Back Again

I write the blog posts for myself and for close friends. I write the posts to bring some order into my swirling thoughts, which are often a free flowing and meandering stream of associations rather than an organized and constructive thinking process. I seldom invite people to this place here. I write bluntly without compromising and I don't care about public opinions and trends, memes, and the "zeitgeist". If you accidentally land on this website, there could be many reasons to leave instantly and only a few good reasons to continue reading,

Many reasons to leave instantly and not waste your precious time:

You consider yourself as member of a superior gender or race or nation or class, who is entitled to a privileged position (for instance: white male, EU or US or Israeli citizen, aristocrat, banker/trader, Forbes 400 person).

You like weapons and you like to kill animals, you consider violence and wars as justifiable, inevitable, and part of human nature.

You believe in a free market economy, in free trade and globalization, in competition and the entrepreneurial spirit, in eternal economic growth, in big corporations and Wall Street.

You are convinced, that warnings about chemical pollution and radioactive contamination, about deforestation, desertification, mass extinction of species and climate change are fear mongering. You don't worry about the ecological impact of your activities and you don't intend to change your lifestyle in order to minimize this impact. You want to be left alone by the "tree huggers".

You like to buy fancy gadgets, to drive fast cars, to spend lot of money on fashion items, to dine in elegant restaurants, to travel/cruise/tour around the world and lodge in expensive hotels.

You like TV (Fox, ABC, NBC, CNN) and talk radio (Clear Channel). You trust experts and pundits and spokespersons of government and industry. You believe, that for every problem there is an easy solution (for instance: reducing taxes, cutting welfare and education spending, privatizing communal services, declaring another war).

You believe in gods or goddesses, in spirits and ghosts, fairies, nymphs and satyrs, in witchcraft and supernatural or magical powers, in self help books and agony aunts, in the promises of politicians and other con men, in astrology, conspiracy theories, the rapture and/or the second coming.

A few reasons to continue reading:

A. Inconsistencies and ambiguities in media reports and contradictions of the official narrative to your personal experience are confusing you. You are looking for additional information from alternative sources.

B. You are troubled by social inequality and injustice and you are aware of ecological problems. You want to discuss these issues and possible remedies with likeminded people.

C. You try to connect with other people who, like you, strive for a decent and responsible lifestyle to discuss details and provide/receive encouragement.

Annotations. interpretations, commentaries:

A. Links to alternative sources are in the right column of this blog. Additional links in the blogpost How to choose an echo chamber {2}.

The diversity and the sheer volume of information is overwhelming and exhausting. I for myself try to be unhindered by ideologies, philosophies, religions and I try to apply common sense.

Having said that, the narrow window of our senses and our cognitive limitations make it often difficult to filter, analyze and process the informations. The cognitive limitations are mainly the limits of our working memory, which can contain and correlate not more than 3 to 6 items (depending on the familiarity of the memory patterns, to which the working memory holds the retrieval cues).

There are social, ecological and cultural issues, where not 3 or 6, but hundreds of factors come into play. News reports are consequentially and necessarily a simplification and can often only be understood with sound background knowledge and the application of scientific methods, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection explains a bit, neuroscience and linguistics explain a bit, mathematics (probability theory, chaos theory, information theory) explains a bit.

A few short notes about neuroscience, linguistics and philosophy:

I consider linguistics as the phenomenological branch of neuroscience, because we think and rationalize with words. Philosophy comes into play here, because it can be viewed as the playground of academics and intellectuals, where they artfully combine words to create constructions of thoughts, which may or may not have some resemblance and/or relevance to people's everyday lives. This playground is useful for linguistic studies and subsequently neurological research. Philosophical texts are a treasure throve for neuroscience, because they reveal, how our brain uses words for logical thinking, reasoning and decision making. I don't recommend Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, because one can easily get mired in irrelevant philosophical discourses, but Rousseau, Hume, Feyerabend, Wittgenstein and the Churchland family offer interesting perspectives (in anyway, calling Wittgenstein a philosopher is like calling Zen-Buddhism a religion).

B. If you have progressed till this point of the text, you are for sure not in the Forbes 400 list and you probably are dismayed by the fact, that these 400 individuals pay taxes at a rate of  just 16.6 percent.

Facts about income inequality:

The income per person and year is 59,590 US$ in Luxembourg, 53,890 US$ in Kuwait, 45,640 US$ in the USA, 390 US$ in Burundi, 300 US$ in the DRC, 290 US$ in Liberia.

About 1.7 billion people live in poverty, Six million children die of hunger every year. Over a billion people are suffering hunger or malnutrition. Most of them are small-scale farmers. 200,000 farmers in India committed suicide in the last 16 years. 

One percent of the world's adults own 40 percent  of the world's wealth.

The USA has 4.4 percent of the global population and uses a quarter of the world's fossil fuels. US military spending in 2010 was 698 billion US$, China was second with 119 billion, the UK third with 59.6 billion. The USA is the most powerful and richest country of the world, but the wealth is not evenly spread:

The best paid CEOs earn about 1,100 times more than a worker on the production line.

The top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now make more than the bottom 120 million.

48 million US citizens live below the poverty line.

C. In order not to repeat myself endlessly, I refer to earlier blog posts:

You want to save the world?

Feeling well, feeling good

What I found out and what I want to tell

We often have to make compromises. As a music teacher, I am in the fortunate position to have a job that makes sense to me. Unfortunately I have to drive to the music schools 40 kilometers by car, because there is no public transport in this remote area.

I try to stay healthy and I try to fulfill my basic biological needs, which are: fresh, unpolluted air, clean water, healthy food, sexual fulfillment, peace and quiet. A few details, how I organize my life in order to fulfill my basic needs:

I live in a small village at the edge of a forest and I make a daily walk with my cats in this forest.

I'm a vegetarian and I eat mostly organic food and self grown food.

I'm married.

I stopped buying gadgets, I cancelled my credit card and my cellphone, I don't look TV.

=======================

I am grateful for this privileged life that I have. I am grateful that I can make a living with work that I like and I am grateful that I can help my pupils to develop their personality and to get some additional perspectives of the world. There are many people, who are not in my privileged position and who don't have a job which they like and which is fulfilling. Is there any remedy for people, who are forced to do uninspiring and unnecessary or maybe even detrimental and unethical work -- or who have no job at all?

The free market scheme works best in the job market. It works best for the employers, who make the jobs rare by outsourcing the production to low wage countries. This is the main goal of globalization, the rich and powerful can put pressure on the applicants and exploit the workers both at home and abroad at the same time.

The unions could get in the way, but the union bosses were bought and corrupted long time ago. Everybody has his price! The unions were vilified, defamed, and maligned by the corporate media and systematically destroyed. The media brainwashing is still creating a "Red Scare" myth, everybody who fights for her/his rights or her/his fair share of the wealth is denounced as communist, anarchist, socialist or worse even as slacker, dropout, parasite, "welfare queen".

This is class warfare and it is waged relentlessly and ferociously every day, every hour, every minute, every second. The ones who denounce any dissent as class warfare are in fact the fiercest and most ruthless warriors. And they don't have to fear, that their warcrimes are revealed. Truth is, what is told by the corporate media 24 hours a day seven hours a week. "The revolution will not be televised"!

There would be so much necessary work to do in education, social services (health care, care for disabled and elderly, counseling troubled minds), nature preservation (reforestation and cleaning of contaminated sites), science and engineering (renewable energies, increasing efficiency). There would be so many possibilities to organize the economies of the world in a sustainable way. The ideas are out (Lester Brown, David Suzuki, Amory B. Lovins), but the big corporations (Big Oil, the biotech lobby, Wall Street, The "Military Industrial Complex") and the ruling elites are in the way.

I grew up in a time, where the unions still had their own grocery shops and their own newspapers. Why is it not possible to build and own a business collectively? What about co-ops, consumers or workers cooperatives, collective farms? What about a "new economy" and alternative networks? What about "counter currencies", "time banks", neighborhood self help groups? Why not squatting and repossessing foreclosed houses and abandoned factories?

The ruling elites have built up a rigid surveillance and security apparatus and Georg Orwell's 1984 is reality. The tight job market fits perfectly in this scheme, because there are enough young unemployed men who can be indoctrinated, conditioned, enlisted, trained. Give them a badge, a uniform and a weapon and let them loose, they will quell and bloodily suppress any dissent, any challenge to the status quo.

Bahrein, Syria, UAE, Yemen, and other dictatorships around the world use this system unashamed, the "civilized" countries still try to camouflage or sugarcoat it.

Sometimes it can be a useful incentive to let the young fighters rape all available women (a method successfully employed by Mohammed and other leaders throughout human history). Two million women have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I don't suggest anything. I only wonder, what will happen, when the ruling class in the western plutocracies (which as of today still misleading pose as democracies) faces a serious challenge to the established order? Will the gloves be off then? Will already overcrowded prisons filled up to the roof with dissenters or will police squads swarm out to catch and destroy agitators, heretics, nonconformists? Will Lockheed predator drones and attack helicopters engage the "homegrown dissidents" and hellfire missiles blow apart the homes of suspected rebellious citizens?

I hope not! We will make our revolution smooth and easy. We will not give them a reason to lash out. Don't forget, it is all perception, it is all in the mind! There are many intelligent people who are not indoctrinated, who discovered the truth, who are changing their life and who will collaborate to establish real and fundamental change. A paradigm shift is happening and it is not disruptive, it is smooth and easy.

It is all in our minds.

=======================

Personal notes:

The blog was on hiatus because first my wife injured her ankle and was going with crutches I had to keep the household going and to care for her. After that I had to prepare for a little concert and left the computer alone for a while (no emails, no social networking sites). I'm not a virtuous player, not a gifted musician, and I have to practice hard to make my performance bearable for the audience. No time left for the virtual world.

When I reappeared and explained the cause of the hiatus, one of my internet friends asked, if it was a life performance. Of course it was a life performance, life is much too interesting to be dead and so I try to avoid my final death performance as good as I can, though death inevitably will catch up with me sooner or later.

My fight against the dragonfly nymphs in the garden pond is going on and it seems that I make an impact and maybe together with our resident frog we can get rid of them. Only one individual, a grown up four centimeter long nymph, who resides in a inaccessible corner of the pond evaded all my efforts of "capture and kill" until now. I call it "Moby Dick" and I hope that I will not end like captain Ahab. I don't like to kill animals, but the nymphs are whipping out all other animals, especially the tiny little snails who live from algae and therefore keep the algae at bay.

Everything in the garden grows like mad, unfortunately also the algae in the garden pond. Everyday I'm pulling out and sieving algae, I could make a business out of it. This could be a valuable food source one day, just now though I like the strawberries better.

There are scientific theories, that algae were a big factor in the five mass extinction of species. We are just experiencing the sixth mass extinction in the history of the planet (the holocene mass extinction). This time the extinction is caused by humans, but as the oceans become warmer and more acidic it could well be that explosive algae grow (algae bloom) will wipe out aquatic life in wide areas.

=======================

Gil Scott-Heron has no life performances anymore. Many of my musical heroes are dead now, Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gay, Curtis Mayfield, Pops (Roebuck) Staples, now Gil Scott-Heron. Gil had a troubled life, bereaved and afflicted by drug abuse and AIDS. He was a sensitive, tender, and caring person and this callous and merciless world was too much for him.

He is in all our hearts and we will keep on the fight! "The revolution will not be televised", but it doesn't matter, we will work hard to make TV and all corporate media irrelevant. We will work hard to expose the crimes and tell the truth. It is all in our minds. The cacophony of lies and misinformation will not stop, but nobody will listen.

God bless you, I would say, if I would believe in god and an afterlife. Gil, you were a great man and you will live on in our memories!

Song lyrics of Gil Scott-Heron

17th Street

I've done a lot of travellin', seen a lot of pretty faces.

I've sung my way out blues songs in extraordinary places.

I come from 17th Street and that's on the other side of town,

an' if you see me wit' my brothers

don'cha dare go no further

you know we gonna get down, down, down.

Some people think I'm crazy, they say gil,

"it mus' be in yo' mind." They tell me

"there jus' ain' no sane reazon the way

yawl get down ev'ry time."

(I trytatellemthat):

"I come from 17th Street an'

that's where the brothers don' mess around"

and if you lookin' for the music

an' we find out you can use it

you know we gonna get down, down, down.

If you lookin' for excitement you may need

only look next door

because the brothers from 17th Street

they don't all live there anymore.

Some done moved to Harlem an'

Some moved way uptown, but if you

thinkin' bout the Spirit

an' you want to get near it

c'mon, c'mon an' get down, down, down.

++++++++++++++

95 South (All Of The Places We've Been)

In my lifetime I've been in towns

where there was no freedom or future around.

I've been in places where you could not eat

or take a drink of water where ever you pleased.

And now that I meet you in the middle of a mountain

Well, I'm reaching out from within.

And all I can think of are chapters and scenes of

all of the places we've been.

I'm not such an old man so don't get me wrong.

I'm the latest survivor of the constantly strong.

I've been to Mississippi and down city streets,

I've seen days of plenty and nights with nothing to eat.

But I'm not too happy 'bout the middle of a mountain so

soon I'll be climbing again.

'Cause all I can think of are chapters and scenes of 

all of the places we've been.

I was raised up in a small town in the country down south

so I've been close enough to know what oppression's about.

Placed on this mountain with a rare chance to see

dreams once envisioned by folks much braver than me.

