PINK - Dear Mr. President

(feat. Indigo Girls)

Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?

Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?

"Dear Mr. President" is a song by Pink featuring the Indigo Girls, and was recorded for Pink's fourth album, I'm Not Dead. Pink said that the song is an open letter to the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and that it is one of the most important songs she had written. She stated that it would never be released as a single because it was too important to be perceived as a publicity stunt. It was, however, released in Europe and Australia.

Content

The song was written by Pink and Billymann. Pink came up with the idea to ask the Indigo Girls to join the recording of the song. According to an interview, they "believe in the song. An open letter to the president, that's what we needed."^{[cite this quote]} During an interview with an Australian radio station, the Australian girl group Young Divas asked Pink what she was thinking when she wrote "Dear Mr. President". Pink stated that she wrote the song on Martin Luther King Day in 2005. "I read The New York Times every day, and watch the news. And I was completely disgusted with it. I just felt like....I just needed to write a song."^{[cite this quote]}

When I'm Not Dead was released on April 4, 2006, "Dear Mr. President" attracted considerable attention. Most of the discussion concerned Pink's statement that the song was intended for United States President George W. Bush. The song's format is a series of rhetorical questions for the President, specifically pertaining to how he really feels about controversial issues such as war ("Let me tell you about hard work/Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away"), homosexuality ("What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?"), the homeless ("What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street"), the attempted ban on abortion ("What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?") and drug abuse ("You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine"), and asks "when you look in the mirror are you proud?".

In an interview with MTV News Pink stated she hoped George W. Bush heard the song and that "[he] is proud of the fact that we live in a country where we can do things like that, where we can have dissent, talk, communicate and share our opinions." After she performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 11, 2007, she thanked Kimmel for letting her sing it, telling him that many radio station DJs had been told they couldn't discuss the track if she was a guest, and that she wasn't allowed to perform it on other U.S. television shows.

After her loss in the Georgia 4th District Democratic primary on August 8, 2006, Cynthia McKinney played the song to her supporters in lieu of a concession speech and sang along.

The song was used during the closing of the fourth season final of the television series

The above source is quoted from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Mr._President