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I Want To Be America Again

from Holy Crap, A New Album by Tom Smith

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This is the song I wrote on 9/11. I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired, of having every day being dominated by news of how lousy things are getting. I want to be part of a country I can be proud of again.

lyrics

I remember all those years ago,
The worst kind of reality show
Was broadcast live in color, and I couldn’t look away.

Three thousand people died in fire,
Our greatest height their funeral pyre,
And people round the world said “We’re all Americans” that day.

But then an Act of Patriots began eroding rights,
And now we empty bottles and take shoes off before flights,
Our “leaders” went before the world and lied us into war,
I think along the way we all forgot what this was for.

And I want to be America again,
I want to be land of the free, with good will towards all men,
I want the days of Nine-Twelve back, or better yet Nine-Ten
I want to be America again.

I remember when the ones in power
Said “Don’t ask why they bombed the Towers,
They’re terrorists, they’re evil, and that’s all you need to know”.

But nothing’s done without a cause,
Turns out for years we’ve broken laws
To steal their resources and to make the oil flow.

We treat their lands and people like the pieces in a game,
To help the rich get richer, and without a hint of shame.
There’s no way it can justify the way we were attacked,
But if someone did that to you, wouldn’t you want to hit back?

And I want to be America again,
I want to be home of the brave, on which folks can depend,
We’ve made so many hate us, but I’d rather be their friend,
I want to be America again.

We’re told we are exceptional, and maybe that was true,
The Greatest Generation saved the world in World War Two.
We fought racism and poverty, and tried to set things right.
But now nobody bothers, like it isn’t worth the fight.

We’re just like all the others, we work until we die,
Don’t take care of each other, don’t question, don’t ask why,
Just sing the song, salute the flag, avert your eyes, and pray.
Well, I refuse to bow to that, there is another way.

So eighteen years on, here we are,
Not long at all, and yet so far
From that ideal nation I believed in as a child.

We live with hate, we die in fear,
We lose more freedoms year by year,
While those we chose to lead us do it to us with a smile.

I’m sick of folks being hated for their gender or their creed,
I’m sick of everything being done for stupid, petty greed,
I’m sick of always being at war, of living life in fear,
If we’re so damned exceptional, then we can start right here

And make America America again,
Stop corporations making wastelands of our verdant glens,
Stop letting public servants tell us who are the boogeymen,
Stop short-term profiteers dictating how and where and when.

Let’s make America America again,
The land of opportunity, like we thought it was back then,
For we can make a better world, and if not now, then when?
I want to be America again.
I want to be America again.

credits

from Holy Crap, A New Album, released March 20, 2020

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Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

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