Life's real good, yeah, life's real fine I've got a blanket and a bed while I'm doing my time I can sell what I know for ciggies and wine And the food's not bad if you don't mind waiting in line I can still see the old man, his face tired and cracked Showing me again why poor boys finish last That's why I don't mind watching these days unwind It's better than being like him, out there busting my behind It don't matter what I've done I can't escape from where I begun It don't matter where I hid the forty-seven grand Yeah, I'm living by the law of the land Sisters relax, recycle the facts That the only pageant she knows comes in a phial of perfume Takes what she wants and waters a claim In the hot desert sun with lots of upstate rain He sees the blood boil when the gate says oil She'll while the bloody hours on the late-night news She don't understand but still she gets with the plan And puts her hand to her heart for the red, white and blue It don't matter how long they eat grass Do they pay or do they cut in half It don't matter how long they kiss the sand They're living by the law of the land Whatever happened to what I wanted to be And the things that I thought in my youth and my dreams Last thing I know I was drawing up plans But I'm still selling my heart out of the back of this van I still wish I was with her in her tears and her blues In the Alaskan rain somewhere west of Saskatoon Our love was as deep as those mountains were high Too bad love is one thing you don't need to survive It don't matter where I've been What I read or what I defend It don't matter where I burn my brand I'm living by the law of the land The law of the land The law of the land