Joni Mitchell The Three Great Stimulants lyrics

I picked the morning paper off the floor
It was full of other people's little wars
Wouldn't they like their peace
Don't we get bored

And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
And the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
I keep the hours and the company that I please

And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

Oh and deep in the night our appetites find us
Release us and bind us deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They'd like to slam free choice behind us

I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue
Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you"

Call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence


Oh and deep in the night appetites find us
Release us and blind us deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They're gonna slam free choice behind us

Last night I dreamed, I saw the planet flicker
Great forests fell like buffalo
Everything got sicker
And to the bitter end big business bickered

And they call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

Oh these times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these changing times

Oh these times, these times, these times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these troubled times

These times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these changing times