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Song for Chelsea Manning
David Rovics
Popularity ยท Low
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๐ฌ๐ง English ยท Original
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Lyrics
Original
Translation
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Private Manning was an analyst
If what they say is true
She was paid to read reports
Find the pattern sifting through
As she read the data
The patterns did emerge
Patterns that were clear
Both before and since the surge
Patterns of abuse
Of the most horrific kind
Gunning down civilians
Out of view and out of mind
Gunning down the opposition
In the middle of the night
Sending off the scholars to be tortured out of sight
Sometimes you need desperate measures
When you live in desperate times
Private Manning saw she was
Looking at war crimes
She wondered what to do
To allow the dead to speak
She finally decided
To contact Wikileaks
Now it's all out on the table
And everybody knows
The Emperor is naked
He's not wearing any clothes
Now Adrian Lamo has to live within his skin
He stabbed Chelsea in the back
Called the cops and turned her in
But not before the soldier
Took half a million files
If you printed all the pages
They'd stretch on for miles
Evidence against the state
Right from the horse's mouth
Machinations in the west
Bombings in the south
A treasure trove of details
For all the globe to see
How much they need to lie and kill
For democracy
How many drone strikes hit villages
Leaving everyone to die
They blamed on someone else
The official line "Not I!"
How many coups have been plotted
By ambassadors who say
That free and fair elections be the order of the day
Now it's all out on the table
And everybody knows
The Emperor is naked
He's not wearing any clothes
Now the genie's out of the bottle
And they're trying to stuff it back
And stop it from illuminating everything we lack
Such as the rule of law
Or playing by the book
Look you can read it it's right here
The Ship of State is run by crooks
And they vilify the messenger
Call them every name
For daring to blow the whistle
On the nature of their game
The game of taking lives and endangering the rest
In order for the wealthy few to do what they do best
Dominate the world for the corporate elite
But now their cover's blown
From their head down to their feet
And now the Stars and Stripes is looking much more like a rag
The lid is off the box
The cat's out of the bag
Now it's all out on the table
And everybody knows
The Emperor is naked
He's not wearing any clothes
It's all out on the table
And everybody knows
The Emperor is naked
He's not wearing any clothes
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