CHORUS:
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So your 13 and there's a silent scream out there,
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And you can hear it.
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Just your basic protest song.
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Now your 16 and there's a danger in the air,
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And you can see it.
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Just your basic protest song.
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Turnin' 20 and it's around you everywhere,
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And you can feel it.
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Just your basic protest song.
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Now your 30 and it's to late now to care,
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And you can taste it.
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Just your basic protest song
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Well, I just turned 13 don't know what I wanna be,
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I don't have much experience but I'll tell you what I see.
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When I hear the record sing and baby, baby I love you,
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It seems to me we all got so much lovin left to do.
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And at 16 I don't know to much but I'll tell you what I do know,
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If you do not give a damn I'll tell you where to go.
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There is something truly crazy with our patriotic song,
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We know to wave the flag round the week begins a strong.
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CHORUS
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Oh now that I am 20 got my first full time job,
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My boss, upstanding citizen, finds legal ways to rob.
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They say forget what you believe forget what you have seen,
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But I know I lost the best of me when I forgot my dreams.
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I'm passin' on through 30 got two kids of my own,
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Got a wife, house, a car, and dog but still I am alone.
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And I'm tired of only selling cause it's myself that I sell,
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I'm glad of always buying cause I can't buy it ourselves.
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I know none of us is perfect I can see myself to well,
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If we can't push for paradise we're settled in for hell.
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CHORUS
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Basic Protest Song
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Harry Chapin |