I saw two little boys comparing their muscles in a city park one summer
day in 1997. Some weeks later, while in flight to Charlotte, NC, they
surfaced in my thoughts while I was looking out of the airplane window.
This song was finished before we landed.

The Game of Who Has More

Two little boys in t shirts, with skint and dirty knees,
one says "hey, I'm stronger than you" and the other rolls up his sleeve,
they hold up their little biceps, we've all seen it done before,
this juvenile comparison, in the game of who has more

They're just too young to see it, but their arms are barely twigs,
from their limited perspective, their muscles look so big,
the only thing that matters to either of them now,
is that they're somewhat bigger than the other one somehow

we learn so young this mindset that tells us to compare
we move away from muscles, to our cars and what we wear
it is constant competition, we just quietly keep score,
like little boys in t shirts, in the game of who has more

So even when we're older, no longer girls and boys,
we simply move the playground, we simply change our toys,
but we still put into practice, the law we learned before,
enough is never quite enough, if someone else has more

the view outside my window at thirty thousand feet
every house looks just the same on every single street
looking from a distance things are clear and things are true
from a Higher Elevation, there's a better point of view

we learn so young this mindset that tells us to compare
we move away from muscles to our cars and what we wear
its constant competition, we just quietly keep score,
like little boys in t shirts, in the game of who has more

there are never any winners in the game of who has more …

(harmonica - allen)

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