Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers has never been afraid of grappling with thorny political matters in his songwriting. His group’s latest album, 2016’s American Band, dove headlong into some of the hot-button issues of the day, including gun control, immigration, and the Black Lives Matter movement, to name just a few.
Late Wednesday night, Hood shared on Instagram the lyrics for his latest politically tinged creation, “Babies In Cages,” a tune whose subject matter needs no explanation. You can read those lyrics below.
Drive-By Truckers are touring this summer (check dates here), with their next show coming this Friday in Florence, Alabama.
Babies In Cages
The world wakes up this morning
I’m sorry for the news
Wrapped up in a tinfoil blanket without any shoes
Babies in cages
I’m sorry to my children
I’m sorry what they see
I”m sorry for the world that they’ll inherit from me
Babies in cages
Are we so divided
That we can’t at least agree
This ain’t the country that our granddad’s fought for us to be
Babies in cages
_______________________________________________
Surf’s up in the cities
Where the next wars will be fought
I”m sorry we’ve forsaken every word that we were taught
Babies in cages
I bang my head against it
Smash guitars and scream and shout
Standing on the beach watching the tide go out
Babies in cages
Standing in the darkness
to answer for our sins
Children changing each others diapers in a pen
Babies in cages
Patterson Hood – Dunwoody GA. June 19, 2018