They were wed in spring in front of their families And nine months later she was pregnant With a strong baby boy and so they raised him And this is what they call the American dream And in the back of all of his button-ups His mother sewed in a name label And she sewed in his fate just like a name label And he wore them both heavy as they bit at the back of his neck Go to school, get a job, find a wife, settle down And his father taught him all that a man should know How to pay the bills put the spin on the winning throw And the boy showed promise and he made his father proud But moved like the breeze through a field too tired to give in Go to school, get a job, find a wife, settle down I can feel the taunting and teasing Of my paycheck as it holds me ransom The monsters we feared when we were children Are nothing compared to the ones that live under my bed So he studied hard at Cal State University And married a girl who was fragrant and flowering And at night while he sleeps the refrains of his raising Cut the heads off the dreams of the things he thought could have been Go to school, get a job, find a wife, settle down