Why Can't You Be Like Me?

It's another morning, and he's sitting on the corner With his cardboard sign beggin' for another quarter He doesn't shave, and he doesn't even bathe If the light doesn't change soon he'll be headed my way

She got a veil on her face, there's a rag around his head And nobody understands a single word that they've said But we're all watchin' them and whisperin' suspiciously 'Cause we're the self-appointed experts on homeland security

Hey you're different -- you don't look like me Your religion is wrong and your philosophy It scares me, so I disagree -- why can't you be like me?

She wears a ring in her nose and her lips are painted blue But I can't seem to look deeper than the skin of her tattoos I'm closing my mind to everything that she believes in She's a liberal, radical, atheist vegan

You're different -- you don't look like me Your religion is wrong and your philosophy It scares me, so I disagree -- why can't you be like me?

They got the radio up, and their pants are saggin' down They all got combs stuck in their afros, stuck in ghetto-town I'm feelin' kind of nervous and I don't know what to call it But I'm crossin' the street with my hand over my wallet

You're different -- you don't look like me Your religion is wrong and your philosophy It scares me, so I disagree -- why can't you be like me?

Well they locked him away for fifty years and a day Now he's out, and he's lookin' for some work and some pay But not around our street, and not on our beat 'Cause a criminal once is a criminal always

You're different -- you don't look like me Your religion is wrong and your philosophy It scares me, so I disagree -- why can't you be like me?

Why can't you be like Why can't you look like Why can't you act like Why can't you dress like Why can't you think like me? Why can't you be like me? Why can't everybody be like me?