I walked through the cemetery twice today
Got the feeling that the dead had something to say
The earth makes roommates
Out of carbon based primates
The grave was trying to communicate

Shake the dust, shake the dust
When the world you used to trust
Is in pieces all around you
It's not what you thought it was
Shake the dust, shake the dust
When your empire starts to rust
Only love outlasts the living
Til the dust makes you one of us

Germany shot my grandpa down
But he survived to love that same German town
The former soldiers that he met
With his American accent
He only talked to me about the common ground, he said

Shake the dust, shake the dust
When the world you used to trust
Is in pieces all around you
It's not what you thought it was
Shake the dust, shake the dust
When your empire starts to rust
Only love outlasts the living
‘Til the dust makes you one of us

Someday when I'm on my own deathbed
I'll speak the words my own grandfather said

Shake the dust, shake the dust
When the world you used to trust
Is in pieces all around you
It's not what you thought it was
Shake the dust, shake the dust
When your empire starts to rust
Only love outlasts the living
‘Til the dust and rust will claim the rest of us