Hour by hour I turn the wheel Sunrise to sunset My hands and feet are blistered through My body drenched in sweat Little Liza and Tommy and Jane Must have their bread each day Mother is sick and Father drinks ale And gambles our earnings away Bound and shamed in this goddamned dress I earn my family keep Endure the matron's stares and jeers And never get enough sleep

All I wanted was a new path to a life of convenience My every dream crystallized by the Sunday circular Could have gotten it cheaper online, but I guess I fancy myself old-fashioned I was upsold swiftly into every accessory mentioned Helped me to my car with an honest smile Swiped my card with practiced ease And like a sucker I waved through the automatic door Hours later I'm awash in poly-bound popcorn Fists full clutching converters for useless Euro outlets Flashing 12's savage damage on my display and my psyche Both my cell and my land line engaged with tech support all weekend I was told even a fool could make this box work Even a fool can find new use for old technology Like a chainsaw, thrown, through an automatic door

When Amber sings it's like a blind confession Broken notes like Christmas lights are hanging from her hands When Amber plays the Mellotron then all the shadows listen Everybody dances although no one understands A holy glinting lock is endricurled in miles around her Each ventricle springs down like hunting jazzy would astound her We try and try to make it right We elevate the wire and walk the multitudes all night In the morning the egg yolk comes up and clouds clear from the sky All the water in the world would not make us remember why When Amber takes my hand I can't say no to nothing She speaks in melody so words get all confused She's got this electric smile that leads to tribulation Skyscraper window teeth and lips a drunken rouge My secret hands have got twelve fingers and we play together A song that her three mothers taught her long before this weather Behind our eyes no sane person knows that Petals coil into the center of a lotus rose We awaken esoteric synthesizer chords In a little lean-to shack made of slimy rotting boards Who has seen the eyes of Barbarella in the wasteland Where bad drummers bang along to "Stairway to Heaven" Me and my girl we're there every night A couple mirages to stir up a fight

With my hair short I chop smokestacks INTO MATCHSTICKS! Play guitar and tell the men how it really is (They join in for the chorus) How long will we live in the shadow of debt? COMRADES UNITE! I've got pamphlets 'til I hop a train on my way back to Utah Bring the kingdom down with one spark Explain to me how the long way works any better I've only got this one lifetime Stand on principle and fall to make a point to the future (Like religion, but it works!) They can jail me but in the East I see a beacon COMRADES UNITE!

The Boulder sunshine burns my feet My armpits stink in the dry heat The Subarus and buses pass Their way down Broadway, I'm here on my ass I know there is a better way to spend my time I know I'm not put on this Earth to sit and rhyme But pour me something cold to drink 'Cause right now is no time to think I just want to rejoice in what is mine The boys are chillin' in the van Long blonde hair and cigarette-smelling hands The one that I love best is sweet Jerome He's twenty-five, still lives at home I know I ought to clean my act and find a job I know some people think they've gotta fight to love But bring me something strong to drink 'Cause right now is no time to think I just want to rejoice in what is mine The bums on Pearl Street beg for change And Ari says that they're deranged She will not talk to them or toss them her spare coins But I do, because it makes me feel self-satisfied My mama came and got me shoes for my feet And I'm still sitting here in this dry heat Somebody buy me something strong to drink Cause right now is neither the time nor place to think I know that I'm an upper-middle class white girl I know I'm soft and privileged as all hell Outside there's lots of things I fear So I'm not getting out of here I just need to rejoice in what is mine

When I walk out it starts to rain And I've forgot my hat again I walk six blocks, I miss the bus The synthesizer on my back weighs a metric ton I round the corner to the store There's a vacant sign and an empty floor I ask a man across the street He says I'm crazy and I know what, what he means And the voices raise again Say I'm a failure of a man I stand up, I sit down I roll over, I drown But when we get out of detention We'll rise and we'll stand at attention And we'll all walk in an orderly procession To agree that we were right all along This is my moment of greatest despair But still the melody is there And very quietly at first a tiny voice speaks up and begins to say... My boy you can rock with just one synthesizer Get yourself a smoke machine and a sturdy-built drum riser Get a distressed leather jacket and some product for your hair You're already young & stupid so right off you're two-thirds there There's a big, wide world and some profit to be made Taking away the allowances teenagers' parents paid Everyone feels guilty and they hate the lives they have It doesn't take a genius to make money off of that Your country's hot right now, and you've got a look that plays The right record producer can erase your each mistake And the voices lift again Say I was born a rock legend I stand up! I don't look back I no longer feel the weight on my back So when we get out of detention We'll rise and stand at attention And we'll each walk in in an orderly procession To agree that we were right all along To agree that we were right all along

I'll open these dirty wings and teach myself to fly When I take my face from off the floor it makes me wanna cry You keep me locked in a little box with windows all around And if I stay here longer I won't know my up from down You'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry When I find the strength inside to fight your pretty mouth Wear crimson red, wear tarpit black, wear guardian angel white I don't care about what you wear long as it comes off at night I read your words, they sat in my head like water in my brain Let's drink downtown, then fool around, I'm gonna break these chains You'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry When I find the strength inside to fight your pretty mouth You'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry, you'll cry When I book a flight to leave on a plane home heading south

My whole life as a U-turn lane Crushed like rats for experiments Mass grave at the Kraslag No more songs for the food lines They said it would happen again, and it happened again They took my voice and my freedom Flattened my limbs and my spirit At least I died by my own flag They said it would happen again, and it happened again Nothing but wasteland's beyond here You pray to starve 'fore you freeze No working legs left to run now Hands are useless to crawl They said it would happen again, and it happened again They said it would happen again...