Finish the Fight

Let mother vote
Just hold your fury in
Maybe Carrie's right
That's the only way we win

She sounds just like my father
"Please, Alice, have some sense
Don't you know that no one likes
A girl who's too intense?"

"Don't get so defensive, Alice
Don't be so aggressive
Settle down, you're too obsessive"
I've heard it many times before
But I don't want to hear it anymore

I don't want to have to compromise
I don't want to have to beg for crumbs
From a country that doesn't care what I say
I don't want to follow in old footsteps
I don't want to be a meek little pawn
In games they play

I want to march in the street
I want to hold up a sign
With millions of women with passion like mine
I want to shout it out loud
In the wide open light
'Til my generation has made things right
Yes, I want to know how it feels
When we finally finish the fight

Should I try to take the lead alone?
But it's probably impossible
Will my ideas just dwindle and die?
Try to remember what your mother taught you
When you dip your pen in ink, you can't quit 'til it runs dry

You gotta kick down the doors
Of the mightiest men
'Til they never dare to deny us again
You've got to disrupt their days
May the fire ignite
No, our generation won't play polite
Just picture the look in their eyes
When we finally finish the fight

Go say goodbye to the world
My mother and grandmothers knew
Will I truly be able to change it?
Well, if not me, then who?

So I'll make my own team
And I'll raise up my hand
'Til we're rewriting the law of the land
We'll unfurl our flag
Purple, gold, and white
Centuries of silence will end that night

There's this incessant unrest
Humming deep in my chest
And I'll never be free or complete
Not unless I am there on the day
When we finally finish the fight
I'll be there on the day
When we finally finish the fight