You've Got To Stand For Somethin'

John Mellencamp · Scarecrow [1985]

I've seen the Rolling Stones

Forgot about Johnny Rotten

Saw the Who back in '69

Saw Bobby Seal

Talkin' to the Panthers

Sayin' just what he had on his mind

I saw Marlon Brando

On a motorcycle

He was actin' out rebellion

I saw Rocky Stallone

In an X-rated movie

Called the Italian Stallion

I've seen lots of things

But I have not seen a lot of other things



[Chorus:]

(But I know)

You've got to stand for something

Or you're gonna fall for anything

You've gotta stand right up for somethin'

Or you're gonna fall....for anything



I saw Nikita Krushchev

Kissin' Fidel Castro

Saw a man walkin' on the moon

I saw Miss America

In a girly magazine

I bet you saw that too



I've seen the London Bridge

In the middle of a desert

Seen 33 years go by

I know the American people

Paid a high price for justice

And I don't know why

Nobody seems to know why

I know a lot of things

But I don't know a lot of other things...Yeah Yeah Yeah



[Chorus]



Well I've been to Harlem County

And I've seen Paris, Texas

And I've spent some time in Rome

I know a lot of funny people

In a lot of funny places

But the Midwest is my home

We've got to start respectin' this world

Or it's gonna turn around and bite off our face



[Chorus]