My Land (Not My Land)

(album: Present Company - 1971)

The country is a bleeding child
And a broken, withered whore
With righteous anger, time after time
Come clawing at her door
And the fatherless child, running wild
Screaming no no more
Please believe – my hands are clean
I've never seen the guillotine
Must you say I'm guilty, guilty all the same?
Such things can't be in my USA

'Cause no no no, it just can't be
In a land like mine, all decent and free
You must be mistaken, not my country
Such things happen across the sea
No no no, not my land

You're green and rotting corpses are reeking in the sun
Calvary horses laying in their dung
And the plague on your household's only just begun
You can see that it's come
You raise up the guns
And aim them to blot out the sun

But no no no, it just can't be
In a land like mine, decent and free
You must be mistaken, not my country
Such things happen across the sea
No no no, not my land

I'll go on giving to charity
Long as I needn't look back at life
I'll go to church, be proud of my piety
I'll pray only when you say it's all right
I want to follow in your society
'Cause I'm too damned scared to fight
I will close myself up in a wall
Pretend I can't see or hear at all
I will point my finger back across the sea
Ignoring all that goes on around me
Saying "Look what goes on in that other country"

'Cause no no no, it just can't be
In a land like mine, decent and free
You must be mistaken, not my country
Such things happen across the sea
No no no, not my land