Sworn to love and cherish always
Sworn as their provider all your days

You've seen that look in each of their eyes
So helpless, so demanding
You feel the strain of labor in vain
The curses rain
And few are left standing

chorus:
Never have I seen the righteous forsaken
Never abandoned in the floodlands
Never have I seen their children out begging
Never have I seen them slip through your hands

Ignorance or apathy?
Which way?
'We don't know and we don't care,' they say

And as we watch the family die
An orphan choir rehearses
Their daddies left without a goodbye
Will you, my man, buckle under these curses?

(chorus)

And the curses fall on another deserter
And the curses fall on another deserter
And the curses fall on another deserter

(chorus)

© 1993 Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Behind the Song:
'The song Curses takes a verse from the Bible in Psalm 37 where the psalmist says, 'I was young and now I'm old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor their children begging bread.' I think it contrasts men who essentially desert their wives and children, turning them into our society's version of widows and orphans. It takes one particular guy that just says, 'Man, don't do it.'

'The song Curses takes a verse in the Bible from Psalm 37--'I am old but I once was young...' [pause] '...I am young but I was old...' [laughter] I'll never forget that verse in the Bible, Psalm 37! [laughter]' - Steve Taylor (from Sockheaven.org)