And since their lives got me to the middle of a mountain 

Well, I can't stop and give up on them.

'Cause their lights that shine on inspire me to climb on 

from all of the places we've been.

From all of the places we've been, 

From all of the places we.ve , been alot of places, yeah

From all of the places we've been, 

Been down, been down, been down, alot of roads and places

All of the places...

++++++++++++++

1980

Thank you very much, thank you

Thank you, thanks, thanks everybody, yes thank you

Robot dignitaries better welcome you

Aliens part as you pass on through(?)

Nourishment and encouragement for the captain and his crew

Includes a ticker tape parade down the Main Avenue(?)

And you're captured by the dream machine

you wake up and you wonder what it means

It's 1980

And there ain't even no way back to '75 or 1969

It's 1980

And ain't nobody ask me no time lately "how we gonna open the door for 1984?"

God will continue to look out for the children

But the fools will have to look out for themselves

Space is the place but you stuck on the ground

If powers continue but without the sound

A universal dress rehearsal paints the town

But boogie-woogie somewhere in the lost and found

I don't mean to say that you're behind the times

But only that the times got away from you

And it's 1980

And there ain't even no way back to '75, much less 1969

It's 1980

And ain't nobody ask me no time lately "Brother help me open the door for 1984"

God will continue to look out for the children

But the fools will have to look out, look out, look out

The robot mayor is there to shake your hand

But he ain't never seen himself no earth man

Heard a funny word he just don't understand

But he hope that it don't mean you need a piece of land

Does it seem like such a long long way to come

To end up right back where you coming from?

It's 1980

And there ain't even no way back to '75, or much less 1969

It's 1980

And ain't nobody ask me no time lately "how we gonna open the door for 1984?"

God will continue to look out for the children

But the fools are gonna have to learn to fend for themselves

God will continue to watch over the babies

But the fools who never learn, never learn

God will continue to watch over the babies

But the fools are gonna have to watch out, watch out, watch out

Watch out

++++++++++++++

A Legend In His Own Mind

Well he loved plenty women from Canada to Mexico

They would to love to see him coming and hated when he had to go

A macho man before macho ever came to town

The only problem was not enough of him to go around

You know he had had more romances than L.A.'s got stars

He had had more romances than Detroit's got cars

He's a, a legend in his own mind and God's gift to women

On a day God wasn't giving up a thing

Well you hate to see him coming when you're grooving at your favorite bar

He's the death of the party and a self-proclaimed superstar

Got permanent Jones to assure you he's been everywhere

A show stopping name dropping answer to the ladies' prayers

To hear him telling he had more romances than doctors got bills

He had had more romances than Beverly got Hills

He's a, a legend in his own mind and God's gift to women

On a day God wasn't giving up a thing

You don't have to listen when he's rattling on, yeah

You don't have to listen, he's telling everybody else

You don't have to believe him, I don't think I'll ever believe him

Matter of fact he may well not believe himself

Well he loved plenty women from Canada to Mexico

And they loved to see him coming and hated when he had to go

A macho man before macho ever came to town

The only problem was not enough of him to go around

You know he had had more romances than airplanes got gauges

He had had more romances than phone books got pages

He's a, a legend in his own mind and God's gift to women

On a day God wasn't giving up a thing

He's a, a legend in his own mind and God's gift to women

On a day God wasn't giving up, wasn't giving up, wasn't giving up

He's a, a legend in his own mind and God's gift to women

On a day God wasn't giving up a thing

++++++++++++++

A Prayer For Everybody/To Be Free

This is a prayer for everybody

In the world

'Cause I need you and you need me

We need each other

This is a prayer for everybody

In the world

A prayer for you

A prayer for me

A prayer for love and harmony

A prayer for light for all to see

A prayer that someday we'll all be free

'Cause...

There's a lot that's wrong

We must be strong

And not become bitter

If there's a chance

That mankind will profit

Why should we scoff at something new

Or old - if it can make us better?

This is a prayer for everybody

In the world

'Cause without you

And without me

Without love and harmony

Without courage and dignity

What would it mean

To be free?

++++++++++++++

A Sign Of The Ages

It's a sign of the ages

Markings on my mind

Men at the crossroads

At odds with an angry scab

There can be no salvation

There can be no rest

Until all old customs

Are put to the test

The gods are all angry

You hear from the breeze

As night slams like a hammer

Yeah, and you drop to your knees

The questions can't be answered

You're always haunted by the past

The world's full of children

Who grew up too fast

Yeah, but where can you run

Since there ain't no world of your own

And you know that no one will ever miss you, yeah yeah yeah

When you're finally gone

So you cry like a baby, a baby

Or you go out and get high

But there ain't no peace on Earth, man

Maybe peace when you die, yeah

++++++++++++++

A Very Precious Time

Was there a touch of spring? 

Did she have a pink dress on? 

And when she smiled, her shyest smile 

Could you almost touch the warmth? 

And was it your first love, a very precious time? 

Was there the faintest breeze? 

And did she have a ponytail? 

And could she make you feel ten feet tall, 

Walking down the grassy trail? 

Was it your first love, a very precious time, time? 

Now they got me trying to define, in later life 

What her love means to me 

And it keeps me struggling to remember, my first touch of spring. 

Was there a touch of spring, in the air? 

And did she have a pink dress on? 

And when she smiled, her shyest smile 

Could you almost touch the warmth? 

Was it your first love, 

A very precious, very precious, very precious time, time.

++++++++++++++

Ain't No Such Thing As Superman

You have understood

The riddles of the ages

Yes and you have understood

The universal nine

You have placed your footprints on

The everlasting sands of time

Yes so tell me why

Can't you understand that there ain't no such thing as a superman?

There ain't no such thing as a superman

You was on the Nile

You went to see great Egypt fall

It fell down to the ground

Yes, and you was out there on the corner

When being cool went blind

Oh, you alone understand that if we gonna win

We've got to get together, stay together, be together, stick together

So tell me why, can't you understand

That there ain't no such thing as a superman

There ain't no such thing as a superman

You alone consider mercy after it seems like all you get is pain

It seem to me that you have found the courage that others could not find

You alone have the wisdom to take this world and make it what it need to be, want to be, will be, someday you'll see

The day, the day you understand

That there ain't no such thing as a superman

There ain't no such thing as a superman

++++++++++++++

Alien (Hold On To Your Dream)

Midnight near the border trying to cross the Rio Grande

Runnin' with coyotes to where the streets are paved with gold

You're diving underwater when you hear the helicopters

Knowing it's all been less than worthless if you run into patrols

Hiding in the shadows, so scared you want to scream

But you dare not make a sound if you want to hold on to your dreams

Hold on. Though it may not be a lot, you got to

Hold on. Cause you know it's all you got

No matter the consequences or the fear that grips your senses

You have got to hold on to your dreams.

City of the Angels with its bright light fascination

Only adds to the confusion that your mind must now endure

The gringos take advantage when they know that you're illegal

Bot you void la policía like a plague that can't be cured

Paying la mordida you find out just what pollo means

But you dare not file complaints if you want to hold on to your dreams

Hold on. Though it may not be a lot, you got to

Hold on. Cause you know it's all you got

No matter the consequences or the fear that grips your senses

You have got to hold on to your dreams.

Down at Western Union sending cash back to your family

Or drinking down cerveza where the lights are very low

Your mind may start to wander when you think about your village

Or the woman that you love so much who's still in Mexico

At just two bucks an hour there is little to redeem this life

Except that in your mind you're tryin' to hold on to your dreams

Hold on. Though it may not be a lot, you got to

Hold on. Cause you know it's all you got

No matter the consequences or the fear that grips your senses

You have got to hold on to your dreams.

++++++++++++++

Alluswe

Like the weight he's got to ride on

On the scene he must came in

Like the answers to every question

That's what he needs - They'd understand

Black man come down

And sit beside us

You can share all that we have

And like the stage he's got t play on

Like the road he's pinning down

Life attacts him just like a magnet

Or was that the other way around

Black man come down

Come on down and sit beside us

You are welcomed to all we own

Upside the walls and in the corners

Of the rooms where we live

Love is stronger with every heartbeat

And this love we gladly give

Just come on down

And sit beside us

Can your mind believe your heart

Black man come down

Yea, come on down, down

++++++++++++++

Angel Dust

He was groovin'

and that was when he coulda sworn

the room was movin'

But that was only in his mind

He was sailin'

he never really seemed to notice

vision failin'

'cause that was all part of the high

Sweat was pourin' --

he couldn't take it

The room was exploding --

he might not make it.

Angel DustPlease, children would you listen.

Angel DustJust ain't where it's at.

Angel DustYou won't remember what you're

missin', but down some dead end streets

there ain't no turnin' back.

They were standin'

ev'rybody in a circle;

the whole family

listening to the preacher's words

Sis was cryin'

She alone held all the secrets

'bout his dyin'

tears fallin' to earth

Maybe her fault

He was so trusting

God only knew why

they was dustin'!

Angel DustPlease children would you listen.

Angel DustJust ain't where it's at.

Angel DustYou won't remember what you're

missin', but down some dead end streets

there ain't no turnin' back.

++++++++++++++

Angola, Louisiana

Well I'm feeling fine

I could've been doing time.

Well, I'm doing fine, thank you,

but I could've been pulling time.

I know a brother man doing time,

and he didn't commit no crime.

So, thank you, I'm doing fine, 

cuz I could've been pulling time.

I've been painting a picture of Angola, Louisiana

pictures of deals in back alleys where politicians often hide

But it's much more important to me than Angola, Louisiana

Got a lot to do with justice but more with Gary Tyler's life

I got a letter from his mother (that) said,

"Please! Say somethin' to my son."

Truth is: Angola, Louisiana, you're the one.

I ain't never been nowhere near Angola, Louisiana.

Down in St. Charles Parish where the sun won't go alone.

But injustice is not confined to Angola, Louisiana.

It can walk in your livin' room

as long as it surrounds your home.

I send love to brother Tyler, but after all is said and done;

Truth is: Angola, Louisiana, you're the one.

I can't tell a man not to defend himself,

not at this late stage.

I can't tell a man he got no rights, nowhere,

not in this day and age.

This song may not touch a whole lot of people

persuaded by the truth,

but take a look at what's goin' on, people,

'cause this all could happen to you.

I've been painting a picture of Angola, Louisiana

Down in St. Charles Parish, where the sun won't go alone

But injustice is not confined to Angola, Louisiana

Well, it can be in your living room

Brother Tyler, hold on, be strong, you're not alone!

I got a letter from his mother that said,

"Please, say something to my son!"

Truth is: Angola, Louisiana, you're the one

++++++++++++++

B Movie

Well, the first thing I want to say is..."Mandate my ass!" 

Because it seems as though we've been convinced that 26% of the registered voters, not even 26% of the American people, but 26% of the registered voters form a mandate – or a landslide. 21% voted for Skippy and 3, 4% voted for somebody else who might have been running. 

But, oh yeah, I remember. In this year that we have now declared the year from Shogun to Reagan, I remember what I said about Reagan...meant it. Acted like an actor...Hollyweird. Acted like a liberal. Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California, then he acted like a republican. Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president. And now we act like 26% of the registered voters is actually a mandate. We're all actors in this I suppose. 

What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer. And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune...the consumer has got to dance. That's the way it is. We used to be a producer – very inflexible at that, and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand. Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World. They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one. Controlling your resources will control your world. This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now. They don't know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan. They don't know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy - of nuclear nightmare diplomacy. John Foster Dulles ain't nothing but the name of an airport now. 

The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia. They want to go back as far as they can – even if it's only as far as last week. Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards. And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment. The day of the man in the white hat or the man on the white horse - or the man who always came to save America at the last moment – someone always came to save America at the last moment – especially in "B" movies. And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future, they looked for people like John Wayne. But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Reagan – and it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at – like a "B" movie. 

Come with us back to those inglorious days when heroes weren't zeros. Before fair was square. When the cavalry came straight away and all-American men were like Hemingway to the days of the wondrous "B" movie. The producer underwritten by all the millionaires necessary will be Casper "The Defensive" Weinberger – no more animated choice is available. The director will be Attila the Haig, running around frantically declaring himself in control and in charge. The ultimate realization of the inmates taking over at the asylum. The screenplay will be adapted from the book called "Voodoo Economics" by George "Papa Doc" Bush. Music by the "Village People" the very military "Macho Man." 

"Company!!!" 

"Macho, macho man!" 

"Two-three-four." 

"He likes to be – well, you get the point." 

"Huuut! Your left! Your left! Your left...right, left, right, left, right...!" 

A theme song for saber-rallying and selling wars door-to-door. Remember, we're looking for the closest thing we can find to John Wayne. Cliches abound like kangaroos – courtesy of some spaced out Marlin Perkins, a Reagan contemporary. Cliches like, "itchy trigger finger" and "tall in the saddle" and "riding off or on into the sunset." Cliches like, "Get off of my planet by sundown!" More so than cliches like, "he died with his boots on." Marine tough the man is. Bogart tough the man is. Cagney tough the man is. Hollywood tough the man is. Cheap steak tough. And Bonzo's substantial. The ultimate in synthetic selling: A Madison Avenue masterpiece – a miracle – a cotton-candy politician...Presto! Macho! 

"Macho, macho man!" 

