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One Day I Woke (to the American Dream)

by The Barrel Fires

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about

This song was was a finalist in the 2017 Philadelphia Songwriters Project songwriting contest. The contest called for a theme of "Songs of Our Time". The chorus and the idea had been around for a while but recent events and the songwriting contest inspired the filling out of the tune.

lyrics

Lyrics:

Pictures on the windowsill unfold into the past
Children of the Great War soldiers pressed in glass
I was born in Indiana in the shadow of the smokestacks
Followed my father to the lines and it nearly broke my back
But there were blue ribbons on the weekend and sweet corn off the cob
They were golden days before the bankers shipped our jobs away
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me Lord its not me

Curtains open in the morning on the streets of West Baltimore
Where there’s bars in the windows of every corner store
Granddad came North from Raleigh on the tracks of a dream
He had no idea how good his little girls would have to be
These babies I'm raising gonna be boys on the block
The law won’t protect em I just praying they get up and walk away
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me Lord its not me

Stepping off the elevator of a San Jose high rise
Most people don’t think a sea of cubicles is paradise
Got my papers and left Karachi in 1993
It took some time getting used to morning prayers to the east
I broke the world wide open, taught your kids to write the code
Now I'm worried bout all the anger that’s threatening to close the gates
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me Lord its not me

And It’s tearing up our homes
I feel it aching in my bones
And I know I’m not alone
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me Lord its not me

Now we find ourselves standing on unfamiliar grounds
Feeling voiceless in the middle of these strange modern sounds
The rich keep getting richer behind smokescreens of fear
While most of us are barely scraping by from year to year
I’m thinking about our children trying to figure out what it means
I’m talking bout the faces of these new American dreams we make

One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me
One day I woke to the American Dream and it’s not me Lord its not me
Will it ever be?

credits

released February 8, 2019
Written by Jay Carlis and recorded at Turtle Studios by The Barrel Fires. Produced by Ross Bellenoit and Doug Raus.

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all rights reserved

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about

The Barrel Fires Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Barrel Fires mix modern sounds and classic grooves into catchy original tunes with lyrics that dig deep below the surface. You can catch them cranking out good old-fashioned rock n roll all over the Philly area. The bands' sound and songwriting is inspired by the resurgence of Jason Isbell and great modern songwriters like Josh Ritter, Drive-by-Truckers and Hiss Golden Messenger. ... more

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