As if I really didn't understand

 

That I was just another part of their plan

I went off looking for the promise

Believing in the motherland

 

And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed

 

And the safety of my own head

I went on speaking of the future

While other people fought and bled

 

The kid I was when I first left home

Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own

But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet

When the truth was known

 

I have prayed for America

 

I was made for America

 

It's in my blood and in my bones

 

By the dawn's early light

 

By all I know is right

 

We're going to reap what we have sown

 

As if freedom was a question of might

 

As if loyalty was black and white

 

You hear people say it all the time

My country wrong or right

 

I want to know what that's got to do

 

With what it takes to find out what's true

 

With everyone from the president on down

Trying to keep it from you

 

The thing I wonder about the dads and moms

Who send their sons to the vietnams

Will they really think their way of life

Has been protected as the next war comes

 

I have prayed for America

 

I was made for America

 

Her shining dream plays in my mind

 

By the rockets red glare

 

A generation's blank stare

We better wake her up this time

 

The kid I was when I first left home

Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own

But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet

 

When the truth was known

 

I have prayed for America

 

I was made for America

 

I can't let go till she comes around

 

Until the land of the free

 

Is awake and can see

 

And until her conscience has been found