Fifteen years from now 
 I know it feels remote 
 But picture it somehow 
 In your head 
 It's 1984 
 And knocking on your door 
 Is the Brownshirt Stasi guard 
 Boom, you're gone 
 And in the blood of the Kennedys 
 The good ones get shot 
 And in the absence of sympathies 
 Won't you hear me out? 
    When it all burns down 
 When it all burns down 
 I will hold you close for the minute 
 Yeah, I'll hold you for the minute it takes   
 Fifty-five years from now (ooh) 
 I know it sounds insane (ooh) 
 The dark fascist regime might be gone (might be gone) 
 Oh, if you by then have forgiven me (ooh) 
 When push comes to shove 
 We don't have to be enemies (ah-ah) 
 Won't you hear me out?   
 When it all burns down 
 When it all burns down 
 I will hold you close for the minute 
 For the minute   
 When it all burns down 
 And the flames devour everything that we are 
 I will hold you for the minute 
 I will hold you for the minute it takes   
 With these words at hand 
 The future is a foreign land 
 So let us pray for more 
 In 2024 
 (2024) we could grow old together 
 (2024) we could love one another 
 (2024) and there will from then be peace forevermore (forever) 
 Peace forevermore (and forever)   
 But if it all burns down 
 If it all burns down 
 I will hold you close for the minute 
 For the minute   
 If it all burns down 
 And the flames devour everything that we are 
 I will hold you for the minute 
 I will hold you for the minute it takes