Motherland [German translation]

Where in the hell can you go,

far from the things that you know,

far from the sprawl of concrete

that keeps crawling its way

about 1,000 miles a day?

Take one last look behind,

commit this to memory and mind.

Don’t miss this wasteland,

this terrible place;

when you leave,

keep your heart off your sleeve.

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,

lullaby me to sleep,

keep me safe, lie with me,

stay beside me, don’t go,

don’t you go.

Oh, my five and dime queen.

Tell me, what have you seen?

The lust and the avarice,

the bottomless, cavernous greed,

is that what you see?

[Chorus]

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,

lullaby me to sleep,

keep me safe, lie with me,

stay beside me, don’t go.

It’s your happiness I want most of all,

and for that I’d do anything at all,

ah mercy me!

If you want the best of it,

or the most of all, if there’s anything

I can do at all.

Now, come on, shotgun bride,

what makes me envy your life?

Faceless, nameless, innocent,

blameless and free,

what’s that like to be?

[Chorus]

Don’t go.

• Artist:Natalie Merchant
• Album:Motherland (2001)