The Avett Brothers – We Americans lyrics

I grew up with reverence for the red white and blue
Spoke of God and liberty reciting the pledge of allegiance

Learned love of country from my own family
Some shivered and prayed approaching the beaches of Normandy

The flag waves high and that’s how it should be
So many lives given and taken in the name of freedom

But the story is complicated and hard to read
Pages of the book obscured or torn out completely

I am a son of uncle Sam and I struggle to understand the good and evil
But I’m doing the best I can in a place built on stolen land with stolen people

Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco
Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco
Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco

A misnamed people and a kidnapped race
Laws may change but we can’t erase the scares of the nation

Of children devalued and disavowed
Displaced by greed and the arrogance of manifest destiny

Short-sighted to say it was a long time ago
Not even two life times have passed since the days of Lincoln

The sins of Andrew Jackson, the shame of Jim crow
And time moves slow when the tragedies are beyond description

I am a son of uncle Sam and I struggle to understand the good and evil
But I’m doing the best I can in a place built on stolen land with stolen people

We are more than the sum of our parts
All these broken homes and broken hearts

God will you keep us wherever we go
Will you forgive us for where we’ve been?

We Americans

Blood on the table with the coffee and the sugar
Blood on the table with the coffee and the sugar
Blood on the table with the coffee and the sugar

I’ve been to every state and seen shore to shore the still open wounds of the Civil War
Washed blind hatred bounce back and forth seen vile prejudice both in the south and the north

And accountability is hard to impose of ghosts of ancestors haunting the halls of our conscious

But the path of grace and good will is still here
For those of us who may be considered among the living

I am a son of God and man and I may never understand the good and evil but I dearly love this land because of this and in spite of We The People

We are more than the sum of our parts
All these broken bones and broken hearts

God will you keep us wherever we go
Can you forgive us for where we’ve been?

We Americans
We Americans

Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory

Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory

Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory
Love in our hearts with the pain and the memory