The school board says he can't come to school no more Unless he wears his hair Like he wore it before The PTA And all the mothers Say he ought to look like the others Home of the brave Land of the free Why won't you let him be what he wants to be? The kids all laugh at his hair And his funny clothes And more than once he's gone home With a bloody nose He's not like them And they can't ignore it So they all hate him for it Home of the brave Land of the free Why won't you let him be what he wants to be? It really burns me up When they put him down He's the only one whose saying something In this whole town Instead of all The trouble they hand him Why don't they try To understand him? Home of the brave Land of the free Why won't you let him be what he wants to be? He never hurt nobody Why won't you let him be what he wants to be? He's just a little bit different Why won't you let him be what he wants to be? You gotta understand him Why won't you let him