[Verse 1: Cooley]
From the comfort zone of history
On the lips of trusted loved ones
To the lonely, fragile minds of angry youths

No sooner was it over
Than the memory made it nobler
The selective means by which to point the view


[Chorus]
Compelled, but not defeated
Surrender under protest if you must
Compelled, but not defeated

[Verse 2: Cooley]
If it's all you can remember
Then it's been that way forever
And for six long generations it's been told

But among the fallen was tradition
That tradition was the mission
And that the wrongness of the sin was not the goal

[Chorus]
[Verse 3: Cooley]
Does the color really matter?
On the face you blame for failure
On the shamin' for a battle's losing cause

If the victims and aggressors
Just remain each others others
And the instigators never fight their own

Compelled, but not defeated
Surrender under protest if you must
Compelled, but not defeated
Surrender under protest if you must
Surrender under protest if you must