Put your orders in America. And quick as Kodak your leaders duplicate with the accent being on the dupe - cause all of a sudden we have fallen prey to selective amnesia - remembering what we want to remember and forgetting what we choose to forget. All of a sudden, the man who called for a blood bath on our college campuses is supposed to be Dudley "God-damn" Do-Right? 

"You go give them liberals hell Ronnie." That was the mandate. To the new "Captain Bly" on the new ship of fools. It was doubtlessly based on his chameleon performance of the past - as a liberal democrat – as the head of the Studio Actor's Guild. When other celluloid saviors were cringing in terror from McCarthy – Ron stood tall. It goes all the way back from Hollywood to hillbilly. From liberal to libelous, from "Bonzo" to Birch idol...born again. Civil rights, women's rights, gay rights...it's all wrong. Call in the cavalry to disrupt this perception of freedom gone wild. God damn it...first one wants freedom, then the whole damn world wants freedom. 

Nostalgia, that's what we want...the good ol' days...when we gave'em hell. When the buck stopped somewhere and you could still buy something with it. To a time when movies were in black and white – and so was everything else. Even if we go back to the campaign trail, before six-gun Ron shot off his face and developed hoof-in-mouth. Before the free press went down before full-court press. And were reluctant to review the menu because they knew the only thing available was – Crow. 

Lon Chaney, our man of a thousand faces - no match for Ron. Doug Henning does the make-up - special effects from Grecian Formula 16 and Crazy Glue. Transportation furnished by the David Rockefeller of Remote Control Company. Their slogan is, "Why wait for 1984? You can panic now...and avoid the rush." 

So much for the good news... 

As Wall Street goes, so goes the nation. And here's a look at the closing numbers – racism's up, human rights are down, peace is shaky, war items are hot - the House claims all ties. Jobs are down, money is scarce – and common sense is at an all-time low with heavy trading. Movies were looking better than ever and now no one is looking because, we're starring in a "B" movie. And we would rather have John Wayne...we would rather have John Wayne. 

"You don't need to be in no hurry. 

You ain't never really got to worry. 

And you don't need to check on how you feel. 

Just keep repeating that none of this is real. 

And if you're sensing, that something's wrong, 

Well just remember, that it won't be too long 

Before the director cuts the scene...yea." 

"This ain't really your life, 

Ain't really your life, 

Ain't really ain't nothing but a movie." 

[Refrain repeated about 25 times or more in an apocalyptic crescendo with a military cadence.] 

"This ain't really your life, 

Ain't really your life, 

Ain't really ain't nothing but a movie.

++++++++++++++

Back Home

There's been a whole lot said about your city living

They told us that the streets were paved with gold

And some of us believed 'em, left our home and came looking

But that was just another story they told

I got to get back and see my people

Someday and someway

My old Uncle Henry don't believe in those airplanes

Lord knows you sure been good to me

Gave me piggy bak rides down them dusty highways

When I came just up to his knees

I got to get back and see my people

Someday and someway

I never thought I'd be lost and start searching for warmth and a smile

I never thought I'd be running through the city streets like a newborn child

No, no, no

I never thought I'd be lost and start searching for warmth and a smile

I never thought I'd be running through the city streets like a newborn child

But here I am

And I got some people and I know that they love me

And I know just where to look this time

Collard greens and cornbread on my Sunday dinner

And don't you know that makes me think it's working out fine

When I get back to see my people

Someday and someway

Someday and someway

And someday, and someway

++++++++++++++

Beginnings (First Minute Of A New Day)

Mmmmm

We're sliding through

Completely new

Beginnings

We're searching out

Our every doubt

We're winning

We want to be free

Yet we have no idea

Why we are struggling here

Faced with our every fear

Just to survive

We've heard the sound

And come around

To listening

We've touched the vine

Tme after time

Insisting

We know what life brings

Still we can find a way

From dues we've got to pay

We hope we'll somehow say 

That we're alive

We're sliding through

Completely new

Beginnings

We're searching 

Our every doubt

And winning

We want to be free

Yet we have no idea 

Why we are struggling here

Faced with our every fear

Just to survive

Completely new (x2)

Beginnings

Completely new (x2)

Beginnings

++++++++++++++

Better Days Ahead

And now it's time

To gather all the things we need to fly

To better days ahead

Just wave goodbye

We've better things to do now, you and I 

In better days ahead

Just take my hand

You're one I need to understand

For better days ahead

With you I can stand

As long as you respect me as your man

There's better days ahead

Yes, coming on

Just take my hand

You're the one I need to understand

For better days ahead

With you I can stand

As long as you respect me as your man

There's better days ahead

Yes, coming on

Coming on

Better days ahead

Coming on

For you and me

++++++++++++++

Bicentennial Blues

Some people think that America invented the blues

And few people doubt that America is the home of the blues

As the bluesicians have gone all over the world carrying the blues message

And the world has snapped its fingers and tapped its feet right along with the blues folks

But, the blues has always been totally American

As American as apple pie

As American as the blues

As American as apple pie

The question is why?

Why should the blues be so at home here

Well, America provided the atmosphere

America provided the atmosphere for the blues and the blues was born

The blues was born on the American wilderness

The blues was born on the beaches where the slave ships docked

Born on the slave man's auction block

The blues was born and carried on the howling wind

The blues grew up a slave

The blues grew up as property

The blues grew up in Nat Turner visions

The blues grew up in Harriet Tubman courage

The blues grew up in small town deprivation

The blues grew up in big city isolation

The blues grew up in the nightmares of the white man

The blues grew up in the blues singing of Bessie and Billie and Ma

The blues grew up in Satchmo's horn, on Duke's piano and Langston's poetry, on Robeson's baritone

The point is

That the blues has grown

The blues is grown now, full grown

And you can trace the evolution of the blues

On a parallel line with the evolution of this country

From Plymouth Rock to acid-rock

From 13 states to Watergate

The blues is grown

But not the home

The blues is grown

But the country has not

The blues remembers everything the country forgot

It's a bicentennial year and the blues is celebrating a birthday

And it's a bicentennial blues

America has got the blues and it's a bicentennial edition

The blues view might amuse you

But make no mistake, it's a bicentennial year

A year of hysterical importance

A year of historical importance

Ripped off like donated moments from the past

200 years ago this evening

200 years ago last evening

And what about now?

The blues is now

The blues has grown up and the country has not

The country has been ripped off

Ripped off like the Indians

Ripped off like jazz

Ripped off like nature

Ripped off like Christmas

Man-handled by media overkill

Goosed by aspiring vice presidents

Violated by commercial corporations

A bicentennial year

The year the symbol transformed into the B-U-Y centennial

Buy a car

Buy a flag

Buy a map

Until the public in mass has been bludgeoned into bicentennial submission

Or bicentennial suspicion

I fall into the latter category

It's a blues year

And America has got the blues

It's got the blues because of partial deification

Of partial accomplishments

Over partial periods of time

Halfway justice

Halfway liberty

Halfway equality

It's a half-ass year

And we would be silly in all our knowledge

In all our self-righteous knowledge

When we sit back and laugh and mock the things that happen in our lives

To accept anything less than the truth

About this bicentennial year

And the truth relates to 200 years of people and ideas getting by

It got by George Washington

The ideas of justice, liberty and equality

Got cold by George Washington

Slave-owner general

Ironic that the father of this country

Should be a slave owner

The father of this country a slave-owner

Having got by him

It made it easy to get by his henchman

The creators of this liberty

Who slept in the beds with the captains of slave ships

Fought alongside black freed men in the union army

And left America a legacy of hypocrisy

It's a blues year

Got by Gerald Ford

Oatmeal man

Has declared himself at odds

With people on welfare, people who get food stamps

Day care children, the elderly, the poor, women

And people who might vote for Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, it got by him

Hollyweird

Acted like a actor

Acted like a liberruuuuuuuulllzz lolz 

Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California

Now he acts like somebody might vote for him for president

It got by Jimmy Carter

Skippy

Got by Jimmy Carter and got by him and his friend the colonel

The creators of southern-fried triple talk

A blues trio

America got the blues

It got by Henry Kissinger

The international godfather of peace

A piece of Vietnam

A piece of Laos

A piece of Angola

A piece of Cuba

A blues quartet

And America got the blues

The point is that it may get by you

For another 4 years

For another 8 years

You stuck 

Playing 2nd fiddle in a blues quartet

Got the blues looking for the first principle

Which was justice

It's a blues year for justice

It's a blues year for the San Quentin 6

Looking for justice

It's a blues year for Gary Tyler

Looking for justice

It's a blues year for Rev. Ben Chaves

Looking for justice

It's a blues year for Boston

Looking for justice

It's a blues year for baby's on buses

It's a blues year for mothers and fathers with babies on buses

It's a blues year for Boston

And it's a blues year all over this country

America has got the blues

And the blues is in the street looking for the 3 principles

Justice, liberty and equality

We would do well to join the blues looking for justice, liberty and equality

The blues is in the street

America has got the blues

But don't let it get by us.

++++++++++++++

Billy Green Is Dead

The economy is in an uproar

The whole damn countries is in the red

Tax and fairs are going up

You say, "Billy Green is dead"?

The government can't decide on bussin'

or at least thats what they said

Yea I heard you, when you told me

You said, "Billy Green was dead"

But let me tell you bout these hot-pants that this big legged sister wore

when i partied with the alphas

what?

Billy took an overdose

well now junkies will be junkies

but did you see Gunsmoke last night?

man they had themselves a shootout and folks was dyin' left and right

At the end when Matt was cornerd i had damn near give up hope

What you? Why you keep on interrupting me? you say, My son is taking dope?

Call the law and call the doctor!

What you mean i shouldn't scream?

My only son is taking dope?

Should i sit here like I'm pleased?

Is that familiar anybody?

Check out whats inside your head

Because it never seems to matter

when it's Billy Green who's dead

++++++++++++++

Black History/The World

I was wondering about our yesterdays,

and starting digging through the rubble 

and to say, at least somebody went 

through a hell of a lot of trouble 

to make sure that when we looked things up 

we wouldn't fair too well 

and that we would come up with totally unreliable 

portraits of ourselves. 

But I compiled what few facts I could, 

I mean, such as they are 

to see if we could shed a little bit of light 

and this is what I got so far:

First, white folks discovered Africa 

and they claimed it fair and square. 

Cecil Rhodes couldn't have been robbing nobody

'cause he said there was nobody there. 

White folks brought all the civilization, 

since there wasn't none around.

They said 'how could these folks be civilized 

when you never see nobody writing nothing down?' 

And just to prove all their suspicions, 

it didn't take too long. 

They found out there were whole groups of people, in plain sight,

running around with no clothes on. That's right!

The women, the men, the young and old, 

righteous white folks covered their eyes.

So no time was spent considering the environment. 

Hell no! This here, this just wasn't civilized! 

And another piece of information they had,

or at least this how we were taught 

is that 'unlike the very civilized people of Europe'

these tribal units actually fought! 

And yes, there was some rather crude implements 

and yes, there was primitive art

and yes they were masters of hunting and fishing

and courtesy came from the heart. 

And yes there was medicine, love and religion, 

intertribal communication by drum. 

But no paper and pencils and other utensils

and hell, these folks never even heard of a gun. 

And this is why the colonies came

to stabilize the land. 

Because the Dark Continent had copper and gold

and the discoverers had themselves a plan. 

They would discover all the places with promise. 

You didn't need no titles or deeds.

You could just appoint people to make everything legal, 

to sanction the trickery and greed.

And back in the jungle when the natives got restless

they would call that 'guerrilla attack'

and they would never describe that the folks finally got wise 

and decided they would fight back.

And still we are victims of word games, 

semantics is always a bitch:

places once referred to as under-developed

are now called 'mineral rich.'

And the game goes on eternally

unity kept just beyond reach 

Egypt and Libya used to be in Africa, 

they've been moved to the Middle East.

There are examples galore I assure you, 

but if interpreting were left up to me 

I'd be sure every time folks knew this version wasn't mine 

which is why it is called 'His story'.

++++++++++++++

Brother

We deal in too many externals, brother

always afros, handshakes and dashikis

never can a man build a working structure for black capitalism

always does the man read Mao or Fanon

I think I know you would-be black revolutionaries too well

standing on a box on the corner, talking about blowing the white man away

that's now where it's at yet, brother

calling this man an Uncle Tom and telling this woman to get an afro

but you won't speak to her if she looks like hell, now will you brother

some of us been checking your act out kinda close

and by now its looking kinda shaky

the way you been rushin' people with your super black bag

jumping down on some black men with both feet cause they're after their BA

But you're never around when your BA is in danger...I mean your black ass

I think it was a little too easy for you to forget that you were a negro before Malcolm

You drove your white girl through the village every Friday night

while the grassroots stared in envy and drank wine, do you remember?

You need to get your memory banks organized brother.

Show that man you call an Uncle Tom just where he's wrong

Show that woman that you're a sincere black man

All we need to do is see you shut up and be black

Help that woman

Help that man

That's what brothers are for brother

++++++++++++++

Combinations

I've got a feeling

About combinations and how they

Work out so well

It only happens when people don't dwell on

The time or the feeling

And about combinations it's true that

North and south attract

Yes, but forever ain't a fact

To consider like our combination

And you can tear this moment down

And you can make me explain

Every little thing and every situation

But life turns itself around

And all the laughter and the pain 

Simply helps us to maintain our combinations

And I know a sister

Who says combinations are created in the stars

Something to do with my Venus and my Mars being in line

To bring about combinations that will mix in my mind

Until I'm never quite satisfied 

By any but our combination

++++++++++++++

Comment 1

Poem here says, Comment #1 uh Comment #2 is dynamite but Comment #1 is the one we decided to use here this evening because it makes a comment if you listen closely on what is now being advertised in East Harlem as the Rainbow Conspiracy a combination of the Students For A Democratic Society, the Black Niggers, and the Young Lords and this is my particular comment about that conspiracy, Comment #1.

