American Middle Class - Angaleena Presley

Tear this poorhouse down

When you know how to build it back

Hammer a nail between your heart and your hometown

'til you can carry this country on your back

Mama glued the Keds signs

on the back of my little white shoes

Daddy never crossed the picket line

it was hard but we made it through

only had one little pair of stonewashed jeans

with a label on the back

I’m a product of the never-give-up

American middle class

Tear this poorhouse down

When you know how to build it back

Hammer a nail between your heart and your hometown

'til you can carry this country on your back

I got my education at a school they could afford

Scholarships went to the rich

and the grants went to the poor

so I stood behind the little downtown bar

for spending money, books, and gas

To be a certified member of the work-too-much

American middle class

Now daddy can’t get his pension or Social Security

Worked thirty damn years in a coal mine

Feeding welfare families

Struggle hard and hide it well,

You sure ain’t rich and you sure as hell

Ain’t poor enough to get one little break

'cause everything would collapse

Without the hardworking, God-loving members of

the American middle class

Tear this poorhouse down

When you know how to build it back

Hammer a nail between your heart and your hometown

'til you can carry this country on your back