(1997)
When I was so young and hadn’t a care
I would climb any tree or take any dare.
I was sent off to first grade where I learned to prepare,
Always living for someday and something out there.
I was told to be strong and taught how to win,
How tears were for losers, and to never give in,
How to pledge my allegiance, again and again,
And that killing for country was never a sin.
I was given my chores to earn my next meal.
I was told what to think and how I should feel.
I was ordered to stand while conditioned to kneel,
And like a well trained dog I was brought under heel,
And I danced, yes I danced.
I kowtowed and bowed and I twirled and I pranced.
Yes I danced, oh I danced,
Just a wandering victim of designed ignorance.
From the bullies on the playground to a war left by France.
From the great Halls of Ivy to the World of Finance.
From the senseless destruction of my environment,
To the Natives held hostage on the Indian Lands.
And I danced through the muck and I danced through the mire.
I danced as though my immortal soul were on fire.
And I’ll dance for the basics that this life requires
Until my sentence of dance has finally expired.
Will it make your blood boil from a rage deep inside
When you find out the people that you trusted had lied?
And like so much baggage they’ll cast you aside,
And laugh at your fate for the strings that you’ve tied
To your own hands and feet as a puppet and prize
Of the beast with the buttons from his station on high,
When you thought you were simply just trying to survive.
Does it help you to know that there’s no place to hide?
And you’ll dance, yes you’ll dance,
Like a whirling dervish lost in a trance.
Yes you’ll dance, oh you’ll dance,
Through the sweat and the toil and love and romance.
There’s no one less equal or beyond the call.
The rights of the least are the rights of the tall,
As injustice for one is injustice for all,
For if one of us stumbles, all of us fall.
And we’ll dance, yes we’ll dance,
We’ll shake off the shackles of our own circumstance.
And we’ll dance, yes we’ll dance,
We’ll leap up, and speak up, and seize up the chance.
I would climb any tree or take any dare.
I was sent off to first grade where I learned to prepare,
Always living for someday and something out there.
I was told to be strong and taught how to win,
How tears were for losers, and to never give in,
How to pledge my allegiance, again and again,
And that killing for country was never a sin.
I was given my chores to earn my next meal.
I was told what to think and how I should feel.
I was ordered to stand while conditioned to kneel,
And like a well trained dog I was brought under heel,
And I danced, yes I danced.
I kowtowed and bowed and I twirled and I pranced.
Yes I danced, oh I danced,
Just a wandering victim of designed ignorance.
From the bullies on the playground to a war left by France.
From the great Halls of Ivy to the World of Finance.
From the senseless destruction of my environment,
To the Natives held hostage on the Indian Lands.
And I danced through the muck and I danced through the mire.
I danced as though my immortal soul were on fire.
And I’ll dance for the basics that this life requires
Until my sentence of dance has finally expired.
Will it make your blood boil from a rage deep inside
When you find out the people that you trusted had lied?
And like so much baggage they’ll cast you aside,
And laugh at your fate for the strings that you’ve tied
To your own hands and feet as a puppet and prize
Of the beast with the buttons from his station on high,
When you thought you were simply just trying to survive.
Does it help you to know that there’s no place to hide?
And you’ll dance, yes you’ll dance,
Like a whirling dervish lost in a trance.
Yes you’ll dance, oh you’ll dance,
Through the sweat and the toil and love and romance.
There’s no one less equal or beyond the call.
The rights of the least are the rights of the tall,
As injustice for one is injustice for all,
For if one of us stumbles, all of us fall.
And we’ll dance, yes we’ll dance,
We’ll shake off the shackles of our own circumstance.
And we’ll dance, yes we’ll dance,
We’ll leap up, and speak up, and seize up the chance.
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