[Verse: Terry Kath & Peter Cetera]
Are you optimistic 'bout the way things are going?
No, I never ever think of it at all
Don't it make you worry when you see what's going down?
Well, I try to mind my business, that is, no business at all
Will you try to change things? Use the power that you have
The power of a million new ideas?
What is this power you speak of and the need for things to change?
I always thought that everything was fine, yeah
When it's time to function as a feeling, human being
Will your bachelor of arts help you get by?
I hope to study further, a few more years or so
I also hope to keep a steady high
Don't you feel rеpression just closing in around?
No, the campus herе is very, very free
Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Well, I hope the president knows what he's into, I don't know
Don't you ever see the starvation in the city where you live?
All the needless hunger, all the needless pain?
I haven't been there lately, the country is so fine
My neighbors don't seem hungry they haven't got the time
Thank you for the talk, you know, you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come
Well, if you had my outlook, your feelings would be numb
You'd always think that everything was fine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[Spoken Outro]
Thank you, thank you
Thank you