You Could Have Been a Roosevelt

Out into the world
With all the confidence and grace that luck instills
Each and every girl
With dresses pressed and faces fresh as daffodils

This could be us but those were not the cards that we were dealt
You're doomed to be a Kennedy
When you could have been a Roosevelt

Out into the world
You're sailing into life upon a glassy sea
Flags and sails unfurled
What must it be to be so young and whole and free

This could be us but we're the grave at which our fathers knelt
You're doomed to be a Kennedy
When you could have been a Roosevelt

And we're glad
We can see in them versions of the life that we almost had

Out into the world
Where certain things will always be beyond our scope
Just to be a girl
With Jean Nate and Pink Camay and Yardley Soap

This could be us but there was just a trust we never felt
It's hard to be a Kennedy
When you could have been a Roosevelt
It's hard to be a Kennedy
When you could have been a Roosevelt