[Verse 1] By the cold gray walls of Minneapolis town We camped in the tear gas and rain Where the vans drove through with their sirens loud And the caged ones whispered our names We lit small fires on that frozen ground Shared bread Shared tears Shared dread And we swore that night in the searchlight glare We’d answer for the martyred dead [Chorus] Raise it up That ragged banner Let it crack in the Midwest wind For the ones dragged out in the darkness For the ones they never will mend Name by name we’ll curse their captors Let the guilty go white with dread From the prairies out to Superior Lake We rise for the martyred dead [Verse 2] There was short Greg Bovino with a laugh like a crow Standing fierce though he barely reached my chest “Don’t need might ” we said “to stand in the way Of a bully in a fancy vest” And the bosses watching from their bright warm screens Sent their lapdogs Polished and fed But a thousand hearts beat harder than steel When they march for the martyred dead [Chorus] Raise it up That ragged banner Let it crack in the Midwest wind For the ones dragged out in the darkness For the ones they never will mend Name by name we’ll curse their captors Let the guilty go white with dread From the prairies out to Superior Lake We rise for the martyred dead [Bridge] Kristi Noem sneers from her gilded stage Pam Bondi spews bile on the stand Two swaggering cunts in their tailored rage Signing pain with a shaking hand But the ground remembers every footprint Every bruise Every drop of blood shed And the frozen streets of that occupied state Still echo the martyred dead [Chorus] Raise it up That ragged banner Let it crack in the Midwest wind For the ones dragged out in the darkness For the ones they never will mend Name by name we’ll curse their captors Let the guilty go white with dread From the prairies out to Superior Lake We rise for the martyred dead
