Mary Chapin Carpenter - 4 June 1989 Lyrics
I told them we heard singing first before we reached the Square"Arise the wretched of the earth" filled the airSo many fists clenched to the sky we couldn't count them allBut then the sea of weeping washed over the HallI told them no one saw me, there was no one who would knowI was an army soldier dressed in students clothesBetween the smoking bonfires we held our rifles highAs the ashes of the banners soared into the skyAh, I was seventeen that springAh, we were just obeying ordersAh, I still see everythingThrough the factory's yellow windowsIn the dirty stinking riverIn the messages that find you then vanish in the etherThey vanish in the ether:I told them not to fear me but history tells the taleThe artists and the poets fill up every jailBefore I held a rifle I held an artist's brushBefore Tiananmen I even dreamed of loveFound on OldieLyrics.com Ah, I was seventeen that springAh, we were just obeying ordersAh, I still see everythingThrough the factory's yellow windowsIn the dirty stinking riverIn the messages that found me, then vanished in the etherIn the messages that found me:.I told them they'd see me walking in the rainIn Budapest, in Prague, in Soweto's lanesBetween the burning oil drums and the graffiti on the wallI told them, yes I told them, I told them allAh, I was seventeen that springAh, we were just obeying ordersAh, and I still see everythingThrough the factory's yellow windowsIn the dirty stinking riverIn the messages that find us, then vanish in the etherOh the messages will find us, then vanish in the ether
