[Intro] There’s a silence in the streets tonight Not the quiet kind that brings you peace But the kind that waits for someone To speak first A country can lose its way Long before it knows it’s lost [Verse 1] In the house I grew up believing in Freedom hung in every room A flag that meant a promise Not a warning Two hundred years of restless hope Written in ordinary hands People standing shoulder to shoulder Saying *no further* But now the doors are guarded By men who call power truth And call the truth a threat [Verse 2] They’re chasing voices through the streets Calling dissent a crime Turning words into evidence And fear into policy The richest men in polished towers Are counting profits in the dark While the poorest children in the world Are written out of sight And somewhere in my country Working hands are left to bleed While the law that once protected them Is quietly undone [Chorus] So rise up If you still believe the promise Raise your voice If you know what freedom means When the halls of power fall silent When the law forgets its name The last line standing in the fire Is you and me Let freedom ring again [Interlude] [bridge] When the checks are gone When the balances collapse All that’s left Are the people [Verse 3] They turn their backs on allies And shake hands with the throne Standing with the jailer Not the prisoner Universities are warned to kneel Or watch their future disappear Questions are treated like enemies Thought becomes suspicion And people vanish from our streets Without a court, without a voice Sent across the border Into cages with no names [Chorus] So rise up If you still believe the promise Raise your voice If you know what freedom means When the halls of power fall silent When the law forgets its name The last line standing in the fire Is you and me Let freedom ring again [Bridge] A nation isn’t marble halls Or speeches carved in stone It lives in the space between us Where courage becomes a choice And there may be less humanity Than we ever hoped to find But there is enough There is still enough [Chorus] So rise up If you still believe the promise Raise your voice If you know what freedom means When the last defense is ordinary hearts Refusing to give way The country we remember Is waiting to be made Let freedom ring again [Outro] The America I sing about Is not a memory It’s a decision Made again tomorrow [End]
