Let Us Begin (What Are We Making Weapons For)

I am the son of a grassland farmer

Western Oklahoma 1943

I always felt grateful to live in the land of the free

I gave up my father to South Korea

The mind of my brother to Vietnam

Now there's a banker who says I must give up my land

There are four generations of blood in this topsoil

Four generations of love on this farm

Before I give up, I would gladly give up my right arm

What are we making weapons for?

Why keep on feeding the war machine?

We take it right out of the mouths of our babies

Take it away from the hands of the poor

Tell me, what are we making weapons for?

I had a son and my son was a soldier

He was so like my father, he was so much like me

To be a good comrade was the best that he dreamed he could be

He gave up his future to revolution

His life to a battle that just can't be won

For this is not living to live at the point of a gun

I remember the 900 days of Leningrad

The sound of the dying, the cut of the cold

I remember the moments I prayed I would never grow old

What are we making weapons for?

Why keep on feeding the war machine?

We take it right out of the mouths of our babies

Take it away from the hands of the poor

Tell me, what are we making weapons for?

For the first time in my life, I feel like a prisoner

A slave to the ways of the powers that be

And I fear for my children, as I fear for the future I see

Tell me, how can it be we're still fighting each other?

What does it take for a people to learn?

If our song is not sung as a chorus, we surely will burn

What are we making weapons for?

Why keep on feeding the war machine?

We take it right out of the mouths of our babies

Take it away from the hands of the poor

Tell me, what are we making weapons for?

Have we forgotten

All the lives that were given?

All the vows that were taken?

Saying never again

Now for the first time

This could be the last time

If peace is our vision

Let us begin

Have we forgotten

All the lives that were given?

All the vows that were taken?

Saying never again, never again

Now for the first time

This could be the last time

If peace is our vision

Let us begin, let us begin