And then I rose to the top of the world
and saw that I was blessed
I saw that it was built on the backs of the poor and the oppressed
I saw this endless spinning
Of ending up back at the beginning
Of headlong races to where we sat
But oh the places we could go if the world was flat
And I was tired and defeated
With nothing turned out as I thought
But if I always do what I've always done then I'll only get what I always got
I saw the masses yawning stolen breaths
That they might breath the next
Tall drinks, queen ants and half mast cigarettes
The same lives the same pain
Lay like embers in the rain
And I saw all things invisible that bind me
Lady luck was smiling but it was at the guy behind me
Green and brown girls of the sea
Take me, but don't ever wake me
You want to be free
You want to be free
You want to be free
Why are you living in Chains?
And I saw my supposed enemy
But I looked exactly like him
I saw the boat was sinking
So I got out and learned how to swim
I saw the sorrow of the centuries
In sulfur smoke from the stacks
I saw bullets being buried in our old man's backs
I saw the poetry of the prophets
And they wallpapered over it, they did
The same words written years ago on the back of my eyelids
I saw tax collectors as national protectors
Tables being turned, books being burned, and bodies washing in from the sea
You want to be free
You want to be free
You want to be free
Why are you living in Chains?
You can change into a bird
With nothing but a word
You want to be free
Why are you living in Chains?
You want to be free
You want to be free
You want to be free
Why are you living in Chains?