Wake up America and face the facts
Your roads are built on broken backs
And there’s no way that you can track
The hypocrisy that against you stacks
There are storm clouds in those spacious skies
of which you sing, but do you realize
Your purple mountains and amber grain
Will disappear in the acid rain
Of time, there’s no time, and the time is now
To turn our hawk-like swords into plows
And reap the seed that we have sown
The apathy that has destroyed our home
Wake up America and face the truth
There is no one standing in your voting booths
And the people in this country who run your lives
Are free to find your back with their forks and knives
You stammer, and you whine, complain that there is nothing you can do
But you and I know that this is not true
You’ve focused your attention on the world outside
Now it’s time to take the board out of your own damn eye
Oh sleeping giant it’s time to rise
And wipe the sleep out from in your eyes
You’ve enslaved your brothers to promote your creed
But you don’t know what it is, because you can’t read
And your huddled masses yearning to be free
Are as tired and poor as they used to be
They’re dying of AIDS, selling, or trying to score
Wake up, the future is right next door
Around the world we act so proud
Americans, yes, and we say it loud
We rub our freedoms in everybody’s faces
But we let the media run the presidential races
If we stood for equality, life and truth
Then the flag we fly would be fire-proof
It’s our claim to fame, and our greatest shame
And we’re running out of fingers pointing out the blame
If you’re so proud, proud as you claim
Pick up the pieces … and use your brain.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation, indivisible
with liberty
and justice
for All.
Wake up America, and read your history
So many have died for this democracy
The facts are clear and can’t be ignored
There are strip mines where once eagles soared
It’s time we started listening to “Yankee go home”
And went through our problems with a fine-tooth comb
Remember, just like Patrick Henry said,
Without liberty, we might as well be dead.
1985
