"America Will Eat You"

By Greg Brown

There's only so many times you can eat that
rubber food
'Till You're gonna say, Well, I'm eating it.
I guess it must be good
There's only so many times you can sit
and watch tv--
Stay detached and think it's stupid
and that you're somehow free

Oh, America will eat you
Oh, America will eat you…up.

There's only so many times you can be
treated like dirt at the airport or the bank
'Til you're gonna say, Yeah, you're right
I'm a bum I'm a dog I'm a roach
Thank you Thank you Thanks
Only so many times you can see some slick
jerk rave about God
'Til you're gonna give it up and go to sleep
and slip into a pod—

Oh, America will eat you
Oh, America will eat you…up.

We're tempting little morsels on the
corporation's fork
If we show up with the right bits and bytes,
they'll fatten us like pork
And America will stretch her maw and show
us her white teeth
It's only when it's much too late we see
the cancer underneath

Oh, America will eat you
Oh, America will eat you…up.

Everything has a number
We all must drink our cup
All I ask is to know when my number's up
Looking at these corpses talk
and laugh it up on tv
All I want is to never have to ask,
Lord, which corpse is me?

Oh, America will eat you
Oh, America will eat you…up.