My folks are ready to go down with Manhattan
like a good captain should plan to do at sea.
And I, to go after, in the camps we’ll be kept in
With the lefties and the Arabs and American democracy:
And though the chance keeps slimming that this won’t happen
in the next decade or two, what comforts me
is if I stand up in (and to)
America, then win or lose
American democracy,
American democracy,
I won’t need to outlive American democracy.
Each year I go and say farewell to Manhattan
in the first week of September, just in case
I see my folks, I take that boat out to Staten
see the old Mayflower Madam and we never leave blast radius
We see the goods, we like to think they’re well-gotten
as she proudly flaunts an ice-cream cone at me:
And she will mean more than (and to)
America, or when we lose
American democracy,
American democracy,
I won’t need to outlive American democracy.
Now you can lie awake defending Manhattan
as we tell our troops they’re doing where it’s day:
defend her from the state we’re putting Baghdad in
and from half the world we’ve garrisoned
to keep the other half at bay:
“Kill All the — Cowards” said General Patton.
What a pack of winners we turned out to be.
Land of the free,
Home of the free,
Moment of the free.
Please join me now in saying a prayer for Manhattan
And my parents, right? and these United States:
Like any prayer it’s not much more than just chattin’,
It doesn’t mean I’ve thrown my hat in more than any of you reprobates.
Democracy would mean that we were the captain
(And a captain don’t desert his ship at sea)
So whatever more you do,
Please join me in this prayer for (and to)
American Democracy
“I don’t need to outlive American Democracy” &c.
And I don’t mean to outlive American Democracy.
