You and I in a little toy shop 
buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got 
Set them free at the break of dawn 
'Til one by one, they were gone 
Back at base, bugs in the software 
Flash the message, "Something's out there" 
Floating in the summer sky 
99 red balloons go by. 

99 red balloons floating in the summer sky 
Panic bells, it's red alert 
There's something here from somewhere else 
The war machine springs to life 
Opens up one eager eye 
Focusing it on the sky 
Where 99 red balloons go by. 

99 Decision Street, 99 ministers meet 
To worry, worry, super-scurry 
Call the troops out in a hurry 
This is what we've waited for 
This is it boys, this is war 
The president is on the line 
As 99 red balloons go by. 

99 Knights of the air 
ride super-high-tech jet fighters 
Everyone's a Silverhero 
Everyone's a Captain Kirk 
With orders to identify 
To clarify and classify 
Scramble in the summer sky 
As 99 red balloons go by. 

As 99 red balloons go by. 
99 dreams I have had 
In every one a red balloon 
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty 
In this dust that was a city 
If I could find a souvenier 
Just to prove the world was here... 
And here is a red balloon 
I think of you and let it go