I told them we heard singing first before we reached the Square "Arise the wretched of the earth" filled the air So many fists clenched to the sky we couldn't count them all But then the sea of weeping washed over the Hall
I told them no one saw me, there was no one who would know I was an army soldier dressed in students clothes Between the smoking bonfires we held our rifles high As the ashes of the banners soared into the sky
Ah, I was seventeen that spring Ah, we were just obeying orders Ah, I still see everything Through the factory's yellow windows In the dirty stinking river In the messages that find you then vanish in the ether They vanish in the ether:
I told them not to fear me but history tells the tale The artists and the poets fill up every jail Before I held a rifle I held an artist's brush Before Tiananmen I even dreamed of love
Ah, I was seventeen that spring Ah, we were just obeying orders Ah, I still see everything Through the factory's yellow windows In the dirty stinking river In the messages that found me, then vanished in the ether In the messages that found me:
I told them they'd see me walking in the rain In Budapest, in Prague, in Soweto's lanes Between the burning oil drums and the graffiti on the wall I told them, yes I told them, I told them all
Ah, I was seventeen that spring Ah, we were just obeying orders Ah, and I still see everything Through the factory's yellow windows In the dirty stinking river In the messages that find us, then vanish in the ether
Oh the messages will find us, then vanish in the ether
