When I was a kid in 1957 I stood out with my father 'neath the Сalifornia sky He said 'look what they did', pointed to the heavens 'Wait just a moment, see the future go by'
He said 'there goes the last chance to hide - Don't leave your lights on Let every man stand and decide Whose side he'll be on'
And I saw a satellite Watched it fly by Saw everything change tonight From a hundred miles high
I went off to school, along with the others To learn how to think the American way They shot down the Man, shot down his brother And good Dr. King he met Jimmy Earl Ray
There go the last alibis Gone on the breeze Gone with the comfortable lies We loved to believe
And I saw a satellite I watched it fly by Saw everything change tonight From a hundred miles high
And the lights in the sky To my ten-year-old eyes Were like whispers, smoke, maybe dreams Nikita pounded with his shoe Saying 'we'll bury you' And the whispers all rose into screams And the ratings went over the moon On the day Laika died But my mother just stayed in her room All morning and she cried
And I saw a satellite Watched it fly by Saw everything change tonight From a hundred miles high In the wink of an eye