'tis of thee
    they caught the last poor man
  on a poor man's vacation
  they cuffed him and confiscated his stuff
  they dragged his black ass down to the station
  and said, ok, the streets are safe now
  all your pretty white children can come out and see spot run
  and they came out of their houses
  and they looked around
  but they didn't see no one
    my country 'tis of thee
  to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv
  why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
  cuz we'll never live long enough
  to undo everything they've done to you
  undo everything they've done to you
    above 96th street
  they're handing out smallpox blankets so people don't freeze
  the old dogs have got a new trick
  it's called criminalize the symptoms
  while you spread the disease
  and i hold on hard to something
  between my teeth when i'm sleeping
  i wake up and my jaw aches
  and the earth is full of earthquakes
    my country 'tis of thee
  to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv
  why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
  cuz we'll never live long enough
  to undo everything they've done to you
  undo everything they've done to you
    they caught the last poor man
  flying away in a shiny red cape
  they took him down to the station
  and they said, boy, you should've known better
  than to try to escape
  i ran away with the circus
  cuz there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies
  since they put everyone in jail
  exceot the cleavers and the brady's
    my country 'tis of thee
  to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv
  why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
  cuz we'll never live long enough
  to undo everything they've done to you
  undo everything they've done to you