An American Dream

Story Behind The Song

Inspired by the Bernie Sanders Campaign for Presidency.

Song Description

Inspiring people young and old to get involved now for real change in America.

Song Length 3:50 Genre Folk - Americana, Folk - Contemporary
Tempo Medium (111 - 130) Lead Vocal Male Vocal
Mood Nonviolent Subject Equality
Similar Artists Phil Ochs Language English
Era 2000 and later

Lyrics

Verse:
brothers and sisters gather round
good news is coming to your town
here comes a rare and an honest man
taking an honest stand
taking a stand for you and me
but it's gonna be - a hard fought fight
and he'll need help from you and me
to fight against the powers that be
against corporate tyranny
against big money disguised as speech
but we can win if we unite - we can win if we unite

Chorus:
here comes an honest man
he's gonna look you in the eye
he's gonna shake your hand
and ask if you believe - if you believe in the american dream

Verse:
give us your helpless hopeless masses and your hungry and your poor - from the wretched teeming broken barren shores
give us your desperate and your homeless - let us lift our lamp up high - a beacon burning bright - to light the golden door - we can pay a living wage for an honest worker's working day
in a land once known for opportunity - fifteen million children live here in poverty -
and we call this a free and fair democracy

Chorus:
here comes an honest man
he's gonna look you in the eye
he's gonna shake your hand
and ask if you believe - if you believe in the american dream

Break: spoken - Am/C (repeats)
the pundits they will tell us we'll just throw our votes away
divide and conquer is their way - but just remember who instructs them where and when and what to say - and who really pays their pay...

wasn't it Joe Hill that said "don't agonize, organize"

verse:
no tax breaks for corporations
free health care for the nation
state sponsored education for our young
no more climate change deniers war profiteers and liars
remember David slew Goliath with a stone
musicians painters poets writers - union organizers
healers carpenters and ministers working mothers working fathers
truck drivers students teachers dissenters clergymen and preachers
stand up now together and be strong - arm in arm
for equal rights and equal pay
for a cleaner world for a better day
the country needs us each and every one

* Sing "we can overcome, we can overcome" and then fade out on "if we unite".

Lyrics CC Carter Music CC Carter
Producer CC Carter Publisher CC Carter
Performance CC Carter Label CC Carter

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