When William was a boy his father pulled a pretty penny from his ear Told his son that coppers nice, but you gotta fight to make some silver appear And while his mother made more brothers, and his brothers made new mothers William took a job with Uncle Sam for the summer Said he found a silver bullet to put an end to their family strife And so he lit fires, and fires, and fires straight down through Raleigh Till the war went away, yeah And they still burn today Whose blood have we built on to finance our fantasies? Whose dreams have been pillaged to feed our favorite sons? And why can't our elders feel the breath of the dead pushing daisies Through our floorboards Ever slowly, ever slowly They say that William freed a thousand suffered souls when he marched to the sea But he chose to pack his bags when Uncle Sam cut down his money tree And while his men fled to west, craving new conquest, searching for a new shot at glory Those who broke their chains were left to fight for their shot at a story And so they toiled, and toiled, and toiled, and toiled away While we looked the other way, yeah And they toil to this day Their blood has been built on to finance our fantasies Their dreams have been pillaged to feed our favorite sons No wonder our elders ignore the breath of the dead pushing daisies Through our floorboards Ever slowly, ever slowly We remember the men who were willing to win at all costs We carve them in stone to remember their face once they're lost But now that they topple down, cracking on the ground Fallen at the hands of the forgotten Oh we can all feel the breath of these men Pushing daisies Like the rest of us Ever slowly Ever slowly Oh like the rest of us Ever slowly Ever slowly Oh like the rest of us Ever slowly Ever slowly