[Intro]
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[Verse]
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The year was 1921 when Woodrow WIlson was not well
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He was beaten by the aftermath of the war to end all wars
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Handsome Warren Harding stood in the January cold
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and swore to restore America's God-given heart and soul
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Harding was an average man whose friends played him for a fool
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They abused the nation and the man to keep their pockets full
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A consecrated President with a child by an affair
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Assured me and my countrymen with a wife whose name was Claire
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[Chorus]
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And how the flappers danced, how the movies flashed
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And how the strength of business boomed before the market crashed
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And how the modern world was born int he aftermath of war
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While the ballyhoo went on and on before the market hit the floor
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[Verse]
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We made late peace with Germany and I marched and celebrated
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For Lindberg's flight and prohibition we toasted and we hated
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My government in Washington of by and for the people
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Isolated and disarmed the country and seemed to save the world
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I worked the navy's oil reserves in Wyoming's Teapot Dome
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While the Secretary of the Interior sold the Navy down the road
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From the oil fields to Canada where the corporate deals were made
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Or secret loans and gifts before the Congress learned the game
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[Chorus]
Am C G Am
And how the flappers danced, how the movies flashed
Am C G Em
And how the strength of business boomed before the market crashed
F C Em Am
And how the modern world was born int he aftermath of war
Am C G Am
While the ballyhoo went on and on before the market hit the floor
Am G C Em
[Verse]
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So how did free America take to the selling of its oil
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And the butchering of offices by appointed criminals
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They called the Senate Committee scandal mongers, malicious and unclean
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Bolshiveks and partisans with truth the country did not need
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The Harding I remember our hale fellow well met
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Confused by native faith in friends and naive unworldliness
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Died poisoned in Alaska as the scandals came to fame
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Some say it was his wife's revenge or mercy for his name
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[Chorus]
Am C G Am
And how the flappers danced, how the movies flashed
Am C G Em
And how the strength of business boomed before the market crashed
F C Em Am
And how the modern world was born int he aftermath of war
Am C G Am
While the ballyhoo went on and on before the market hit the floor
Am G C Em Am