When our voice has been muted And our flesh is met with steel When a quick end seems like an option Our trampled dignity takes with bliss The contemptible, the dispirited Prayed for years, something answered The dejected, the faltered, Say it's time to Dance to the beat of a different drum Dance to the beat of the drums of the dead In trance pounding your life away The long forgotten dead are longing for home Drums of the dead, the beat's in your head Drums of the dead The beat's in your head Drums of the dead The beat's in your head Drums of the dead Dead Dead Dead If you survive the middle passage Loss of Freedom will be your gain Loss of family, your own humanity From now on you'll pray for death The contemptible, the dispirited Prayed for years, something answered The dejected, the faltered, Say it's time to Dance to the beat of a different drum Dance to the beat of the drums of the dead In trance pounding your life away The long forgotten dead are longing for home Drums of the dead, the beat's in your head Drums of the dead The beat's in your head Drums of the dead The beat's in your head Drums of the dead