[Intro: crackling 1950s radio, static, distant orchestra] [Male, old-time radio announcer, crisp transatlantic] The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence [Verse 1: Male, weathered baritone, close-mic, restrained] Ration points in my baby name, sugar on a stamp Mama saved the bacon grease beneath the kitchen lamp Scrap drive took the bedsprings, then it took the garden hose Waste not, want not, make it do, and patch the Sunday clothes Western Union boy at the screen door, hat in his hand "The Secretary of War regrets..." I didn't understand Mama folded up the paper, and she folded up his name Set the table one plate short, it never sat the same [Chorus: duet, Female contralto lead, Male harmony, close-harmony oohs] HUSH NOW~ DON'T SAY A WORD~ Children are seen and not heard Fold up the flag, fold up the hurt Sweep it all under the dirt~ Who knows what the silence hides?~ (The shadow knows~) [Verse 2: Female, intimate contralto, restrained] Cartoon turtle on the projector taught us how to hide Under a wooden desk, while the sirens practiced outside Summer of fifty-two, they padlocked the pool Kid down the street wore iron braces back to school Hundred fifty-one names in a little red book I learned to smile polite and never get a second look Uncle lost his government job for loving who he did Family called him "bachelor," and that's the way it hid [Chorus: duet, Female contralto lead, Male harmony, close-harmony oohs] HUSH NOW~ DON'T SAY A WORD~ Children are seen and not heard Fold up the flag, fold up the hurt Sweep it all under the dirt~ Who knows what the silence hides?~ (The shadow knows~) [Verse 3: Male, weathered baritone, colder, accusing himself] GI Bill built my house for under seven grand Man who shared my foxhole, they wouldn't sell him the land Breathed clean air as a boy, then I filled your tank with lead Took my belt down off the hook and called it love instead Paid in quarters, cashed in dollars, Medicare card in my coat Ninety-one and still on the Senate floor, still casting the vote [Bridge: strings swell, pedal steel cries, Male, weathered, finally breaking] Told it all at seventy to a stranger at the VA Never told my children, they just learned to look away [Female, quiet, then rising] Some mothers opened up the casket, let the whole world see Some teenage kids sat at a counter, and they would not leave [Final Chorus: full strings, duet, Female contralto lead, Male harmony] HUSH NOW~ DON'T SAY A WORD~ Children are seen and not heard Fold up the flag, fold up the hurt Sweep it all under the dirt~ Who knows what the silence hides?~ (The shadow knows~) [Outro: music thins to upright bass and vinyl crackle] [Male, weathered, slowing, fading] Froze at the microphone, still holding the floor~ [Male, old-time radio announcer, crisp transatlantic] Or are youth's elders merely hard of hearing? [Radio static] [End]
