This is the story you wanted to write, well tonight is the night that you can
Just get this done and by dawn's early light you can finish the fight you began
This time we're in it to stay
Think about seizing the day
Think of that train as she rolls into old Santa Fe
Tell her I'm on my way
See old man Pulitzer snug in his bed
He don't care if we're dead or alive
Three satin pillows are under his head
While we're begging for bread to survive
Joe, if you're still counting sheep
Wake up and read 'em and weep
You've got your thugs
With their sticks and their slugs
Yeah, but we got a promise to keep
Once and for all
Something tells me the tide will be turning
Once and for all
There's a fire inside me that won't stop burning
Now that the choices are clear
Now that tomorrow is here.
Watch how the mighty will fall
For once and for all!
This is for kids shining shoes on the streets
With no shoes on their feet everyday
This is for guys sweating blood in the shops
While their bosses and cops look away
This is to even the score
We ain't just newsies no more
This ain't just kids with some pie in the sky
This is do it or die
This is war!
Once and for all
We'll be there to defend one another
Once and for all
Every kid is a friend
Every friend a brother
Five thousand fists in the sky
Five thousand reasons to try
We're going over the wall
Better to die than to crawl
Either we stand or we fall
For once
Once and for all!