Dar Williams Anthem Lyrics

Anthem Lyrics

Oh I fell in love, like they do in the magazines,
On a football field, it was
a long daydream.
All my high school spent in faithful disbelief
I know
that he looks dumb, but he's smart underneath.
They say I'm a bright kid,
and I have a future,
With the Puritan blessing of Work to be done,
But to
see him cradling that beer is all that I'm seeing.

But now it's college
days, and now I'm driving home
With my list of books to read and that
self-important tone
And my parents, I read them like the news
I know
where they went wrong and they're not friends I would choose.
And there's a
sunset over the mountains
I shout my scorn to the splendorous sky,
For
how does this light compare to all the world suffering?

But now it's a
working day, I've lain those gloves to rest.
And now I'm hanging over the
sink with a pregnancy test.
You can relax, babe, results are negative.
Oh
but how I thought of kids, who they'd be, about where we'd live.
And I saw
them climbing up Break Neck Ridge.
They found the neighbors' woods for to
make them their own,
And I'll see them dancing across the lawns of my
homeland.

We found the town in sixteen forty-one,
For to farm and to
pray and Metro North to run.
We took the fields, the marsh and the moon and
the sun
We got to work before the day was done.
And I'll see them dancing
across the lawns of my homeland.
I am an American.
From the fourth grade
turkey pageant to the protest march I stand.
I am an American.
I know
there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand.
Hey I
know where I come from, but I have a question,
Shall we the people never
come home?
For after all that we've been are the dreams to come after.