The time is in the street you know, us living as we do upside down. And the new word to have is revolution. People don't even want to hear the preacher spill or spiel because God's hole card has been thoroughly peeked. And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey. The youngsters who were programmed to continue fucking up woke up one night digging Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys. 

America stripped for bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes. The signs of Truth were tattooed across her often-entered vagina. We learned to our amazement untold tale of scandal. Two long centuries buried in the musty vault, hosed down daily with a gagging perfume. America was a bastard the illegitimate daughter of the mother country whose legs were then spread around the world and a rapist known as freedom, free doom. 

Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names that preceded the bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling in the mother country's crotch and behold a baby girl was born, nurtured by slave holders and whitey racists it grew and grew and grew screwing indiscriminately like mother like daughter everything unplagued by her madame mother. 

The present mocks us, good Black people with keen memories set fire to the bastards who ask us in a whisper to melt and integrate. Young, very young, teeny bopping revolt on weekend young dig by proxy what a mental ass kicking they receive through institutionalized everything and vomit up slogans to stay out of Vietnam. They seek to hide their relationship with the world's prostitute, alienating themselves from everything except dirt and money with long hair, grime, and dope to camo-hide the things that cannot be hidden. They become runaway children to walk the streets downtown with everyday 

Black people sitting on the curb crying because we know that they will go back home with a clear conscience and a college degree. The irony of it all, of course, is when a pale face SDS motherfucker dares look hurt when I tell him to go find his own revolution. He wonders why I tell him that America's revolution will not be the melting pot but the toilet bowl. He is fighting for legalized smoke, a lower voting age, less lip from his generation gap and fucking in the street. Where is my parallel to that? All I want is a good home and a wife and a children and some food to feed them every night. 

Back goes pale face to basics. Does Little Orphan Annie have a natural? Do Sluggos kings make him a refugee from Mandingo? What does Webster say about soul? I say you silly chipe motherfucker, your great grandfather tied a ball and chain to my balls and bounced me through a cotton field while I lived in an unflushable toilet bowl and now you want me to help you overthrow what? The only Truth that can be delivered to a four year revolutionary with a hole card i.e. skin is this: fuck up what you can in the name of Piggy Wallace, Dickless Nixon, and Spiro Agnew. Leave brother Cleaver and Brother Malcolm alone please. After all is said and done build a new route to China if they'll have you. 

Who will survive in America?

++++++++++++++

Delta Man (Where I'm Comin' From)

This is a song about change, you see

We say many things about the changing aspects of our lives

We say that since change is inevitable, we should direct the change

Rather than simply continue to go through the change

We sing a song of revolution as change

To the brothers in the Caribbean and Africa,

Where I'm Coming from

Early in the mornin' I heard the call of the crow.

He said "C'mon now Brother, I want you to fly with me.

Can't you see, it's time to go?"

I been working on this delta underneath the burnin' sun.

Seem like a Mississippi revolution feel like where I'm coming from.

Brother man run to Nebraska after the Civil War was through.

He worked with his hands, he worked on the land alla his life--

nothin' else he know to do.

Rootin'-tootin', wild-west-shootin'-up Brothers!

Though His story don't teach us none.

Seem like a Wild West Revolution oughta be where I'm comin' from.

Brother man raised on welfare

He live his life in the heart of the city.

Among the junkies and the desperate people

he learned about life without pity.

But he's just been thinkin' and waitin' and thinkin' and waitin',

know his chance was bound to come.

Seem like big city revolution oughta be where I'm comin' from.

The point I'm trying to make, movin' from place to place and time to time

(is that) vibrations that bring on new vibrations

is all that's on peoples minds.

(They tell me) Don't be 'fraid of revolution!

It ain't nothin' but change and change is surely bound to come.

Put a little revolution in your life

and you'll understand where I'm comin' from.

++++++++++++++

Did You Hear What They Said?

Did you hear what they said,

Did you hear what they said,

Did you hear what they said,

They said another brother's dead,

They said he's dead...but he can't be buried,

They said he's dead...but he can't be buried,

Come on, come on,come on,come on

this can't be real.

Did you hear what they said,

Did you hear what they said,

Did you hear what they said,

They said,they shot him in his head,

a shot in the head to save his country,

a shot in the head to save his country,

Come on, come on,come on,come on

this can't be real.

Did you hear what they said,

Yeah did you hear what they said,

Did you hear what they said,

About his mother and how she cried,

They said she cried,'cause her only son was dead

They said she cried,'cause her only son was dead

Woman,could you imagine if your only son was dead

And somebody told you,he couldn't be buried,

hey,hey,come on,come on,come on,come on

this can't be real

++++++++++++++

Don't Give Up

Ahh lovely day……

I never really thought of myself as a complex man,

Or as someone who was really that hard to understand.

But it would hardly take a genius to realize 

That I’ve always been a lot too arrogant and a little too f$%kin’ wise 

That was a combination that made folks feel duty bound,

To do whatever they could to try and shoot me down.

To head off some of the things I might possibly say,

And see if they couldn’t take some of my pride away.

To bring me disappointment and teach me to fear it 

Obviously these are folks that just didn’t have no spirit

Spirits say 

[chorus]

Don’t give up (spirits say don’t give up)

Yes it’s time to stop your fallin’

You’ve been down long enough 

Can’t you hear the spirits callin’

Yes it’s the spirits 

Can’t you hear iiiiiit

Callin’ your name x 2

Yeah talkin’ bout spiriiiiiiiiiiits heh 

There are people whose lives are so far of the track 

That what they like best about life is stabbing’ brothers in the back

And I was obviously too blind and probably too weak 

To see who was responsible for my losing streak 

The best way to explain it is to say simply because

I was looking around outside and the truth is I was

the one. So I got locked into all of the analysis 

And found myself locked into a kind of paralysis

And something was calling and I almost didn’t hear it 

But I spent a lot of time being blessed by the spirits

They keep saying 

[Chorus]

I didn’t matter if it was a child or and adult 

There was absolutely no-one that I could not insult.

So that I could isolate myself somewhere off to the side 

And continue to juggle all the possible whys

The warmth I wanted to generate so well 

Had turned into a frozen hell 

And the discouraging injustices I felt 

Had pinned me somewhere inside a drug infested cell

Where those who told didn’t know and those who knew didn’t tell

And “I could continue to feel sorry for my self” [echo of “”]

And then I heard 

[Chorus]

Ain’t no way overnight to turn your life around 

And this ain’t the conversation of someone that never falls back down

But no matter how long you’ve been on trial 

With the days and weeks of self denial 

And no matter how many times you’ve tried to make it 

And found out that right then you just couldn’t take it 

If you are looking for a looser who found strength and success

Remember the spirit of Brother Malcolm X

And know that you can leave all your mistakes behind 

The day that you “really make up your mind” [echo of “”]

Come on brother… come on up 

Stand on up and say…

[Chorus]

++++++++++++++

Enough

it was not enough that we were bought and brought to this home as the slave, locked in the bowels of a floating shithouse, watching those we love eaten away by plauge and insanity, flesh falling like strips of bark from a termite-infested tree, bones rotting turning first to brittle ivory then to resin. 

that was not enough.

it was not enough that we were chained to leg irons, black on black with a piss stained wall forced to heed nature's call through and inside of tattered rags that strained our privates, and evidently years of slavery did not appease your need to be superior to something like a crazed lion hung up on being the king of his corner of the cage, backs bent under the wieght of being everything and having nothing, minds too like bomerrangs curving back into themselves kicked and carved by the face-straining smiles that saved my life. 

that was not enough.

somehow i can not believe that it would be enough for me to melt with you and integrate without the thoughts of rape and murder. i cannot conceive of peace on earth until i have given you a piece of lead or pipe to end your worthless motherfucking exitence. imagine your nightmares of my sneaking into a vieled of satin bedroom and attacking your daughter, wife and mother at once ripping open their bowels sexually like a wishbone. imagine that magnified a million times when you realize that the blinders have been stripped from my eyes and I realize that slavery was no smiling happy-fizzy party. your ancestors raped my foremothers and i will not forget. i will not forget that Yale or Harvard or Princeton or In-Hell because you are on my mind. i see you everytime my woman walks down the street with her ass on her shoulders. i see you everytime i look in the mirror and think about the times that i would pat myself on the back for not being too black afterall. i think of you morning, noon and night and i wonder, "just exactly what in hell is enough?" everytime i see a rope or gun i remember, and to top it all of you ain't through yet. over fifty you have killed in mississippi since 1963. that doesn't even begin to begin all of those you have maimed, hit and run over, blinded, poisoned, starved, or castrated. i hope you do not think that a vote for John Kennedy took you off my shit-list because in the street there will only be black and white. there will be no Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives, Moderates, or any other of the rest of that shit you have used to make me forget to hate.

there ain't no enough. there ain't no surrender. there is only plot and plan, move and groove, kill. there is no promise land. there is only the promise. the promise is not vowel until we have been nerve gassed, shot down and murdered, or done some of the same ourselves. look over your shoulder motherfucker, i am coming.

++++++++++++++

Everyday

Mmmmm

I can't seem to find 

the words to say (to say)

I don't have strength to play the games

you need to play (to play)

Every day I seem to be running from the truth

I ask myself questions but it just ain't no use

'Cause it seems no matter, no matter, what I try to do

I'm still loving and living, lying and losing

Every day (Yeah, every day)

I've got a job

And to say the least

It don't mean a thing (it don't mean a thing)

It don't begin to compare

With the hurt and pair that I've seen (I've seen)

Sometimes I know I can't tell wrong from right

I don't seem to know day from night

It's no wonder that the whole world uptight

They're just loving and living, lying and losing

Every day (Yeah, every day)

Stop on the way home 

From work to have a drink

Just to give myself a little time to think

'Cause it seems that more and more I start to realize

That the truth that I wanted

The love that I needed

Has somehow disappeared before my eyes

I can't seem to find the words I need to say (to say)

I can't find strength enough to play the games you need, you need to play (to play)

'Cause every day you got me, got me running from the truth

And no matter, no matter what I try to do

It seems that somehow it just ain't no use

I'm still loving and living, lying and losing

Can't seem to remember

God it's so confusing

I'm still loving and living, lying and losing

Every day (Yeah, every day)

++++++++++++++

Evolution (And Flashback)

In 1600 I was a darkie

Until 1865, a slave

In 1900 I was a nigger

Or at least, that was my name

In 1960 I was a negro

And then brother Malcom came along

And then some nigger shot Malcom down

But the bitter truth lives on

Martin is dead

With Martin as our leader

We prayed, and marched

And marched, and prayed

Things were changing

Things were getting better

But things were not together

With Malcom as our leader,

We learned

And thought

And thought we had learned

Things were better

Things were changing

But things were not together

And now it is your turn,

We are tired of praying, and marching, and thinking, and learning

Brothers wanna start cutting, and shooting, and stealing, and burning

You are three hundred years ahead in equality

But next summer may be too late

To look back

In 1600 I was a darkie

And until 1865 a slave

In 1900 I was a nigger

Or at least that was my name

In 1960 I was a negro

And then Malcom came along

Yes, but some nigger shot Malcom down

Though the bitter truth lives on

Well now I am a black man

And though I still go second class

Where as once I wanted the white man's love

Now he can kiss my ass

++++++++++++++

Fast Lane

Watching players dealing in the fast lane 

Set your camera shutters for the fast frames 

Like Charlie Chaplin movies that go so quick 

Fending off a stampede is no easy trick 

Pulses pounding, people rounding dead ends 

At this pace you'll never hold your old friends 

Try to build relations that just won't stick 

Examining the options you take your pick 

Moving too fast? 

That's a question only you can answer 

Losing your grip! 

Are your palms a little bit slippery, huh? 

If you crash 

Crash landings always got the captain to blame 

But you're the captain driving in the fast lane 

Losers there to see you in the fast lane 

Misery loves company so they claim 

Excitement is the currency we deal in 

Nursing your casualties so healing 

If you want to major in distraction 

Too bad if you're not pleased with my reaction 

But I've seen so much out here that it is real plain 

That nothing last for long out in the fast lane 

I don't want to come off like a preacher 

But I swear it's not too late to return 

Somehow square and hip got put in reverse 

Putting things in fifth gear made it much worse 

None of this may influence your direction 

But I hope you can still take suggestions 

There's a woman out there calling your name 

Hope that you don't blow it in the fast lane 

Moving too fast! 

We're all praying that somehow you don't crash

++++++++++++++

Free Will

Find a shadow cast by rainbows

There you’ll meet the sage.

Feeding rabbits bits of lettuce or cleaning out the cage.

He can give you more direction than you’ve ever known.

Show you your bronzed baby shoes

Now, my how you have grown!

Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by,

But Peace won’t be still of its own free will.

Say you want to go exploring; you got to find some truth.

Can’t stand one more day of Christians shouting down at you. 

You say you don’t dig politics that never was your bag.

People who could run for office wave their private flag.

Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by,

But peace won’t be still of its own free will

Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by,

But peace won’t be still of its own free will.

