The wheelbarrow's fallen
Look at my hands
They found some surplus cheaper hands
Burning palms and pick and choose
Pick and choose
Whose to lose

Look at that building
Look at this man
Haloed and whitewashed
Gone to find a cheaper hand offer a pound
Offer a pound

Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home

Pay for your freedom
Or find another gate
Guilt by associate
The rushes wilted a long time ago
Guilty as you go

Stay off that highway
Word is it's not so safe
The grasses that hide the greenback
The amber waves of gain again
The amber waves of gain

Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the workers home

_ _ _ . . . _ _ _

I've always found those lines 'Pay for your freedom Or find another gate' incredibly moving. I feel like Michael Stipe delivers the lines as though finding another gate is impossible and that's the point. But you can find another gate. Or of course: you can just pay like everybody else.

I can imagine that some must find that 'amber waves of gain' wordplay bit annoying, but for some reason, I've always loved it. For non-Americans, a well-known U.S. patriotic anthem [America the Beautiful] makes reference to the 'amber waves of grain'.

I transcribe all lyrics by ear and write homonyms, linebreaks, commas, Etc as I hear them.