Song of the Soldier

Hey Mr. President tell us don't we have the right To question your authority when you send us off to fight? Are we never to answer when we hear our brother's cry And must we all be silent as you march us off to die? Just like the Pied Piper you lead us around like sheep Then you strike up the Star Spangled Banner and put us all to sleep. You say we sealed the contract by the signing of our name And we've got no right to criticize we all must play the game. It's true that we signed our name it's true that we enlisted But that don't mean that we lost our rights like for years you've insisted. Cause we're the ones on the front line and we're the ones who die We're the ones who dig the foxholes and make the bombers fly. We're the ones who drive your tractors, we're the ones who load your guns, We're the ones who work your factories, we're your daughters and your sons. We're America's soldiers and sailors yes that's just what we are. We train and we practice for non-defensive war. One thing I want you to tell me one thing I want to know, Where is it that you run and hide where is it that you go? When the rifles all start singing and the bombs come floating down, While the body count climbs higher when they lay us in the ground? I don't want to hear your speeches how we died to be free How we fought for freedom and justice and this fair land of liberty. Cause as I look around me I see hunger, death, and pain. I see homeless people on our city streets in cold and windy rain. You have all the money and you make all the laws And I know that you don't understand cause profits is your cause. You take away our freedom to protect our sweethearts fair Then you send us off to foreign shores to fight the people there. The U.S. owns the Persian Gulf with bribes and backroom lying, We'll protect the straits at any cost with non-defensive dying. Maybe you can tell me 'bout things I've never known How dying in those foreign lands protects our folks at home. We'll keep the sea-lanes open for all those oil filled tankers We'll make the world safe for Standard Oil and those international bankers. When diplomacy has failed you see we'll be sending in our guns, So boys and girls just come along I'm sure we'll all have fun. There's oil and money over there more taxes for defense, For the gangsters in America that runs our government. They've sent our troops to foreign shores to shoot and kill and die, And maybe they'll come home in a body bag But I'll say right here - Not I!