++++++++++++++

Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues

(What we want to discuss here 

are routes out of the ghetto. 

This is called 

the "Get Out of the Ghetto" blues.)

I know you think you're cool--

LORD, if they bus your kids to school...

I know you think you're cool,

Just cuz they bus your kids to school.

But you ain't got a thing to lose;

You just got the get out of the ghetto blues.

I know you think you're cool

If you're gettin' two WELFARE checks;

You done TOLD me you think you're cool

Because you're gettin' two WELFARE checks.

Yea! But you got ten years to lose (if they catch you)

Just tryin' to fight that get out of the ghetto blues.

(what it is, what it is.)

If he don't catch you in the wash,

LORD knows he'll catch you in the rinse.

I know you think you're cool

Just 'cuz you shooting that stuff in your arm.

I seen you nodding

'Cuz you shoot that STUFF into your arm.

And it don't matter which pine box you choose:

You got the get out of the ghetto blues.

Yeah.

++++++++++++++

Give Her A Call

Give Her a Call on the Spirits album, 1994.

My life is one of movement

I been running as fast as I can

I've inherited trial and error directly from my old man

But I'm committed to the consequences

Whether I stand or fall

And when I get back to my life

I think I'm gonna give her a call

She's been waiting patiently

For me to get myself together

And it touches something deep inside

When she said she'd wait forever

Because forever's right up on me now

That is, if it ever comes at all

And when I'm back to my life

I think I'll give her a call.

++++++++++++++

Gun

Brother Man nowadays living in the ghetto 

Where the danger's sure enough real 

Well when he's out late at night 

and if he's got his head on right 

Well, I lay you 9 to 5 he's walking with steal. 

Brother Man says he's 'fraid of gangsters 

Messing with people just for fun 

He don't want to be next 

He got a family to protect 

So just last week he bought himself a gun. 

[Chorus:]

Everybody got a pistol, everybody got a 45 

And the philosophy seem to be 

At least as near as I can see 

When other folks give up theirs, I'll give up mine. 

This is a violent civilization 

If civilization's where I am 

Every channel that I stop on 

Got a different kind of cop on 

Killing them by the million for Uncle Sam 

Saturday night just ain't that special 

Yeah, I got the constitution on the run 

'Cause even though we've got the right 

To defend our home, to defend our life 

Got to understand to get it in hand about the guns 

[chorus & solo break]

Saturday night just ain't that special 

Freedom to be afraid is all you want 

Yes if you don't want to be next 

You've got a family to protect 

9 out of 10, you've got a friend, you've got a gun. 

[chorus]

Everybody got a pistol, this mosty be the NRA 

Yeah 'cause when it's time to shine up 

You know damn well they're gonna line up 

Everybody... 

And the philosophy seem to be 

At least as near as I can see 

When other folks give up theirs, I'll give up mine

++++++++++++++

H2O Gate Blues

Heh, don't wanna be involved in this one, huh?

This here is gonna be a blues number.

But first I wanna do a little bit of background on the Blues

And say what it is.

Like, there are 6 cardinal colors

And colors have always come to signify more than that particular shade.

Like: "red-neck" or "got the blues."

That's where you apply somethin to a color, to express what you're trying to say.

So, there are 6 cardinal colors: Yellow, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple.

And there are 3,000 shades.

And if you take these 3,000 and divide them by 6, you come up with 500.

Meaning that there are at least 500 shades of The Blues.

For example, there is...

The "I ain't got me no money, blues".

There is the "I ain't got me no woman, blues".

There is the "I ain't got me no money AND I ain't got me no woman".

which is the double blues.

And for years it was thought that Black people was the only ones who could get the blues.

So the Blues hadn't come into no international type of fame. (...had a corner on the market.)

But lately we had..

The Frank Rizzo with the "Lie Detector Blues".

We had the United States government talkin bout the "Energy Crisis Blues".

And we gonna dedicate this next poem here to Spearhead X.

The Ex-Second in Command in terms of this Country. (He GOT the blues.)*laughter*

And the poem is called the "H2O G-A-T-E Blues".

And if H2O is still water

And G-A-T-E is still gate

What we gettin ready to deal on is the

"Watergate Blues"... (Yeah~ YEAH~ haha~)*scattered applause*

(Rated X!)

Lemme see if I can dial this number....

Click! Whirr ... Click!

"I'm sorry, the government you have elected is inoperative ...

Click! Inoperative!"

Just how blind will America be?

The world is on the edge of its seat

Defeat on the horizon. very surprisin'

That we all could see the plot and still could not...

-- let me do that part again.

Just how blind will America be? (Ain't no tellin')

The world is on the edge of its seat

Defeat on the horizon. very surprisin'

That we all could see the plot

And claimed that we could not.(Alright~)

Just how blind, America?

Just as Vietnam exploded in the rice

snap, crackle, and pop (Uh Oh!)

Could not stop people determined to be free.

Just how blind will America be?(Yes Sir!)

The shock of a Vietnam defeat

Sent Republican donkeys scurrying down on Wall Street

And when the roll was called it was:

Pepsi-Cola and Phillips 66

Boeing, Dow & Lockheed

Ask them what we're fighting for and they never mention the economics of war.

Ecological Warfare!

Above all else destroy the land!

If we can't break the Asian will

We'll bomb the dykes and starve the man!

America!

The international Jekyll and Hyde

The land of a thousand disguises

Sneaks up on you but rarely surprises (Yeah!)

Plundering the Asian countryside

in the name of Fu Man Thieu.

Afraid of shoeless, undernourished Cambodians

While we strike big wheat bargains with Russia

Our nuclear enemy

Just how blind, America?

But tell me, who was around where Hale Boggs died?

And what was the cause of LBJ's untimely demise?

And what really happened to J. Edgar Hoover?

The king is proud of Patrick Gray

While America's faith is drowning

beneath that cesspool-Watergate. (Yeeeah!)

How long will the citizens sit and wait?

It's looking like Europe in '38

Did they move to stop Hitler before it was too late? (no...)

How long. America before the consequences of

Keeping the school systems segregated

Allowing the press to be intimidated

Watching the price of everything soar

And hearing complaints 'cause the rich want more? (Alright!)

It seems that MacBeth, and not his lady, went mad

We've let him eliminate the whole middle class

The dollar's the only thing we can't inflate

While the poor go on without a new minimum wage

What really happened to J Edgar Hoover?

The kind is proud of Patrick Gray

And there are those who say America's faith is drowning

Beneath that cesspool-Watergate.

How much more evidence do the citizens need

That the election was sabotaged by trickery and greed?

And, if this is so, and who we got didn't win

Let's do the whole goddamn election over again! (YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!)

The obvious key to the whole charade

Would be to run down all of the games they played:

Remember Dita Beard and ITT, the slaughter of Attica,

The C.I.A. in Chile knowing nothing about Allende at this time

In the past. As I recollect, Augusta Georgia

The nomination of Supreme Court Jesters to head off the tapes

William Calley's Executive Interference

in the image of John Wayne.

Kent State, Jackson State, Southern Louisiana.

Hundreds of unauthorized bombing raids.

The chaining and gagging of Bobby Seale -

Somebody tell these Maryland Governors to be for real!

We recall all of these events just to prove (Yeah!)

The Waterbuggers in the Watergate wasn't no news!

The thing that seems to justify all of our fears

Is that all of this went down in the last five years.

But tell me, what really happened to J. Edgar Hoover?

The kind is proud of Patrick Gray

While America's faith is drowning

Beneath that cesspool-Watergate.

We leave America to ponder the image

Of justice from its new wave of leaders

Frank Rizzo, the high school graduate

Mayor of Philadelphia, whose ignorance

Is surpassed only by those who voted for him. (Hahahaha)

Richard Daley, imperial Napoleonic Mayor of Chicago.

who took over from Al Capone and

Continues to implement the same tactics.

George Wallace. Lester Maddawg

Strom Thurmond, Ronald Reagan-

An almost endless list that won't be missed when at last

America is purged (Yeah! Alright~)

And the silent White House with the James Brothers

once in command.

But see the sauerkraut Mafia men

deserting the sinking White House ship and

Their main mindless, meglomaniac Ahab.

McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown no tap on my telephone,

McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown no tap on my telephone

Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

It follows a pattern if you dig what I mean.

Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

It follows a pattern if you dig what I mean.

And what are we left with now?

Bumper stickers that say Free the Watergate 500.

Spy movies of the same name with a cast of thousands.

And that ominous phrase: that if Nixon knew, Agnew knew!(check it out!)

But Agnew knew enough to stay out of jail

What really happened to J. Edgar Hoover?

The kind is proud of Patrick Gray

And there are those who swear they've seen King Richard (who? who?)

King Richard

(who?)

King Richard

(who?)

King Richard

(who?)

King Richard

(who?)

King Richard

King Richard

King Richard

King Richard- (Yeah!)

Beneath that cesspool-Watergate.

*Applause*

Four more years,

Four more years,

Four more years,

Four more years of THAT?

++++++++++++++

Hello Sunday! Hello Road!

Agent told me where I'm going

Tom and Keg Leg got the map

The Steelers on my color tv

Henry riding in my lap

Say Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Lord what would my grandma say

To see me out here loving music

So much that I live this way

But then again she's right here with me

Watching every place I go

Oh did you tell me it was my move

I guess it is

Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Manager we had just couldn't manage

So Midnight managed right alone

And it's got me out here with my brothers

And that's the thing that keeps me strong

Say Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Seems like we're coming up on a town

Children on their way to Sunday school

And I'm tippin' my hat to Miss Chocolate Brown

And it was on a Sunday that I met my old man

I was twenty-six years old

Naw but it was much too late to speculate

Say Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Hello Sunday, Hello Road

And I've been digging life through my window

And that's the way it's always been

Snow in Nashville, rain in Philly

No matter, get back on the bus again

Say Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Let me try the optimistic side

'Cause me and Stick done seen a lot of babies

Dancing to "The Bottle" while we ride

It's sure nuff good being with the brothers

Carrying good news wherever we go

Hey let me get myself together man

Say Hello Sunday, Hello Road 

++++++++++++++

Home Is Where The Hatred Is

A junkie walking through the twilight

I'm on my way home

I left three days ago, but noone seems to know i'm gone

Home is where the hatred is

Home is filled with pain and it,

might not be such a bad idea if i never, never went home again

stand as far away from me as you can and ask me why

hang on to your rosary beads

close your eyes to watch me die

you keep saying, kick it, quit it, kick it, quit it

God, but did you ever try

to turn your sick soul inside out

so that the world, so that the world

can watch you die

home is where i live inside my white powder dreams

home was once an empty vacuum that's filled now with my silent screams

home is where the needle marks

try to heal my broken heart

and it might not be such a bad idea if i never, if i never went home again

home again

home again

home again 

kick it, quit it

kick it, quit it

kick it, quit it

kick it, can't go home again

++++++++++++++

I Think I'll Call It Morning

I'm gonna take myself a piece of sunshine

And paint it all over my sky

Be no rain...

I'm gonna take the song from every bird

And make em sing it just for me

Bird's got something to teach us all

About being free, yeah

Be no rain...

And I think I'll call it morning

From now on

Why should I survive on sadness?

And tell myself I got to be alone

Why should I subscribe to this world's madness?

Knowing that I've got to live on 

Yeah I think I'll call it morning

From now on

I'm gonna take myself a piece of sunshine

And paint it all over my sky

Be no rain...

Be no rain...

I'm gonna take the song from every bird

And make them sing it just for me

Cause why should I hang my head

Why should I let tears fall from my eyes?

When I've seen everything there is to see

And I know there is no sense in crying

I know there aint no sense in crying

Yeah I think I'll call it morning

From now on

I'll call it morning from now on, yeah

Cause there ain't gonna be no rain

Be no rain

Be no rain

From now on...

++++++++++++++

I'll Take Care Of You

I know you've been hurt by someone else

I can tell by the way you carry yourself

But if you let me, here's what I'll do

I'll take care of you

I've loved and I've lost the same as you

So you see I know just what you've been through

And if you let me, here's what I'll do

I'll take care of you

You won't ever have to worry

You won't ever have to cry

For I'll be there beside you

To dry your weeping eyes

So darling tell me that you'll be true

There's no doubt in my mind, no, what I want to do

And just as sure as one and one is two

I know I'll take care of you

I'll take care of you

++++++++++++++

I'm New Here

I did not become someone different 

That I did not want to be 

But I'm new here 

Will you show me around 

No matter how far wrong you've gone 

You can always turn around 

Met a woman in a bar 

Told her I was hard to get to know 

And near impossible to forget 

She said i had an ego on me 

The size of Texas 

Well I'm new here and I forget 

Does that mean big or small 

No matter how far wrong you've gone You can always tourn around 

And I'm shedding plates like a snake 

And it may be crazy but I'm 

the closest thing I have 

To a voice of reason 

Turn around turn around turn around 

And you may come full circle 

and be new here again 

++++++++++++++

Is That Jazz?

Basie was never really commonplace 

He was always measures ahead. 

Ellington was more than number one 

For the music and things that he said. 

Bird was the word back when tenors were heard 

From Kansas right up to the Prez 

And Billie was really the Queen of a scene 

That keeps echoing on in my head. 

What it has will surely last but is that Jazz? 

Miles had a style that amazes and raises 

The spirits from deep in your soul. 

'Trane struck a vein of laughter and pain 

Adventures the mind could explore. 

