There's a green plaid jacket on the back of the chair
It's like a moment frozen forever there

Mom and dad had a lot of big plans for their little man
So proud
Mama's gone crazy 'cause her baby's shot down
By some teenage car chase war out of bounds
It was the wrong place wrong time wrong end of a gun, son!

(Shoot!) Shoot straight! (Shoot!) From the hip
Gone forever in a trigger slip
You know, it could have been
It could have been your brother
(Shoot!) Shoot straight! (Shoot!) Shoot to kill ya
Blame each other, blame yourselves, you know
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone

They're gonna call me sir they'll all stop picking on me
Well I'm a high school grad I'm over 5 foot 3
I'll get a badge and a gun and I'll join the P. D
They'll see
He didn't have to use the gun they put in his hand
But when the guy came at him, well he panicked and ran
And it's thirty long years before they give him another chance
And it's sad, sad, he said

(Shoot!) Shoot straight! (Shoot!) From the hip
All gone in a trigger slip
You know, it could have been
It could have been your mother
(Shoot!) Shoot straight! (Shoot!) Shoot to kill ya
Blame each other, blame yourselves, you know
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone

(Shoot!) Shoot straight! (Shoot!) From the hip
Gone forever in a trigger slip
You know, it could have been
It could have been your mother!
(Shoot!) John Lennon, (Shoot!) Doctor King, Harvey Milk all for goddamn nothing
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone