Story Behind The Song
It was the first or second day of the invasion of Iraq. Robert Fisk had written a piece in The Independent newspaper graphically detailing the carnage after an American bomb had been dropped on a Baghdad marketplace. The image in the first verse came directly from that. The second verse owes much to Apocalypse Now. The third verse again came from a piece by Fisk in which he recalled how a US marine, having inadvertently shot a woman on a bridge while returning sniper fire, remarked, "The chick got in the way". The final verse is self explanatory - as is the chorus.
| Song Length |
5:52 |
Genre |
Folk - Contemporary |
Lyrics
And the sky fell down
Ripped the skin from her back
Turned her brittle bones to ash
The big bird screamed
All lit up with amphetamines
Shot through in technicolour widescreen
Raise the flag and take a bow
We all live in America now
And the boy with the Taco-Bell face
He said, "The chick got in the way"
I guess freedom has its price to pay
Ali lost his whole family
Got no arms where his arms used to be
Gone, gone, gone when he woke from a terrible dream
Raise the flag, take a bow
We all live in America now...