Stevie and Bob talk of freedom and 'Jah' 

In their own individual ways. 

Playing and singing as long as its bringing 

A message is all that it says. 

What is has will surely last but is that Jazz? 

We overanaylze we let others define 

A thousand precious feelings from our past. 

When we express love and tenderness 

Is that Jazz? Is that Jazz? Is that Jazz? Is that Jazz? 

Dizzy's been busy while Grover gets us over 

With notes that go straight to the heart. 

Brother Ron gets it on with a bassline so strong 

That the sounds seem to glow in the dark. 

I take pride in what's mine - is that really a crime - 

When you know I ain't got nothing else? 

Only millions of sounds picks me up when I'm down; 

Let me salvage a piece of myself. 

What it has will surely last but is that Jazz?

++++++++++++++

It's Your World

the ground beneath my feet 

i know was made for me

there is no any one place where I belong.

my spirit's meant to be free 

and soon now everyone will see 

life was made for us to be what we wanna be!

IT'S YOUR WORLD

it's yours and yours and yours

and what you see

was not meant for me.

IT'S YOUR WORLD

but you don't have to be lonely 

'cause in your world

you are truly free!

the thoughts that fill my mind

are a very special kind

because they're home to me and me alone.

and then i realize 

that we all have a home inside

that was meant for us to be what we wanna be

it's your world

it's yours and yours and yours

and what you see

was not meant for me

it's your world

but you don't have to be lonely 

'cause in your world --- you are truly free!

music of life fills my soul 

music of love makes me feel whole

as human history unfolds before my eyes.

my spirit's meant to be free

and soon now everyone's will be.

it's your right to be whatever you wanna be!

IT'S YOUR WORLD

it's yours and yours and yours

and what you see

was not necessarily meant for me

IT'S YOUR WORLD

but you don't have to be lonely

'cause in your world

you are truly free!

IT'S YOUR WORLD

it's yours and yours and yours

and what you see

it was not meant for me

IT'S YOUR WORLD

but you don't have to be lonely 

'cause in your world

you are truly free!

(refrain)

you are truly free

to be what you wanna be

you are truly free

to be what you wanna be

you are truly free

to be what you wanna be

you are truly free

to be what you wanna be

++++++++++++++

Johannesburg

What's the word?

Tell me brother, have you heard

From Johannesburg?

What's the word?

Sister/woman have you heard

From Johannesburg?

They tell me that our brothers over there

Are defyin' the Man.

We don't know for sure because the news we get

Is unreliable, man.

Well I hate it when the blood starts flowin',

But I'm glad to see resistance growin'.

Somebody tell me what's the word?

Tell me brother, have you heard

From Johannesburg?

They tell me that our brothers over there

Refuse to work in the mines.

They may not get the news but they need to know

We're on their side.

Now sometimes distance brings misunderstanding,

But deep in my heart I'm demanding:

Somebody tell me what's the word?

Sister/woman have you heard

'Bout Johannesburg?

I know that their strugglin' over there

Ain't gonna free me,

But we all need to be strugglin'

If we're gonna be free.

Don't you wanna be free?

++++++++++++++

Jose Campos Torres

I had said I wasn't going to write no more poems like this

I had confessed to myself all along, tracer of life, poetry trends

That awareness, consciousness, poems that screamed of pain and the origins of pain and death had blanketed my tablets 

And therefore, my friends, brothers, sisters, in-laws, outlaws, and besides -- they already knew

But brother Torres, common ancient bloodline brother Torres is dead

I had said I wasn't going to write no more poems like this

I had said I wasn't going to write no more words down about people kicking us when we're down

About racist dogs that attack us and drive us down, drag us down and beat us down

But the dogs are in the street

The dogs are alive and the terror in our hearts has scarcely diminished

It has scarcely brought us the comfort we suspected

The recognition of our terror and the screaming release of that recognition

Has not removed the certainty of that knowledge -- how could it

The dogs rabid foaming with the energy of their brutish ignorance

Stride the city streets like robot gunslingers

And spread death as night lamps flash crude reflections from gun butts and police shields

I had said I wasn't going to write no more poems like this

But the battlefield has oozed away from the stilted debates of semantics

Beyond the questionable flexibility of primal screaming

The reality of our city, jungle streets and their Gestapos

Has become an attack on home, life, family and philosophy, total

It is beyond the question of the advantages of didactic niggerisms

The motherfucking dogs are in the street

In Houston maybe someone said Mexicans were the new niggers

In LA maybe someone said Chicanos were the new niggers

In Frisco maybe someone said Orientals were the new niggers

Maybe in Philadelphia and North Carolina they decided they didn't need no new niggers

I had said I wasn't going to write no more poems like this

But dogs are in the street

It's a turn around world where things are all too quickly turned around

It was turned around so that right looked wrong

It was turned around so that up looked down

It was turned around so that those who marched in the streets with bibles and signs of peace became enemies of the state and risk to national security

So that those who questioned the operations of those in authority on the principles of justice, liberty, and equality became the vanguard of a communist attack

It became so you couldn't call a spade a motherfucking spade

Brother Torres is dead, the Wilmington Ten are still incarcerated

Ed Davis, Ronald Regan, James Hunt, and Frank Rizzo are still alive

And the dogs are in the motherfucking street

I had said I wasn't going to write no more poems like this

I made a mistake

++++++++++++++

King Alfred Plan

Brothers and sisters there is a place for you in America

Places are being prepared and readied night and day, night and day

The white boy's plan is being readied night and day, night and day

Listen close to what rap say bout traps like Allenwood P.A.

Already in D.C. to preventatively detain you and me

How long you think it's going to be before even our dreams ain't free

You think I exaggerate check out Allenwood P.A.

And night and day, night and day - the white boy's plotting night and day, night and day

The Jews and Hitler come to mind

The thought of slavery far behind

But white paranoia is here to stay

The white boy's scheming night and day, night and day

What you think bout the King Alfred Plan

You ain't heard; where you been man

If I may paraphrase the government notice reads:

"Should there at anytime become a clear and present danger initiated by any radical element threatening the operation of the government of th United States of America, members of this radical element shall be tranported to dentention centers until such time as their threat has been eliminated - code KING ALFRED"

Bullshit I bet you say there ain't no Allenwood P.A.

And people ain't waiting night and day, night and day, night and day

There will be without the Motown sound and thunderbird 

Wollowing in the echoes of Mlcolm's words

There must be black unity, there must be black unity 

For in the end unity will be thrust upon us and we upon it and each other

Lock in cages penned, hemmed in shoulder to shoulder - arms out-stretched 

For just a crust of bread,watermelon, mirages and oasis that does not exist

Cuntured up by the bubbling stinch of unwash bodies and unsanitary quarters

Concrete and bobbed-wire, babies screaming 

Stumbling around in a mental circle because you never cared enough to be black

In the end unity will be thrust upon us - lanketed, stipled 

A salty taste in your mouth from blood oozing from cracks and wooly heads 

Red pools becoming thicker than syrup slow down your face

Spurs matte from the life force sprung loose from wells

Welled deep by the enforcers of mock justice of the red, white and blue

In the end unity will be thrust upon us 

Let us unite because of love and not hate

Let us unite on our own and not because of bobbed-wired death

You dare not ignore the things I say

Whitey's waiting night and day, night and day, night and day, night and day

++++++++++++++

Lady Day And John Coltrane

Ever feel kinda down and out, you dont know just what to do

Livin all of your days in darkness let the sun shine through

Ever feel that somehow, somewhere you lost your way

And if you dont get a help quick you wont make it through the day

Or could you call on Lady Day, could you call on John Coltrane

Now cause there, theyll wash your troubles, your troubles, your troubles away

Plastic people with plastic minds are on their way to plastic homes

No beginning there aint no ending just on and on and on and on and on, its

All because theyre so afraid to say that theyre alone

Until I hear old Rodney ridin on his saxophone

Or could you call on Lady Day, could you call on John Coltrane

Now cause there, theyll wash your troubles, your troubles, 

your troubles away

Alright

Ever feel kinda down and out, you dont know just what to do

Livin all of your days in darkness let the sun shine through

Ever feel that somehow, somewhere you lost your way

And if you dont get a help quick you wont make it through the day

Or could you call on Lady Day, could you call on John Coltrane

Now cause there, theyll wash your troubles, your troubles, your troubles, your troubles

Your troubles, your troubles, your troubles

Your troubles, your troubles, 

your troubles away

Theyll wash your troubles away

++++++++++++++

Liberation Song (Red, Black And Green)

I've seen the red sun in the autumn

And I've seen the leaves turn to golden brown

I've seen the red sun in the autumn

And I've seen the leaves returning to golden brown

I've seen the red blood of my people

Heard them calling for freedom everywhere

If you've seen the red blood of your people

All you've got to do it

Reach out your hand and we'll take you there

Red stands for liberation

Red

I see the blackness of winter

I see death lurking in the trees

Yeah, I see the blackness of winter

And I see death lurking in the trees

I see the blackness of my people

You know they're calling for freedom everywhere

I've seen the blackness of my people

And all you got to do,

Brothers and sisters, reach out your hands,

We're gonna take you there

Black stands for liberation, yeah, aah

I've seen the green buds in the springtime

And somebody told me that means new life

I've seen the green buds in the springtime

Comin' up through the concrete

Somebody told me they symbolize new life

I've seen the green fields of my homeland

And I've heard people calling for freedom everywhere

It seems to me like if you've seen the green fields of your homeland

Even when you dream it, you can reach out your mind

And someone will take you there, cause

Green stands for liberation

Green

There are three colors on our flag now, brother

One red, one black, and there's one green

There are three colors on our flag now, sister

Can you tell your babies what they mean?

I'm talking ‘bout red and the black and green

Want you to keep on thinking ‘bout red and the black and green

I'm gonna keep on singin' ‘bout red and the black and green

And sooner than you think the whole world's gonna know just what we mean

When we say they stand for liberation

They stand for liberation

Talkin' bout red

Yes, and black

We're talkin' bout green

It's more than a dream if you dig what we mean

It stands for liberation

It stands for a brand new nation

It stands for liberation

It stands for a brand new nation

Yeah

++++++++++++++

Lovely Day

Smile

It's on a clear spring mornin'

There's not a cloud in the sky

And it's got me out here walkin' and wavin' to the ladies

As they stroll by

And I ain't forgot for a moment all the things I need to do

But when I see that old sun shinin', it make me feel like I can make it, too

Yes, and all I really wanna say

Is that the problems come and go, 

But the sunshine seems to stay

And just look around

I think we've found

A lovely day

The flowers woke up bloomin'

And put on a color show just for me

The shadows dark and gloomy

I told them all to keep the hell away from me

Because I don't feel like believin' everything I do gon' turn out wrong

When vibrations I'm receiving say

“Hold on, brother, just you be strong”

Yes and all I really wanna say

Is that the problems come and go,

But the sunshine seems to stay

Hey

Just look around

I think we've found 

A lovely day

Sometimes it rains

And I feel kinda strange

Because it seems like my problems begin

Without the sunshine on which I depend

And all that make me feel like I need to hear the sun say

Hey, just look around

I think we've found 

A lovely day

I think we've found a lovely day

I think we've found a lovely, lovely

Don't it feel like a lovely day

++++++++++++++

Madison Avenue

Pretty pictures in your favorite magazines

span the distance between you and Mr Clean(?)

You can take part in the All-American dream

just fill your house up with a million

products you don't need.

You don't ever have to use them.

Buying is all that's asked of you.

But if it's so Goddamn incredible

you can't believe it's true

it's Madison Avenue

Make it all commercial

there ain't nothin' folks won't buy

New fuel to fire up the monsters of Free Enterprise

Gizmos and gadgets, batteries to make them run

Just give your check up at the first of every month

And don't wake up to the uselessness

'till your whole life is overdue.

'Cause if it's so Goddamn incredible

you can't believe it's true

it's Madison Avenue

They can sell sand to a man livin' in the desert.

They can sell tuna to the chicken of the sea...

You are surrounded and confounded and

dumbfounded by the happenings yes it's true

it's Madison Avenue

++++++++++++++

Me And The Devil

Early this mornin', when you knocked upon my door

Early this mornin', when you knocked upon my door

And I said, "Hello Satan, I believe it's time to go"

Me and the devil, walkin' side by side

Me and the devil, walkin' side by side

And I'm goin' to see my woman, until I get satisfied

She say you don't see why, that you will dog me 'round

(Now, babe, you know you ain't doin' me right)

Say, don't see why, you will dog me 'round

It must be that old evil spirit, so deep down in the ground

You may bury my body, down by the highway side

(I don't care where you bury my body when I'm gone)

You may bury my body, down by the highway side

So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

++++++++++++++

Message To The Messengers

Hey, yeah, we the same brothas from a long time ago

We was talkin' about television and doin' it on the radio

What we did was to help our generation realize

They had to get out there and get busy cause it wasn't gonna be televised

We got respect for you rappers and the way they be free-weighin'

But if you're gon' be teachin' folks things, make sure you know what you're sayin'

Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how

Remember if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be out here now

And I ain't comin' at you with no disrespect

All I'm sayin' is that you damn well got to be correct

Because if you're gonna be speakin' for a whole generation

And you know enough to try and handle their education

Make sure you know the real deal about past situations

It ain't just repeatin' what you heard on the local TV stations

...Sometimes they tell lies and put 'em in a truthful disguise

But the truth is that's why we said it wouldn't be televised

They don't know what to say to our young folks, but they know that you do

And if they really knew the truth...why would they tell you?

