Dear Mr. President

by Pink

1. 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.

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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?

Vocabulary Aids

Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident

von Pink

Deutsche Übersetzung © von Volker Pöhls

1. Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident,
machen Sie doch einen Spaziergang mit mir.
Wir tun einfach so, als seien wir zwei normale Leute und
du wärest nicht was Besseres als ich.
Ich möchte dir einige Fragen stellen, wenn wir offen und ehrlich miteinander sprechen können.

2. Was fühlen Sie, wenn Sie all die Obdachlosen auf der Straße sehen?
Für wen beten Sie abends, bevor Sie zu Bett gehen?
Was fühlen Sie, wenn Sie in den Spiegel sehen?
Sind Sie stolz?

3. Wie gut schlafen Sie, wenn der Rest von uns weint?
Wie träumen Sie nachts, wenn eine Mutter ihrem Kind nicht mehr Auf Wiedersehen sagen kann?
Wie können Sie noch mit erhobenem Kopf herumlaufen?
Können Sie mir noch in die Augen sehen
und mir sagen warum?

4. Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident,
waren Sie als Kind einsam?
Sind Sie einsam?
Sind Sie einsam?
Wie können Sie sagen:
"Kein Kind wird fallengelassen." ?
Wir sind nicht taub und wir sind nicht blind.
Sie sitzen alle in Ihren Zellen,
während man ihnen den Weg zur Hölle ebnet.

5. Was für ein Vater würde seiner eigenen Tochter die Rechte wegnehmen?
Und was für ein Vater könnte seine eigene Tochter hassen, wenn sie lesbisch wäre?
Ich kann mir nur vorstellen, was die First Lady zu sagen hat.
Sie sind weit gekommen von Whiskey und Kokain.

6. Wie gut schlafen Sie, wenn der Rest von uns weint?
Wie träumen Sie nachts , wenn eine Mutter ihrem Kind nicht mehr Auf Wiedersehen sagen kann?
Wie können Sie noch mit erhobenem Kopf herumlaufen?
Können Sie mir noch in die Augen sehen
und mir sagen warum?

7. Ich sage Ihnen mal, was harte Arbeit ist:
Mindestlohn und das mit einem Baby im Bauch
Ich sage Ihnen mal, was harte Arbeit ist:
das Haus wieder aufbauen, wenn die Bomben es ausradiert haben.
Ich sage Ihnen, was harte Arbeit ist:
Ein Bett bauen aus einem Pappkarton
Ich sage Ihnen, was harte Arbeit ist
Harte Arbeit
Harte Arbeit
Sie haben keine Ahnung von harter Arbeit
Harter Arbeit
Harter Arbeit
Oh

8. Wie gut schlafen Sie nachts?
Wie laufen Sie herum mit erhobenem Haupt?
Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident,
Sie würden doch niemals mit mir spaziergehen,
Oder?

Talking Points

1. Find out everything you can about Pink!
2. Watch Pink performing the song on video and try to sing along!
3. Translate the lyrics into your mother tongue. Compare your translation to other translations! What difference does it make to translate "you" in German as "du" or "Sie"?
4. What are Pink's main points? Is she very precise?
5. "No child is left behind." Find out what she refers to! (Look for "The No Child Left Behind Act" e.g. on the White House Page)
6. "The rest of us cry." Isn't she exaggerating?
7. Pink's concert on December 4, 2006 in Wembley Arena on the UK leg oft the tour was hosted by London club G-A-Y, and it holds the record as the UK's biggest indoor gay and lesbian event. [wikipedia]
   Pink (not gay) married motocross racer Carey Hart on January 7, 2006. What is Pink's position concerning homosexuality? Look for Bush quotations on lesbians!
8. When performing the song at Wembley Arena in London, slides were shown with slogans such as "God Hates Fags" "He's not just targeting marriage. He's tageting all of us" and "Gay marriages in Ohio: 0" Comment on them!
9. What is she alluding to: "You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine."
10. The last stanza is about "hard work". What is she referring to?
11. In the presidential debate between George W Bush and John Kerry, the Bush speech included repeated mentions to "hard work."
1. "Forty-one percent of those 10 million are women. In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. You know why? Because an enemy realizes the stakes. The enemy understands a free Iraq will be a major defeat in their ideology of hatred. That's why they're fighting so vociferously.
2. I work with Director Mueller of the FBI; comes in my office when I'm in Washington every morning, talking about how to protect us. There's a lot of really good people working hard to do so. It's hard work. But, again, I want to tell the American people, we're doing everything we can at home, but you better have a president who chases these terrorists down and bring them to justice before they hurt us again.
3. But because Tommy Franks did such a great job in planning the operation, we moved rapidly, and a lot of the Baathists and Saddam loyalists laid down their arms and disappeared. I thought they would stay and fight, but they didn't. And now we're fighting them now. And it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. And I'm optimistic.
4. The plan says we'll train Iraqi soldiers so they can do the hard work, and we are.
5. And as I just told you, there's going to be a summit of the Arab nations. Japan will be hosting a summit. We're making progress. It is hard work.
6. It is hard work to go from a tyranny to a democracy.
7. It's hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free.
8. You know, it's hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way. I told her after we prayed and teared up and laughed some that I thought her husband's sacrifice was noble and worthy.
9. There are 100,000 troops trained, police, guard, special units, border patrol. There's going to be 125,000 trained by the end of this year. Yes, we're getting the job done. It's hard work.
10. Everybody knows it's hard work, because there's a determined enemy that's trying to defeat us.
11. And I believe both a free Afghanistan and a free Iraq will serve as a powerful example for millions who plead in silence for liberty in the broader Middle East. We've done a lot of hard work together over the last three and a half years.
12. What does Pink mean by saying "You don't know nothing 'bout hard work"? Explain the different concepts behind the expression "hard work"!
13. Pink began performing in Philadelphia clubs when she was fourteen years old [wikipedia] and has been a singer ever since. What exactly does she know about hard work?
14. Analyse the videos showing Pink performing the song. Do the slides shown in the background add to the message?
15. Would President Bush discuss with Pink? Would he understand her? Would he change his mind? Would she?
16. Write a fictitious dialogue between Pink and George Bush!
17. Discuss: a) The USA is a bad democracy because they have a bad president. b) Only in a functioning democracy a president can be openly criticized like that.
18. In an interview with MTV NEWS Pink said: "I hope the president 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." Is it really such a free country? Find out if Pink was free to perform this song everywhere!
19. What happened, when Natalie Maines, singer of the Dixie Chicks, criticized Bush's Iraq policy? cf. film Shut Up & Sing
20. Organize a debate accusing and defending Bush, focussing on war, the homeless, homosexuality, abortion and drug abuse!
21. Suppose you were Bush's advisor. How should he defend himself?
22. What would you accuse leaders of your country of?
23. Discuss other Pink songs such as "Stupid Girls" "Don't let me Get me" or "Family Portrait"!