Choose Responsiblity Lyrics
Which histories have we taught ourselves
Whose histories have we learned
Which histories have we bought ourselves
Whose histories have we burned
And which histories do I know
My time caught, earned as it goes
I wonder how much of the mystery
Will we uncover, are we told
About the blisters of America
As the frictions unfold
It was the conquering of continents
Millions were told
You are ignorant, incompetent, inferior
And then sold
And I wonder
How must they have felt
How would we feel
It was the story of a people forced off the land of their ancestry
Who decides which side we teach in school
And I wonder, how would our lives be different today
If the native americans had been left to rule
Whose histories have we learned
Which histories have we bought ourselves
Whose histories have we burned
And which histories do I know
My time caught, earned as it goes
I wonder how much of the mystery
Will we uncover, are we told
About the blisters of America
As the frictions unfold
It was the conquering of continents
Millions were told
You are ignorant, incompetent, inferior
And then sold
And I wonder
How must they have felt
How would we feel
It was the story of a people forced off the land of their ancestry
Who decides which side we teach in school
And I wonder, how would our lives be different today
If the native americans had been left to rule
How much am I responsible
Can I have helped things to change
I am a citizen in this country
What does that mean?
And how much are you responsible
Can you help things to change
You are a citizen in this democracy
But what does that mean?
My great grandparents were immigrants
Am I less to blame
How would I think differently
If my great grandparents had been slaves
Why'd we kill Robert Kennedy, how could we kill Martin Luther King?
Imagine John Lennon, killed for singing
I ask, why so many dreamers had to die?
Why so many dreamers had to die?
Were they too much like Marx
Did they love the poor
Were we afraid of their hope of changing the world
We were afraid of their hope of losing control
And so we chose freedom, we chose fascist freedom
Ruled as the pueblo cried
Ruled as the people died
Can I have helped things to change
I am a citizen in this country
What does that mean?
And how much are you responsible
Can you help things to change
You are a citizen in this democracy
But what does that mean?
My great grandparents were immigrants
Am I less to blame
How would I think differently
If my great grandparents had been slaves
Why'd we kill Robert Kennedy, how could we kill Martin Luther King?
Imagine John Lennon, killed for singing
I ask, why so many dreamers had to die?
Why so many dreamers had to die?
Were they too much like Marx
Did they love the poor
Were we afraid of their hope of changing the world
We were afraid of their hope of losing control
And so we chose freedom, we chose fascist freedom
Ruled as the pueblo cried
Ruled as the people died
We chose Banzer, we chose Pinochet
And ruled as the pueblo cried
We ruled as the pueblo died
And now we choose, everyday we choose
We choose hot sex on a glorified screen
We choose dollars and cents, a for-profit TV
And rule as our love subsides
Rule as our neighbors try to survive
How much am I responsible
Can I help things to change
I am a member of my community
What does that mean
And how much are you responsible
Can you help things to change
You are a member of this society
But what does that mean?
We are voters in this democracies, consumers in economies
Members of families, represented in public policy
And I wonder where is our power
In this world of inequality
What is our affect, what is our affect
And should we choose responsibility?
Should we choose responsibility?
And ruled as the pueblo cried
We ruled as the pueblo died
And now we choose, everyday we choose
We choose hot sex on a glorified screen
We choose dollars and cents, a for-profit TV
And rule as our love subsides
Rule as our neighbors try to survive
How much am I responsible
Can I help things to change
I am a member of my community
What does that mean
And how much are you responsible
Can you help things to change
You are a member of this society
But what does that mean?
We are voters in this democracies, consumers in economies
Members of families, represented in public policy
And I wonder where is our power
In this world of inequality
What is our affect, what is our affect
And should we choose responsibility?
Should we choose responsibility?
About
Genius Annotation
This song and lyrics were written in the summer of 1998 in Cambridge, MA, after Colin had returned from living and studying in Bolivia during the spring of his junior year of college.
Learning the political and economic history of Bolivia from the perspective of some of the poorest people of the Americas had a profound impact on him. This song represents Colin’s experience as a young American facing his own privilege, confronting some of the darker sides of history, and asking whether it’s worth choosing to be responsible for some of that history.
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