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lyrics

benjamim

he was a boy, 8 years old
a shy smile and a kind and tender soul
something different, he couldn't name
it didn't matter: they knew it anyway
knew he wasn't the same

they waged war on the black asphalt
he lay in clovers outside their army walls
they said "why don't you come along?"
but he was watching the clouds and singing songs
they knew something was wrong

"benjamin," they say "he acts kind of strange.
He don't play the way the other boy's play"
and when they've taken him for hostage
with their killing games and guns
he says "can you lay me under flowers when you are done?"

days turn into months and years
coming in with hope, and out with it
now a man, he grows proud
but with his freedom they say he speaks too loud
and so they turn it around

friendly voices, and nice words, too
and he yearns to believe them, wouldn't you?
follows them out of the crowded bar
and then they drive to the country in their car
where no one sees but the stars

benjamin, he tries hard to be so brave!
to sticks and stones,
and the cruel words that people say
and as they're stripping off his clothes
to make a pile of what he was
he's begging "why, oh, why?"
and they're answering "because."

morning comes with a blackbird's song
does his mother sense something is wrong?
light awakens the sleeping town
his body casting a shadow on the ground
with his head hanging down

benjamin is made a scarecrow in the field
a crown of thorns to crucify the way they feel
and before life fades to blackness
he sees swirling of his blood
and thinks "what pretty patterns hatred makes on love!"
he thinks "what pretty patterns hatred makes on love"
he says "could you lay me under flowers when you are done?"

credits

from Three Hundred Suns, released December 12, 2009

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Annie Bethancourt Portland, Oregon

Annie Bethancourt has been heralded as an angelic voice with “a lot of talent on her lips and at her fingertips.”

Now splitting her time between the firs of Portland, Oregon and the palm trees of Costa Rica, Bethancourt lives a life of wanderlust, and her music is, just like her scenery, an ever changing mixture of people and places, strange scenarios, and quirky tales.
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