Paroles: David Rovics. King David.

All of my life I've heard the stories
How many thousands of times
How the kingdom was lost and we had to pay penance
For our forefathers' crimes
How we'd seen such oppression, wandered the world
While empires rose and fell
But one day we'd have peace
When we returned to Israel

And we died in the pogroms, we died in the Crusades
We died for some prince to save face
Killed by the Russians, killed by the Catholics
Killed for the Aryan race
But none of that changes what happened before
Or the unspeakable things that you do
'Cause King David was a butcher
And so are you

'Cause I've been to your jails, I've spoken with ghosts
I've heard the unending calls
And I've seen your machine guns slaughtering children
Behind your high ghetto walls
And just like your friend Mr. De Klerk
One day you will admit it is true
That King David was a butcher
And so are you

And you can hide behind your money, you can hide behind history
You can hide behind Capitol Hill
And all the king's riches and all the king's rabbis
And the king's orders to kill
And you can say I'm a fascist of I think like an Arab
You can call me a self-loathing Jew
But King David was a butcher
And so are you

You can shake your head slowly, you can walk out in anger
You can say that you don't understand
Or in righteous rage you can get in your jet fighter
And conquer some more holy land
But I have to say this because I care for our future
Because I know the things that you do
Because King David was a butcher
And so are you