The first sign is peace, tell all them gun totin' young brothas 

That the man is glad to see us out there killin' one another

We raised too much hell when they was shootin' us down

So they started poisoning our minds tryin' to jerk us all around

And they tell us they got to come in and control our situation

They want half of us on dope and the other half in incarceration

If the ones they want dead ain't killed by what they instigated

They put some dope on a brotha's body and claim it was drug related

Tell them drug related means there don't need to be no investigation

Or at least that's the way they're gon' play it on the local TV stations

All your 9-millimeter brothas...give them somthin' to think about

Tell them you heard that this is the new word, they got to work that stuff out

But somehow they feel in the wrong way with a gun in their hands

They feel real independent...but they just pullin' contracts for the man

Five and five will tell you it's hopeless out there on the avenue

But if they really knew the truth...why would they tell you?

And if they look at you like you're insane

And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain

Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame

Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game

Or worse yet implying that you don't really know...

That's the same thing they said about us...a long time ago

Young rappers, one more suggestion before I get out of your way 

But I appreciate the respect you give me and what you got to say 

I'm sayin' protect your community and spread that respect around

Tell brothas and sistas they gotta calm that bullshit down

Cause we're terrorizin' our old folks and brought fear into our homes

And they ain't got to hang out with the senior citizens

Just tell them, “Dammit...leave the old folks alone”

And we know who rippin' off the neighborhood, tell them, “That BS has got to stop!”

Tell them you're sorry they can't handle it out there 

But they got to take the crime off the block

And if they look at you like you're insane

And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain

Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame

Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game

Or worse yet saying that you really don't know...

That's the same thing they said about me a long time ago

And if they tell folks that you finally lost your nerve

That's the same thing they said about us, when we said, “Johannesburg”

But I think the young folks need to know, that things don't go both ways

You can't talk respect of every other song or just every other day

What I'm speakin' on now is the raps about the women folks

On one song she's your African Queen on the next one she's a joke

And you ain't said no words that I haven't heard, but that ain't no compliment

It only insults eight people out of ten and questions your intelligence

Four letter words or four syllable words won't make you important

It'll only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it

And if they look at you like they think you insane

Or they call you scarecrow thinkin' you ain't got no brain

Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame

Or that white folks have finally co-opted your game 

Or you really don't know...They said that about me a long time ago

If they finally start to tell people that you lost your nerve

That's what they said about Johannesburg

You ain't insane...you have got a brain

You haven't gone lame; you have got your game

Remember...keep the nerve

Keep the nerve 

Keep the nerve

Keep the nerve

...I'm talkin' about peace

++++++++++++++

Morning Thoughts

My life's been one of movement, i've been travelling

Just as fast as i can

But i've been no more successful at getting away

Than was my old man

But i'm committed to the consequences

Whether i stand or fall

And when i get back to my life,

I think i'm gonna give her a call

She's been waiting patiently

For me to put my trip together

And it touches something deep inside

When she says she'd wait forever

But forever's right upon me now

That is, if it ever comes at all

And when i get back to my life

I think i'm gonna give her a call.

++++++++++++++

Must Be Something

Must be somethin'

Must be somethin' we can do

Must be somethin'

Must be somethin' we can do

We didn't come all this way just to give up

We didn't struggle all this time to say we've had enough

Had enough

Must be somethin'

Must be somethin' we can do

Must be somethin'

Must be somethin' we can do

We didn't come all this way in the dead of night

To give up now that we can see the light

See the light

Just like music

Just like music that we make

Fills the spirit 

And helps to see a clearer day

I'll tell you somethin'

I'll tell you somethin' you can do

Keep on movin'

Keep on movin' for what's true

I'll tell you somethin'

I'll tell you somethin' you can do

Keep on movin'

Keep on movin' for what's true

++++++++++++++

My Cloud

And when the morning comes

If there's been no rest for you

We've been friends long enough

You should know what to do

If that's how you started your day

Why keep running away

When you could

Come and join me on my cloud

And in the afternoon

If things are still the same

You've always held a key

To effect the change

What in the morning I said

When you're running away from me

And you could come and join me on my cloud

How you must? in the evening

( From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/g/gil-scott,,heron-lyrics/my-cloud-lyrics.html )

How everything got so turned around

Please don't let it get you down

All you got to do is just

Come and join me on my cloud

And I've saved a special place

Right next to me

And it's always been your space

I'm sure that you will see

You could always count on me

To love you and let you be free

So why not come and join me

You could come and join me

You can come and join me

On my cloud

++++++++++++++

No Knock

You explained it to me I must admit

But just for the record you were talkin' shit

Y'all rap about no knock bein' legislated

For the people you've always hated

In this hell hole you, we, call home

No knock, the man will say

To keep that man from beating his wife

No knock, the man will say

To protect people from themselves

No knockin', head-rockin', inter-shockin'

Shootin', cussin', killin', cryin', lyin'

And bein' white

No knock

No knocked on my brother Fred Hampton

Bullet holes all over the place

No knocked on my brother Michael Harris

And jammed a shotgun against his skull

For my protection?

Who's gonna protect me from you?

The likes of you?

The nerve of you?

Your tomato face deadpan

Your dead hands ending another freedom fan

No knockin', head rockin', inter-shockin'

Shootin', cussin', killin', cryin', lyin'

And bein' white

But if you're wise, no knocker

You'll tell your no-knockin' lackeys

Ha! 

No knock on my brother's head

No knock on my sister's head

No knock on my brother's head

No knock on my sister's head

And double lock your door

Because soon someone may be no-knockin'

Ha, ha!

For you

(No knock: To be slipped into John Mitchell's suggestion box.)

++++++++++++++

Offering

We have something to offer you

We have music to offer you

Spirits may come into view

We have spirits to offer you

Seasons my change

And feelings may change

But music remains

Seasons may change

And feelings may change

But music remains and it fills you

We have something to offer you

We have new love to offer you

And music to offer you

And spirits to offer you

And new love and music to offer you

We have

++++++++++++++

Omen

A giant eye zapped across the screen,

With tentacle type feeler type thin roots,

Reaching for someone maybe me,

With large black block letters,

Chiseled into the white around the pupils screaming,

R e v o l u t i o n,

Revolution,

And as the eye giant and green,

Sort of oozed with no obvious locomotion,

Closer and closer until it was like this on my screen,

It split and blood flowed down each side of the street,

Washing away things that we didn't need to see,

Just like beer cans peanut shells and copies of the daily news,

And then laying there, bleeding like a stuck pig,

Was a stuck pig,

Get the point?

++++++++++++++

On Coming From A Broken Home

I want to make this a special tribute 

to a family that contradicts the concepts 

heard the rules but wouldnâ??t accept 

and women-folk raised me 

and i was full grown before i knew 

I came from a broken home 

sent to live with my grandma down south 

when my uncles was leaving 

and my grandfather had just left for heaven 

they said and as every-ologist would certainly note 

i had no strong male figure right? 

But lily Scott was absolutely not your mail order room service type cast black grandmother 

i was moved in with her; temporarily, just until things were patched, 

til this was patched and til that was patched 

until i became at 3, 4, 5,6 ,7, 8, 9 and 10 

the patch that held lily Scott who held me and like them 4 

i become one more and I loved her from the absolute marrow of my bones 

and we was holdin on, 

i come from a broken home 

She had more then the 5 senses 

she knew more then books could teach 

and raised everyone she touched just a little bit higher 

and all around her there was a natural sense 

as though she sensed what the stars say what the birds say 

what the wind and the clouds say 

a sensual soul and self that African sense 

and she raised me like she raised 4 of her own 

and i was hurt and scared and shocked when lily Scott left suddenly one night 

and they sent a limousine from heaven to take her to god, if there is one. 

So i knew she had gone; and 

i came from a broken home

++++++++++++++

Or Down You Fall

I sail alone in my paper ship

The seat is made of fire

I ride my horse of nuts and bolts

We're made to never tire

The world is just a simple circle

I've got to keep on turning

Yea, I've got to keep on turning

'Til I fall down

To the top of the mountain

Inside a hollow stone

I pretend I'm an iron man, yes

Instead of flesh and bone

The world is just a simple circle

And it keeps on turning

Yea, and it keeps on turning

You've got to

Go away, I can't stand to see your face

Cuz you seem the weakest link

And now you know I'm only human

Instead of all the things I'd like to be

The world is just a simple circle

You've got to keep on turning

Yea, you've got to keep on turning

Or down you fall

++++++++++++++

Paint It Black

Picture a man of nearly thirty

Who seems twice as old with clothes torn and dirty

Give him a job shining shoes

Or cleaning out toilets with bus station crews

Give him six children with nothing to eat

Expose them to life on a ghetto street

Tie an old rag around his wife's head

And have her pregnant and lying in bed

Stuff them all in a Harlem house

And then tell them how bad things are down South.

++++++++++++++

Peace Go With You, Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum)

Peace go with you, brother

Though I ain't so proud anymore

Peace go with you brother

Recognition don't come cheap anymore

You're my lawyer, you're my doctor

Yea, but somehow you've forgot about me

And now, now when I see you

All I can say is: Peace go with you brother

Peace to you, brother

Don't seem to matter much now what I say

Peace go with you brother

You the kind of man that think he's got to have his own way

You're my father, you're my uncle and my cousin and my son

But sometimes, sometimes I wish you were not

But I manage to smile and I say: Peace go with you brother

Peace go with you brother

Don't make no sense for us to be arguing now

Time is right up on us now brother

Don't make no sense for us to be arguing now

All of your children and all of my children are gonna hsve pay for our mistakes someday

Yes - and until then may peace guide your way

Peace go with you brother; wherever you go

Peace go with you brother

++++++++++++++

Pieces Of A Man

Jagged jigsaw pieces

Tossed about the room

I saw my grandma sweeping

With her old straw broom

But she didn't what she was doing

She could hardly understand

That she was really sweeping up..

Pieces of a man

I saw my daddy greet the mailman

And I heard the mailman say

"Now don't you take this letter to heart now Jimmy

Cause they've laid off nine others today"

But he didn't know what he was saying

He could hardly understand

That he was only talking to

Pieces of a man

I saw the thunder and heard the lightning!

And felt the burden of his shame

And for some unknown reason

He never turned my way

Pieces of that letter

Were tossed about that room

And now I hear the sound of sirens

Come knifing through the gloom

But they don't know what they are doing

They could hardly understand

That they're only arresting

Pieces of a man

I saw him go to pieces

I saw him go to pieces

He was always such a good man

He was always such a strong man

Yeah, I saw him go to pieces

I saw him go to pieces

++++++++++++++

Plastic Pattern People

Glad to get high and see the slow motion world.

Just to reach, and touch, the half notes floating.

Worlds spinning orbit quicker than 9/8ths Dave Brubeck.

We come now, frantically searching for Thomas Moore, rainbow villages.

Up on suddenly, Charlie Mingus and our man Abdul Malik,

to add bass, to a bottomless pit of insecurity.

You may be plastic because you never meditate,

about the bottom of glasses, The third side of your universe.

Add on Alice Coltrane and her cosmic strains.

Still no vocal on blue black horizons.

Your plasticity is tested by a formless assault.

The sun can answer questions in tune, to all your sacrifices.

But why would our new jazz age give us no more mind expanding puzzles?

Enter John.

Blow from under, always, and never, so that the morning, the sun,

may scream of brain bending saxophones.

The third world arrives, with Yusef Lateef, and Pharaoh Saunders.

With oboes straining to touch the core of your unknown soul.

Ravi Shankar comes, with strings attached, prepared to stabilize your seventh sense,

Your black rhythm.

Up and down a silly ladder run the notes, without the words.

Words are important for the mind, but the notes are for the soul.

Miles Davis, So what?

Cannonball, Fiddler, Mercy.

Dexter Gordon, One Flight Up.

Donald Byrd, playing Cristo, but what about words?

Would you like to survive on sadness? Call on Ella and Jose Happiness.

Drift with Smokey, Bill Medley, Bobby Taylor, and Otis Redding. 

Soul music where frustrations are washed by drums, Nina and Miriam.

Congo, Mongo, Beat me, senseless, bongo, Tonto.

Flash through dream worlds of STP and LSD. 

Speed kills and sometimes musics call, is frustrated.

And the black man is confused.

Our speed is our life pace, much too fast, not good.

I beg you to escape, and live, and hear all of the real.

Until a call comes for you to cry elsewhere.

We must all cry, but tell me.

Must our tears be white?

++++++++++++++

Push Comes To Shove

Push comes to shove to find exactly what you're made of

Ain't nobody seen you

Can nobody scold you

Can nobody blame you,

And make you feel bad

Nobody should tie you

Tell you I told you

Nobody should ride you,

About the commitments you had.

Cuz they done learned you

And they done burned you

Showed you idealistic is all you were

Everybody gotta realize

That we all had to compromise

Had to put on suit and ties

When push came to shove 

(it's seems like)

Push comes to shove once in your lifetime (yes and)

Push comes to shove to find out just what's on your mind

Push comes to shove to find exactly what you're made of

Nobody can know

Nobody should tease you

Not try to disown you (bizown?)

And make you feel strange

Nobody got to explain

Ain't nothing really to explain

Everything that rearrange--- (?)

and the weather can change (?)

