Everybody's asking why he couldn't adjust –
Adjust to what? A dream that bust?
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer outta him is what they did.
They said what's up is down, they said what isn't is,
They put ideas in his head that he thought were his.
They took a clean-cut kid,
But they made a killer outta him is what they did.
He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band,
When he was ten years old, he had a watermelon stand.
He was a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer outta him is what they did.
They said, "Listen, boy, you're just a pup",
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up.
They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills,
Jeep to drive, blood to spill.
They said "Congratulations, you got what it takes",
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes.
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer outta him is what they did.
He bought the American dream, but it put him in debt,
Only game he could play was Russian roulette.
He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread,
He ate Burger Kings, he was well fed.
He went to Hollywood to see Peter O'Toole,
He stole a Rolls Royce and drove it in a swimming pool.
They took a clean-cut kid,
But they made a killer outta him is what they did.
He could've sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar,
He could've been an accountant or a tennis star.
He's wearing boxing gloves, he took a dive one day
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay.
His mama walks the floor, his daddy weeps and moans,
They gotta sleep together in a home they don't own.
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer outta him is what they did.
Now, everybody's asking why he didn't adjust:
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust.
They took his head and turned it inside out,
He never did know what it was all about.
He had a steady job, he joined the choir,
He never did plan to walk the high wire.
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer outta him is what they did.