This song is one of a series that use the point of view of Uncle Sam. Listen all the way through for General Mark Milley’s powerful farewell address. (Alternate genres are included at the bottom of this post.)
Each member of the US military and National Guard take an oath of enlistment when they sign up for duty. They swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Trump is deploying the Marines to intimidate Americans in Los Angeles, federalizing and arming the National Guard in DC, MAGA governors are sending their National Guard units to the nation’s capitol, and trump is threatening cities with Democratic mayors like Chicago and Baltimore with a military occupation.
It has never been more important in our lifetimes that our veterans uphold their oaths.
Please blast this song while protesting trump’s attempted occupation of your city to remind our veterans of their oath. You can also use the lyrics and/or the YouTube video in social media comments for posts illustrating the use of the military against American citizens.
Lyrics
Yo! Uncle S.A.M. on the marble, hat high, boots loud.
No crown, no cult; only country. Bring the drum.
I’m the poster come to life, lantern for the fight,
Stitched from ballads and ballots, guided by liberty’s light.
I don’t bend for a bully, don’t bow for a brand,
I’m the common drum thumpin’ ’cross this promised land.
When the night gets loud and the fever runs hot,
I’m the lantern in the window sayin’ “remember what we’ve got.”
Not a crown, not a cult, not a counterfeit throne;
We pledge to the parchment, not flesh, not bone.
We ain’t props for a strongman, ain’t puppets on wire,
Not props for a photo, not tinder for fascist fire.
We’re hinges and lighthouses, locks for the door,
Turning only for the oath and nothing more.
If illegal orders bellow and call it “duty,”...(NO!)
We hold the oath above the noise and let the law show.
Guardians, not gadgets; compass crystal-clear;
Liberty’s load-bearing beam, we hold it right here.
Write it in your breath, carry it in both hands:
Duty to the law, not to any one man.
I want you to uphold the oath.
Uphold the oath. (Uphold the oath)
When the winds turn cold: uphold the oath.
When the drums get bold: uphold the oath.
No throne, no boast. (Uphold the oath)
From coast to coast: uphold the oath.
I want you (I want you) to uphold the oath.
Hold that line, hold that note: uphold the oath.
I’ve seen fever in the headlines, lightning in the lies,
A lawful order is daylight; illegal orders wear disguise.
When the heat says hurry and the mob says “GO,”
Check the compass in your heart; does the charter say so?
If it breaks our bond, it doesn’t stand.
The oath is the north star over this land.
We don’t kneel to a name or a flag’s mere cloth,
We stand for the meaning. We uphold the oath.
From the National Guard: “Always Ready, Always There”.
This oath is your lantern in any dark air.
To the Marines: Semper Fidelis, faithful and fierce.
Let fidelity be the seal no demagogue can pierce.
To the Army: This We’ll Defend, steady and true,
Let that shield be the measure of all that we do.
To the Navy, tides turning, storms testing your load.
Steer by the stars of the lawful code.
To the Air Force, high threshold, Fly-Fight-Win.
Keep the sky sworn clean where our vows begin.
To the Space Force: Semper Supra, watch from above.
Guard the silent orbits with constitutional love.
To the Coast Guard: Semper Paratus, bars, buoys, and frost.
Read the law in the lighthouse so no soul is lost.
(And to every veteran whose quiet courage wrote
The margin notes of freedom—thank you for the oath.)
From the schoolhouse bell to the courthouse floor,
We don’t swear to a tyrant, not now, not evermore.
I want you to uphold the oath.
Uphold the oath. (Uphold the oath)
When the winds turn cold: uphold the oath.
When the drums get bold: uphold the oath.
No throne, no boast. (Uphold the oath)
From coast to coast: uphold the oath.
I want you (I want you) to uphold the oath.
Hold that line, hold that note: uphold the oath.
Top hat tilt, swagger stitched in red-white-blue,
But swagger means nothing if we don’t walk true.
Orders are instruments, justice the key.
Play the republic in constitutional C.
When power wants shortcuts, when the spotlight’s hot,
Remember the oath is the map we got.
Not to a face, not to a throne.
To the living law we all call home.
I want you to uphold the oath.
Uphold the oath. (Uphold the oath)
When the winds turn cold: uphold the oath.
When the drums get bold: uphold the oath.
No throne, no boast. (Uphold the oath)
From coast to coast: uphold the oath.
I want you (I want you) to uphold the oath.
Hold that line, hold that note: uphold the oath.
My name is Sam: protector, provider.
We don’t take vows to idols; we take vows to what’s right.
Let your choices be the chorus when the music is gone:
Stand lawful. Stand faithful. Keep the oath living on.
Alternate Genres
Military March
Orchestral Hip Hop
Rap
Southern Rock
Troops in your city?
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