4 June 1989

[Verse 1]
I told them we heard singing
First before we reached the Square
"Arise the wretched of the earth" filled the air
So many fists clenched to the sky
We couldn't count them all
But then the sea of weeping
Washed over the Hall
I told them no one saw me
There was no one who would know
I was an army soldier
Dressed in students clothes
Between the smoking bonfires
We held our rifles high
As the ashes of the banners
Soared into the sky

[Chorus]
Ah, I was seventeen that spring
Ah, we were just obeying orders
Ah, I still see everything
Through the factory's yellow windows
In the dirty stinking river
In the messages that find you
Then vanish in the ether
Then vanish in the ether

[Verse 2]
I told them not to fear me
But history tells the tale
The artists and the poets
Fill up every jail
Before I held a rifle
I held an artist's brush
Before Tiananmen
I even dreamed of love

[Chorus]
Ah, I was seventeen that spring
Ah, we were just obeying orders
Ah, I still see everything
Through the factory's yellow windows
In the dirty stinking river
In the messages that find you
Then vanish in the ether
Then vanish in the ether

[Verse 3]
I told them they'd see me
Walking in the rain
In Budapest, in Prague
In Soweto's lanes
Between the burning oil drums
And the graffiti on the wall
I told them, yes I told them
I told them all

[Chorus]
Ah, I was seventeen that spring
Ah, we were just obeying orders
Ah, I still see everything
Through the factory's yellow windows
In the dirty stinking river
In the messages that find you
Then vanish in the ether
Then vanish in the ether