ANI DIFRANCO LYRICS - 'Tis Of Thee

"'Tis Of Thee"



'tis of thee



they caught the last poor man

on a poor man's vacation

they cuffed him and confiscated his stuff

they dragged his black ass down to the station

and said, ok, the streets are safe now

all your pretty white children can come out and see spot run

and they came out of their houses

and they looked around

but they didn't see no one



my country 'tis of thee

to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv

why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun

cuz we'll never live long enough

to undo everything they've done to you

undo everything they've done to you



above 96th street

they're handing out smallpox blankets so people don't freeze

the old dogs have got a new trick

it's called criminalize the symptoms

while you spread the disease

and i hold on hard to something

between my teeth when i'm sleeping

i wake up and my jaw aches

and the earth is full of earthquakes



my country 'tis of thee

to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv

why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun

cuz we'll never live long enough

to undo everything they've done to you

undo everything they've done to you



they caught the last poor man

flying away in a shiny red cape

they took him down to the station

and they said, boy, you should've known better

than to try to escape

i ran away with the circus

cuz there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies

since they put everyone in jail

exceot the cleavers and the brady's



my country 'tis of thee

to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv

why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun

cuz we'll never live long enough

to undo everything they've done to you

undo everything they've done to you