American Dream

They were wed in spring
In front of their families,
And nine months later
She was pregnant
With a baby boy.
And so they raised him,
And this is what
They call the American Dream.

And his father taught him
All that a man should know:
How to curve a ball,
Put the spin on a winning throw,
And the boy showed promise
And he made his father proud
But he moved through the field
Like a breeze too tired to give in

Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down
Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down

In the back of all of his button-ups
His mother sewed
In a name label,
And she sewed in his fate
Just like a name label,
And he wore them both heavy
As they bit at the back of his neck.

Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.
Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.

I can feel the taunting and teasing
Of my paycheck as it holds me ransom.
The monsters we feared
When we were children
Are nothing compared to the ones
That live under my bed.

Well he studied hard at Cal State University,
And married a girl who was fragrant and flowering,
And at night while he slept,
The refrains of his raising
Cut the head off the dreams
Of the things he thought could have been.

Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.
Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.
Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.
Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.

This is what they call the American
(Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.)
This is what they call the American
(Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.)
This what they call the American
(Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.)
This what they call the American
(Go to school, get a job,
Find a wife, settle down.)
Dream.