[Intro]
Count it up, dress it clean
Sell the dream on a giant screen
Count it up, make it shine
Another country in a punchline

[Verse]
He waves his hands like a landlord god
With a television grin and a campaign nod
Says maybe this, says maybe that
Like a nation is a prize in a rich man’s hat
The crowd starts laughing, the cameras feed
The joke grows teeth in the mouth of greed
She hears the line from a border town
Where nobody laughs when the threats come down

[Pre-Chorus]
You can make a slogan
You can make a sign
But you cannot make
Their future mine

[Chorus]
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
You can paint it on a screen but it will never fly
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
A people is not property under your sky
No handshake, no threat, no billionaire show
Can make a free land bow down low

[Verse]
In a diner north of a frozen road
A waitress says we carry our own load
We do not need a master with a golden door
We have heard that sales pitch before
Flags in the window, snow in the street
Boots by the radiator, coffee and heat
The journalist writes as the radio spits
Another empire having little king fits

[Pre-Chorus]
You can make a headline
You can make a scene
But freedom is not
Your magazine

[Chorus]
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
You can paint it on a screen but it will never fly
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
A people is not property under your sky
No handshake, no threat, no billionaire show
Can make a free land bow down low

[Interlude]
Say no
Stand tall
Not yours
At all
Say no
Stand tall
Not yours
At all

[Bridge]
Every joke from the powerful lands like a boot
Every fantasy grows from a poisoned root
Every little king with a continent dream
Needs the rest of the world to become a screen
But the streets have memory, the schools have songs
The ports have names, the winters are long
And every small voice that refuses to bend
Is the beginning of the empire’s end

[Breakdown]
Not a state
Not a prize
Not a joke
Not your size

[Build-up]
Not a state
Not a prize
Not a joke
Not your size
Not a deal
Not a dare
We are here
We are there

[Chorus]
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
You can paint it on a screen but it will never fly
The 51st lie, the 51st lie
A people is not property under your sky
No handshake, no threat, no billionaire show
Can make a free land bow down low

[Outro]
Count it up, dress it clean
The lie burns out on a broken screen
Count it up, make it shine
No free people wait in your line