Lock And Key

Rush - Lyrics by Neil Peart
"HOLD YOUR FIRE" Copyright 1987 Mercury Records

I don't want to face the killer instinct --
Face it in your or me

We carry a sensitive cargo
Below the waterline --
Ticking like a time bomb
With a primitive design

Behind the finer feelings --
This civilized veneer --
The heart of a lonely hunter
Guards a dangerous frontier

The balance can sometimes fail --
Strong emotions can tip the scale --

Don't want to silence a desperate voice
For the sake of security
No one wants to make a terrible choice
On the price of being free

I don't want to face the killer instinct -- face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key...

It's not a matter of mercy
It's not a matter of laws
Plenty of people will kill you for some fanatical cause

It's not a matter of conscience --
A search for probable cause
It's just a matter of instinct -- a matter of fatal flaws

No reward for resistance
No assistance -- no applause... 

we don't want to be victims
on that we all agree, so we lock up the killer instinct --
and throw away the key...