I started taking shape.
 At eighteen I was so beautiful
 That the strangers started to gape.
 They said "Enter the ultimate contest
 If you're as gorgeous as you seem."
 They said "Please, please, please
 Be our American dream."
 But late that night beneath the grieving moon
 There's a dazzling sight in my motel room
 For a grunting judge with his bulging eyes
 I give my all for his cherished prize.

 Oh why, oh why?
 I'm Miss America
 Crying on TV
 Silver clad in satin rags,
 But everything's where it should be
 Oh say can you see, ah say can you see.

 After they showed me the game ball
 They told me put on weight.
 They told me I'd be powerful
 They told me I'd be great.
 And my Uncle Sam he would coach me
 His helmet on my head
 And they said "Please, please please, please
 Please win and beat the spread."
 But the new game plan that the owners had made
 Meant that win or lose there would be a trade.
 For the team's become a real gold mine
 And the kid's sold off for the bottom line.

 Oh why, oh why?
 Mr. America
 Sweating on TV
 The winner's joy from the battered boy
 For everything's where it should be
 Oh say can you see, ah say can you see.

 At last we've come together
 Call it marriage or civil war.
 If it brings us to battle, babe
 It must be worth our fighting for.
 Though today came up cloudy
 There will be other days.
 "Ah, please, please, please, please
 What else is there to say?"
 But in plywood spread
 By a plastic stream
 And in separate beds with a borrowed dream
 And with questions wide and the silence deep
 We take two pills so at last we'll sleep.

 Oh why, oh why?
 Mr. and Mrs. America
 Our story's on TV
 Can you hear canned laughter
 For everything's where it should be
 Oh say can you see, ah say can you see.

 Well, my little boy he told me something
 Just the other night.
 He whispered it as I kissed him
 Before I turned out the light.
 And of course he said it simple
 As only children can
 He said "Daddy, daddy, daddy, please
 I'm ready to dream again