tonight
So let my soul in exile rest—I’ve expended all my might
Oh Lord, protect this city tonight
The whole country, the whole world—let them all bathe in light
Oh Lord, protect all those I love tonight
And all those who know how to love, by them do right
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