Stories That We Tell

So you wanna write a story
Let me show you how it's done
First you get yourself a good guy and you fit him with a gun
Then you rustle up some bad guys, the dark and evil kind
so when they get slaughtered, no one minds
But when the fight is over and everything seems well
and everyone awaits their place in heaven or in hell
Just don't forget we become the stories that we tell

So you wanna write a story
Let me show you how it's done
First, you build yourself a temple that can almost touch the sun
then you write yourself some rules 'bout how folks should behave
and how the others won't be saved
And when the crusade's over and the tolling of the bell
covers up the cries of the fallen infidels
Just don't forget we become the stories that we tell

Yeah we become the stories as the
things we think and do and feel enfold us
And the story still reveals itself and
tells our childrens children what it told us
Sold us, yeah yeah yeah

So you wanna write a story
Let me show you how it's done
First you build yourself a country and you call it Number One
Then you find yourself a country you can treat like Number Two
because they don't do things like you do
And when the final native son has been killed or expelled
when you control the diamond mines and every oily well
Just don't forget we become the stories that we tell