Every Mother's Son

The Pretenders

I was born with my hand in a fist

and my eyes shut tight

any wonder that i cannot resist

punchin' blindly in a fight

the first time i saw swans flyin' to the sun

i wanted to be one



like every mother's son

when i saw my life had begun

i wanted to be someone

like my brother and my one and only father

and like every mother's son



i was raised within a cause

with a purpose to fulfill

i was taught to defend what was mine

and instructed not to kill

my small mortal eyes can see eternity

in the clouds that dissolve and then regroup endlessly



like every mother's son

when a man showed me how to use a gun

i wished i'd never need one

like my brother and my one and only father

and like every mother's son



everything in domesticity

assumes its role better than me

i'm a displaced person whose culture let me down

i raise my own daughters in a pornographic town



like every mother's son

i've lost some and some i've won

now i'm waiting for a new dawn

like my brother and my one and only father

and like every mother's son