Excerpts & Lyrics

Chapter Seven: Numbers

Flash Player is required for audio samples.

When we are born we are given a name, and with our name we build a life. Our identity as humans is forever connected with our name. Remove names and replace them with numbers and in so doing we become objects, nothing more than a ledger entry in a book. And, when the numbers are no longer useful, we toss them away, for it is much easier to erase a number, than to erase a name. When you are less than human in the eyes of those who count the numbers, extermination is not a complicated moral issue. However, the human spirit is powerfully resilient and that which is removed on the surface is not so easily destroyed within. Our names not only rest on our ears, but are indelibly impressed upon our souls; a gift to be cherished and guarded with love. During the Holocaust millions of Jews and other condemned people had their names removed and replaced with numbers. They suffered the ignominious fate of being de-humanized, counted and herded like beasts of burden, and then they were exterminated. Those who survived remind us all of the inextinguishable nature of the human spirit and the power of a name.

Numbers

Full Chorus | Male Ensemble (Perpetrator)
Women’s Chorus | Men’s Chorus

We are numbers on a page,
just a thing that should be caged
We are nothing, numbers, nothing, numbers

We are columns we are rows,
In the wind our ashes blow
We are nothing, numbers, nothing, numbers
Count every woman,
every child, every man
They count everything,
and all the people
they have damned
Every life, every soul
just a number in their plan,
a number in their plan
And they count on the world
not to ever take a stand!

The plan is well in place, to eradicate our race
We are numbers, nothing, numbers, nothing

Smash our hope, erase our name,
Squash a bug, it’s just the same
We are numbers, nothing, numbers, nothing

They give you just enough to eat
You die a drop each day
If you crawl or if you’re dead
They will count you anyway
It doesn’t really matter
if we die or if we stay, die or if we stay
Cause we’re counted countless people,
and our numbers grow each day

We are numbers on a page
We are columns we are rows
We are pieces we are things
We’re forgotten, we’re unknown

We are numbers
We are numbers

We stand in line and wait and wait and wait
They count and count and count
then contemplate
Who will live
Who will die

They choose a number
Take a life
They let some live
Today they will decide

I stand alone
Nowhere to hide

We count and count all the columns, all the rows
Everyday, every night, all the time,
Each piece, each bug, just a number in a book
Many bugs, many books, many lines

Numbers
Numbers
Numbers
Numbers

Counted every day every night
Just numbers
Not a single name in sight
Numbers
Numbers
Numbers
Numbers
Far as the eye can see
Numbers, burned from memory

We are numbers on a page
count one, count two
We are numbers on a page
count three, count four
We are numbers on a page
count one, count two
We are numbers on a page
count one, count two, three,

(in canon style)
We are numbers on a page one, two
We are numbers on a page three, four,
Numbers
(over canon)
Numbers nothing more to me
Numbers far as you can see
Numbers what good could they be
Numbers die so easily
Numbers burned from memory

Numbers, numbers
Counted every day and night
Just numbers
Not a single name in sight
Numbers, numbers
Far as the eye can see
One less number one, two, three

We are numbers on a page, one, two
We are numbers on a page three
We are numbers on a page, one, two
We are numbers on a page three
We are numbers on a page, one, two
We are numbers on a page
We are numbers on a page, one, two
We are numbers on a page
We are numbers on a page, one
We are numbers on a page