[ music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]
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why are some men born
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with minds that earn degrees
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the loving cups
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gilded plaques
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grace their study walls
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hide the cracks
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while their genius is turned
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to works of tyranny then
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off to market to market
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go selling these
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with words so fiery and persuasive
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they steal cunningly
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riches no one can exceed
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and why are some men born
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with a fate of poverty
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one firm bed
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for a swollen back
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year by year
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the bodies wracked while
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their obedience is had
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with gradual defeat
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by the pace by the pace
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and the urgency
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through a muddled thought
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they phrase it
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God knows we're deceived
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barter for
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what they need
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and where they go
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disdain and jeering
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for fools to call
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the noble peasantry
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o how it puzzles me
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I pressed flat the accordion pleats
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that had gathered in his cotton sleeves
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while he thumbed
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yes thumbed I wouldn't say caressed
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the final piece
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a mountain's crest
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soon to reply assuredly
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o for man aged ninety years
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no words to waste on sermons
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he'd be pleased to answer
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short and sincere
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girl there's a nonsense
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in all these heaven measures
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it's a heathen creed
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so your grandma says
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but better to live by...
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drink it all in before it's dry
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he ended there with a rattle
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cough cough
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I took away the long gone cold coffee cup
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as a trail of Camel ashes fell
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on the floor
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-----------------
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Everyone A Puzzle Lover
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10000 Maniacs |