YOU CAN STOP ONE MAN Lyrics: Jui-chuan Chang (张睿铨)
They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million
I was twelve when I saw the news on television Broadcast live from a strange land of disillusion A group of college students striking for democracy But their government says they're mobs to be Order received, monster released, ready to bleed Red Stars on a shooting spree Bullet shells and sneakers with loose shoe laces People flee the scene with blood on their faces A few students use a bicycle to transport an injured man And a brave man stands before the killer tanks Waving his hands to stop 'em from moving forward The enemy's not me but those in power But they take him away, students are killed and locked away Screams and gunshots fill up this longest day Today's not for humans June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen Then the Chinese government started persecution Dissidents disappeared, imprisoned, sentenced for years Leaving China to become exiles wanted as mutineers Sons and daughters never to see mothers and fathers And brothers and sisters, friends and homes shattered Speech more censored than ever, lives wasted faster Memories removed, reprogrammed through press control June 4th, a taboo that collects a death toll
They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million
Self-claimed communist, more capitalist than capitalist Not even close to Marxist or socialist Real estate, banks, and stocks Big Macs and Starbucks around the clock The rich drink from a cup made of gold Buy organs from the powerless to put age on hold What's been sold? Behold. What's to share anymore? Poverty, disease, and fear among the poor and broke Who sold blood to feed their families but contracted HIV Thousands of patients confined with no sky to see Villages sealed by the government Cries for help silenced To cover inability, so free speech gotta be promptly Quarantined ideologically It undermines the infrastructure like the virus to the human body It'll hit like tsunami You're a gravedigger, digging your own grave Take this poem as your epitaph and thou shalt be saved We won't be dancing when they've finally lain, Lord Like them fools on bin Laden I'm praying for You might have censored Bob Dylan in the concert Truth's still shining bright across the oceans and the deserts We talk about this, write about this, sing about this We multiply like cockroaches
They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million They shot students with only banners in their hands Promise given with the bloody trials of the tanks The world's watching. We see you imprison civilians You can stop one man, but you can't stop a million