Standing in line, marking time / Waiting for the welfare dime / ’Cause they can’t buy a job / The man in the silk suit hurries by / As he catches the poor old lady’s eyes / Just for fun he says, “Get a job”

That’s just the way it is / Some things will never change / That’s just the way it is / Ah, but don’t you believe them

Said hey, little boy, you can’t go where the others go / ’Cause you don’t look like they do / Said hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way? / And did you really think about it before you made the rules?

He said, son

That’s just the way it is / Some things will never change / That’s just the way it is / Ah, but don’t you believe them, yeah

That’s just the way it is…

Well, they passed a law in ’64 / To give those who ain’t got a little more / But it only goes so far / ’Cause the law don’t change another’s mind / When all it sees at the hiring time / Is the light on the color bar, no

That’s just the way it is / Some things will never change / That’s just the way it is / That’s just the way it is, it is, it is, it is

[By Bruce Hornsby © Rca Records, 1986]