Dar Williams
"Anthem"


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 then come 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's suffering
Lyrics
But now it's a working day
I've lain my (G)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 and who they'd be
About where we'd live

And I saw them climbing up Breakneck Ridge
They found the neighbor's 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
Oh ay-yay, ay-ay-yay

And I'll see them dancing across the lawns of my homeland
I am an American
From the 4th grade turkey pageant to the protest march I stand
Oh I am an American
I know there's blood on the pavement and we turn 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?