I woke up screaming
But no one heard the drying river shining
To the breathing world (what was I dreaming of...)
And I missed all the gardens all the animals' footprints fresh in the rain
Now there is only the train the beast gives wait
Another master another day

In the borderlands
Cities forgotten
Borderlands crossing over me

So wipe the tears from your cheekbones
And the blood from your fingers
We are the ghosts in the theater of human rights
Just beyond their security lights

In the borderlands cities forgotten
Borderlands crossing over me
To the borderlands
Rivers and mountains
Borderlands
Crossing over me

(Crossed me)

This world is bigger than this
Bigger than lines drawn by governments
Illusions we're tracked by your eyes always watching

Just like the cameras twisting 'round this place
Out 24, 000 miles in space
Always so cold and so clear
But how do we get to the world from here?

Crash the system's hate from the factory floor to the white house gate
Crush the system's hate
From the maquiladora to the White House gate

To the borderlands cities forgotten (crossing over)
Borderlands
Crossing over me

To the borderlands
Rivers and mountains
Borderlands
Crossing over me


Lyrics submitted by StrikeAgainstRiseAnywhere

The Crossing song meanings
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    General Comment

    Quoting Thomas Barnett:

    Inspired by all the different people trying to get somewhere where they can eat food and have a family. It's ... about this Central American and Mexican movement of people to move back north to have a piece of this world. It references "The Beast" in the second verse, which is the name of the train that people would jump on and hope that they survive it to get across the border. To get somewhere where there's not political executions that are often orchestrated by these middle-men groups so that our corporations can have a very fertile and flexible footing and cheap labor in these countries that these people call home. So, it's about immigration and human rights.

    StrikeAgainstRiseAnywhereon October 25, 2009   Link

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