Like Real People

Mom works two jobs
So we can feel real
Like real people
Who live in a real place
Who don't worry
About money

She works at the diner
During the day
So she can pay
To send us to a school

It's not a good school
But it's a school
You pay to go to
And that makes us feel
Like our education
Is worth something

She works at the hotel
Every night until two
So Sarah can wear designer shoes
So I can have the car I want
So we can eat organic food
And feel like real people

Cause real people
Don't live on bad streets
Or sleep on old sheets
Or get beat up
On their way home
From school

Mom keeps us cool
With her multiple earnings
And we're learning
To develop the superiority we need
To believe we're better than
The children of a mother
Whose other job
Keeps her kids whole

And even as the pressure
Starts to take its toll on Mom
We keep feeling real
And believing we're real
And feeling like
We're not her kids at all

But the kids of someone better
Who'd never have to lower herself
The way our mother does

We live imaginary lives
That feel real

And Mom works
To keep up our illusions

And the aligned stars
And designer clothes
Keep our noses high
And our confusion minimal

The tricky thing about a subliminal message
Is that you don't realize it's subliminal

We hear that we need an apartment
In the nicest part of town
And Sarah needs a gown
For the prom

And we need everything
We believe we need
And we believe
We don't need
Our Mom