[Verse 1]
Words to describe Nicaragua of old
Cash crops and hunger and US control
Coffee and sugar on company land
Made to supply what the boss would demand

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Then one July morning in '79
Nicaragua decided to leave it behind

[Chorus]
And the people are learning to take back their lives
As the country will change, Sandinista survives

[Verse 2]
Women are winning what they've never known
The power to organize outside the home
Starting to find what is equal and fair
Ensuring that this revolution is shared

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Regaining lost chances, demanding much more
Running the factories, fighting the war

[Chorus]
And the people are learning to take back their lives
As the country will change, Sandinista survives
[Verse 3]
Nobody claims that it's over and done
There's too much depends on enlistment and guns
And raising their children and filling their plates
And chasing the Contras to Washington State

[Pre-Chorus 3]
The Yankee conspiracy thrown to the ground
That's where the spirit of change can be found

[Chorus]
And the people are learning to take back their lives
As the country will change, Sandinista survives