Have you got a light
I've seen this door a hundred times
Touched this railing like a hundred hands
Seen these faces rage and fade
And crumble into lonely age
I know what it's like to be a liar
When everyone around you is a fire
I think you know it too, don't you
Let's have a drink or two
We're not rebels, we're not heroes
We're just here, we're just queer
The fuzz can smell our fear
The cameras are rolling when they pull us apart
We didn't know this was how it would start

Break down, silent sister
Look out the bars for the one you lost
All we have are shadows and shame
What's your name
Will you stay
Before they take us away

We saw them throw stones
We buffered our bones
The whip cracked
The jail cell full of queens of all sizes and colors
You weren't there
They dragged you by your hair
This beautiful boy
Taken away in rags
Taken away in bags
The cops went home to their wives and their steak knives
And we screamed for years

We felt the sting privilege had pried from us
We were the faraway boot-crushed boys
We want it us over them
We take the bullets and grin
We saw our faces in films and photographs
We were the martyrs for progress
What was your name again

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

notes:

Samples from "United in Anger: A History of ACT UP" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAzU79PBVM), Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all better quiet down" monologue (https://videoactivism.net/en/yall-better-quiet/), footage from the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9OJnRnZjU), Advise and Consent (clip from The Celluloid Closet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL_vrb4-6_0), Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsbrRAgv1b4).