Lyrics Brett Dennen

Brett Dennen

I Asked When

Well i dreamed i went out a wanderin'

i heard promises become fables forgotten

i saw bridges stretchin' out across the water

and towers pushing taller

i knew my reality was clearly defined

by the fences put up around my mind

i watched them thicken into walls over time

taller than any boarder line

i saw civilizations deemed insignificant

i saw people's history tatooed on their skin

i saw families taken from their land

dynasties shattered and stolen

and i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution

in all the burdens of centuries accrue

that get passed along to every generation's youth

and all the allegories told in lieu of truth

i watched them grow wild and spread like the flu

i saw the rise of an untamed industry

i watched machines paint a paper economy

i saw my own self stand right in front of me

and i didn't do a thing

i saw poisons pushed in the street

and prescription pills mingling in the mezzanine

with a whole host of wealth of doctors and pharmaceutical companies

still poor people were dying from disease

and i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution

and i broke down at the break of dawn

I saw new meaning in the clouds above the Pentagon

as real as the hollocaust as stong as the Parthanon

visions of Sudan Iraq and Vietnam

i stood silent upon a flooded levy

and stared at the ruins of a merchant city

and the president who came to dine with the noble elite

he didnt do a thing

i saw three ships come sailing in

through the passage of the CARIBBEAN

i saw children coming home in coffins

millions marching on washington

and i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution

i asked when, when... is a revolution

i asked when... is a revolution