It was a hot midsummer’s evening he was cycling home from school
Staying late to roller skate at the local swimming pool
Some boys stepped out in front of him and told him to dismount
Just another number in the teenage body count
They stuck a blade into his chest and left him on the ground
Beside his upturned bicycle its wheel still spinning round
Lying in a pool of blood waiting to be found
And added to the numbers in the teenage body count
His mama’s heart was broken, she couldn’t understand
Her son was well behaved and popular and not mixed up with gangs
At the crime scene there were football shirts and flowers on the ground
And the local papers adding up the teenage body count
Oh what a world we’ve made for our children
A world to get killed in
A world without love
When the killers were arrested they were too young to be named
A lack of father figures and strong role models was blamed
It was peer pressure and self defence that made them carry knives
And be locked up in a prison for the best years of their lives
The funeral procession was led by a single horse
The crowd that lined the route broke into spontaneous applause
At the cemetery the Bishop read a sermon on the mount
And his sister sang a song about the teenage body count
And she sang,
Oh what a world we’ve made for our children
A world to get killed in
A world without love