Roger Waters. “If I Had Been God (Lay Down Jerusalem)”.
If I had been God
I would’ve rearranged the veins in the face to make them more resistant to alcohol and less prone to aging
If I had been God
I would have sired many sons and I would not have suffered the Romans to kill even one of them
If I had been God
With my staff and my rod
If I had been given the nod
I believe I might have done a better job
And if I were a drone
Patrolling foreign skies with my electronic eyes for guidance
And the element of surprise
I would be afraid to find someone home
Maybe a woman at a stove
Baking bread, making rice or just boiling down some bones
If I were a drone
Lay down Jerusalem, lay your burden down
Lay down Jerusalem, lay your burden down
The temple’s in ruins, the bankers get fat
The buffalo’s gone and the mountain top’s flat
The trout in the streams are all hermaphrodite
You lean to the left but you fall to the right
Lay down
And if I were a Muslim and you were a Jew
If I were a Mennonite and you were a Hindu
Would we exchange the weight of these chains
Chains of belief and the carnage on the trains
To turn over a new leaf
If I had been God
I would not have chosen anyone
I would have laid an even hand on all my children, every one
I would have been content to follow Ramadan and Lent
Time better spent
Spent in the company of friends
Breaking bread and mending nets