But they done taught you

Cuz they done caught you

Showed you unrealistic is all you was

So everybody once believed

Was only showing how naive

Gotta give up to be free

When push came to shove.

Push comes to shove once in your lifetime (yes and)

Push comes to shove to find out just what's on your mind

Push comes to shove to find exactly what you're made of

Well, everybody knew somehow we was somehow running late

And with the captains overboard, who was handling a ship of fate?

And all we knew was what we really did not know

And that's when push was sure 'nough coming to shove

Push comes to shove to find exactly what you're made of...

Cuz they done learned you

And they done burned you

Showed you idealistic is all you was

Everybody gotta realize

That we all had to compromise

Had to put on suit and ties

When push came to shove

Push comes to shove once in your lifetime (yes and)

Push comes to shove to find out just what's on your mind

Push comes to shove to find exactly what you're made of

++++++++++++++

Racetrack In France

I heard I needed to travel.

"Go out and spread the word" people say.

So I'm kickin' up dust and gravel

on a racetrack near Marseilles.

If it all sounds like a mystery

things that you just don't understand

let me give you a little bit of history

about me and the Midnight Band:

On a racetrack in France

everybody started clapping their hands.

It seemed like a long way fron Union Station.

On a racetrack in France

everybody started to dance.

I was a long way from home but those were good vibrations.

Me and the bothers no parlez-vous.

French was way down on my list.

(But) the Africans said "Merci beaucoup!"

'cause the rhythm's what they missed.

The people got the message

from the music that we play.

It really shouldn't a been no surprise

that we all got down that day:

On a racetrack in France

everybody got to clapping their hands.

It seemed like a long way from Union Station.

On a racetrack in France

Everybody started to dance.

I was a long way from home but those were good vibrations.

++++++++++++++

Rivers Of My Fathers

Looking for a way

Out of this confusion

I'm looking for a sign

Carry me home

Let me lay down by a stream

And let me be miles from everything

Rivers of my Fathers

Can you carry me home

Carry me home

Rub your soul against the concrete

And the concrete is my smile

Got to change my way of living

Got to change my style

Let me lay down by a stream

Miles from everything

Rivers of my fathers

Could you carry me home

Carry me home

Looking for a way

Got to find a way out of this confusion

Looking for a sign

Point my way home

Let me lay down by a stream

Miles from everything

Rivers of my fathers, rivers of my fathers

Carry me home, please carry me home

Carry me home, carry me home

Carry me home, carry me home

++++++++++++++

Running

Because I always feel like running 

Not away, because there is no such place 

Because, if there was I would have found it by now 

Because it's easier to run, 

Easier than staying and finding out you're the only one...who didn't run 

Because running will be the way your life and mine will be described 

As in "the long run" 

Or as in having given someone a "run for his money" 

Or as in "running out of time" 

Because running makes me look like everyone else, though I hope there will ever be cause for that 

Because I will be running in the other direction, not running for cover 

Because if I knew where cover was, I would stay there and never have to run for it 

Not running for my life, because I have to be running for something of more value to be running and not in fear 

Because the thing I fear cannot be escaped, eluded, avoided, hidden from, protected from, gotten away from, 

Not without showing the fear as I see it now 

Because closer, clearer, no sir, nearer 

Because of you and because of that nice 

That you quietly, quickly be causing 

And because you're going to see me run soon and because you're going to know why I'm running then 

You'll know then 

Because I'm not going to tell you now

++++++++++++++

Save The Children

If you're driving through the country on a lazy afternoon

Or you're watching your children playin' after school

They seem to be so unaware of I know I know

The things that they soon have to take care of

We got to do something yeah to save the children

Soon it will be their test to try and save the world

Right now they seem to play such a small part of

The things that they soon be right at the heart of

My little Tommy he said he wants to be a fireman

And little Mary she said she got to teach at school

If we know or we say we know about the problems

Why can't we do something to try and solve them

We got to do something yeah to save the children

Soon it will be their test to try and save the world

We got to do something yeah to save the children

To save the children

To save the children

++++++++++++++

Sex Education: Ghetto Style

I was doin' it when I was a colored boy of eight or nine or ten

I had never heard of Sigmund Freud but hell I was doin' it then

I was doin' it in my teenaged years when I was running the ghetto streets

Now I had never seen me no ink blot test but it still felt good to me

I was doin' it when I arrived in college searching for my degree

But Lord knows a degree wasn't all I got and that's the way it's supposed to be

I hope that when I have kids of my own they really don't get shook

When I tell them that there are things they've got to learn that can't be found in books.

++++++++++++++

Shah Mot (The Shah Is Dead/Checkmate)

My name is what's your name

I am the voice of sane

Remembering things that I told me yesterday

My name is what's your name

I am inside your frame

We saw the devils,

Had to make them go away

My name is what's your name

You may reject my claim

But I expect that you won't vary from it long

My name is what's your name

Ours is a single aim

And we can double recognize in need of form (?)

Take it to the street

Tell everybody you meet

You do whatever, you do whatever you feel the wardrum beat

Put it in the air,

Spit it everywhere

You do whatever you do whatever, you know you got to be there

Shah mot!

You only take it as a symbol

Look closely, who does it resemble?

My name is what's your name

If you recall the change

Then you can dig that we've been put into a trance

My name is what to do

I am inside of you

I've been here ever since the day you learned to stand

My name is what's your name

Born on the wings of strain

Ours is a justice that has long been overdue

My name is what to do

But we already knew

And now the clouds are wearing how come to view (?)

Shah mot!

Take it to the street

Tell everybody you meet

You do whatever, you do whatever you feel the wardrum beat

Shah mot!

Put it in the air,

Spit it everywhere

You do whatever you do whatever, you know you got to be there

Shah mot!

You only take it as a symbol

[Shah mot!]

Look closely, who does it resemble?

My name is what's your name

I am the voice of sane

Remembering things that I told me yesterday

My name is what's your name

I am inside your frame

We saw the devils,

Had to make them go away

Shah mot!

Take it to the street

Tell everybody you meet

You do whatever, you do whatever you feel the wardrum beat

Shah mot!

Put it in the air,

Spit it everywhere

You do whatever you do whatever, you know you got to be there

Shah mot!

You only take it as a symbol

Look closely, who does it resemble?

[repeat]

++++++++++++++

Shut 'Um Down

Did you hear that rumble? Did you hear that sound?

Well it wasn't no eartquake, but it shook the ground.

It made me think about power, like it or not:

I got to work for earth for what it's worth,

'Cause it's the only earth we've got.

Shut 'um Down!

If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

Shut 'um Down!

If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

I've heard a lot about safety and human error.

A few dials and gauges is just a wing and a prayer.

If you need perfection, and that's what it takes,

Then you don't need people, can't use people,

You know people make mistakes...

Shut 'um Down!

If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

Shut 'um Down!

If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

++++++++++++++

Small Talk At 125th And Lenox

This is just like listening

to a conversation being held 

by the many people who congregate 

on one of the most popular blocks

in the largest area of black America

Did you ever eat cornbread and black eye peas

Or watermelon and mustard greens?

Get high as you can on Saturday night

Go to church on Sunday to set things right

Listen

I seen Miss Blake after Willy yesterday

She'd've killed anybody who got in her way

Hey look I got a TV for a pound on the head

And Jimmy Jean got the best Panamanian Red

No I ain't got on no underclothes

But we all got to get through this gypsy rose

I think Clay got his very good points

You say a trade bag with thirteen joints?

Who cares if LBJ is in town?

Up with Stokely and H. Rap Brown

I don't know if the riots is wrong

But whitey's been kickin' my ass for too long

I was s'posed to baby but they held my pay.

Did you hear what the number was yesterday?

Junkies is all right when they ain't broke

They leaves you alone when they high on dope

Damn, but I wish I could get up and move

Shut up. Hell you know that ain't true.

++++++++++++++

Song For Bobby Smith

(spoken)

I know a young warrior named Bobby Smith

He's gonna be 4 years old on his next birthday

He happened to be with Brian and I when we wrote this song

It's about new life and new spirit, new feelings

We asked Bobby, "Bobby, what should we call this song?"

And he said, "Oh that's pretty, that's my song."

That was very appropriate, this song for new life should be about Bobby

This is 'A Song for Bobby Smith'

(sung)

Ain't you been there?

Ain't you goin?

Can't you taste your ideas growin?

We are soldiers

Soldiers of a new day

Can't you see it?

Can't you feel it in your heart?

Ain't you been there and ain't you goin

To a place where friendship's flowin?

We are brothers

Brothers and sisters in spirit

Can't you see it?

Yeah, can't you feel it in your heart?

Ain't you been there?

Ain't you goin?

Can't you take this love I'm showin?

Got to be you and me

You and me together

Can't you see it?

Can't you feel it in your heart?

++++++++++++++

Speed Kills

Speed on by, don't seem to have the time

What about this life?

What about this life?

Can I come by?

Issues in the paper (somehow I'm not concerned)

Seems that I've been here before

Here before, but I never learn

Children

Slowly turn

Time stay gone, we never saw it go

Now what do we have?

Now what do we have, that we may show?

Friends you swore you'd never lose (melted from your style)

Down the tunnels of your youth, of your youth,

Now you never smile

Children 

Learn to smile

++++++++++++++

Spirits Past

It's getting to be the time of year

When people once spoke of love and good cheer

Peace on Earth and good will to all men

And we all believed that there'd come a day

When peace would be much more than "on it's way"

Cause peace has been on it's way since I don't know when

And the folks who decide what will be

They haven't confided in me

And i don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

It makes me sad that my kids won't see

Christmas the way it used to be

I was so excited though we didn't have a dime

But that seems like such a long time ago

And I am still a child I know

But it seems like we've lost much more than the time

Cause the folks who decide what will be

They haven't confided in me

And I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

++++++++++++++

Storm Music

What´s that music playin´ on the radio?

What´s that music playin´ everywhere I go?

I don´t think I´ve ever heard

a sweeter feelin´ in the whole wide world

than that music playin´ in my heart.

From time to time the darkness comes along

to terrorize the weak and challenge the strong.

The storm is coming, it grows on the waves

from Johannesburg to Montego Bay.

What´s that music playin´ on the radio?

What´s that music playin´ everywhere I go?

I don´t think I´ve ever seen

another music that could make me feel

like that music playin´ in my heart.

Justice is coming on the wings of the storm.

We resist in the present for those yet unborn.

Freedom is spreading like the wings of a bird

and the message it carries has got to be heard.

What´s that music playin´ on the radio?

What´s that music playin´ everywhere I go?

I don´t think I´ve ever heard

a sweeter feelin´ in the whole wide world

than that music playin´ in my heart.

++++++++++++++

The Bottle

See that black boy over there runnin' scared

His old man in a bottle

He done quit his 9 to 5

He drink full time and now he's livin' in a bottle

See that black boy over there runnin' scared

His old man got a problem

And it's a bad one

He done pawned off damn near everything,

His old woman's weddin' ring for a bottle

And don't you think it's a crime when

Time after time after time

People in the bottle

There's people livin' in the bottle

Listen to me

See that sister, sho' was fine

Before she started drinkin' wine in a bottle

She told me her old man committed a crime

He's doin' time and now she's hangin' in a bottle

I seen her out there on the avenue

All by herself, she sho' need help from the bottle

I seen a preacherman try to help her out

She cussed him out and hit him in the head with a bottle

They turn to me, and they ask me, Gil, 

Don't you think it's a crime the way

Time after time after time

People in the bottle

There's people sho' nuff in the bottle

I'll give you another good example

You see that gent in the wrinkled suit

He done damn near blown his cool to the bottle

He was a doctor helpin' young girls along

If they wasn't too far gone in her problems

But defenders of the dollar eagle said,

“What you doin, man, ain't legal”

Now he's in the bottle

And now we watch him everyday

He's tryin' to chase the prisons away from the bottle

He turned to me and he said to me, hey now

Don't you think it's a crime the way

Time after time 

Friends of mine in the bottle

There's people sho nuff in the bottle

Come on, hit me the lick one time, stick

Uuh

I'll tell you a little secret

If you ever come lookin' for me

You know where I'm bound to be,

In the bottle

Turn around

Look around on any corner

If you see some brother lookin' like a goner

It's gonna be me

Sing the song

Na na na na na na na na na

na na na na na na na na na 

A dollar nine or a bottle of wine

A dollar nine, get a bottle of wine

A dollar nine, get a bottle of wine

A dollar nine, get a bottle of wine

The bottle

All that I'm concerned about is a bottle

It can turn me inside out for the bottle

All I want 

Said all I want

Said all I want

Said all I want since I'm livin in the bottle

A bottle

Sho nuff

Sho nuff

Sho nuff

Sho nuff sho nuff sho nuff sho nuff

Sho nuff

++++++++++++++

The Crutch

His eyes half-closed revealed his world of nod(?). 

a world of lonely men and no love. 

no god. 

his life of seeming nonchalance can't hide 

the pain and fear that in his mind reside. 

from dawn till dawn his bodyhouse (/body, house?) was hurting and none of us can truly aid his search. 

we sat outside and ??? the ?? the fool 

it's always easy to forecast others doom. 

the savage beast that once so soothed his brain, 

has wired his ugly head and stirred/stayed (?) its claim and 

called ??? 

here is his once more soul. he will have to add the sorrow's total. 

this men, still men will be like you and me. 

upon the world reached out, they chose to flee. 

the crutch. 

++++++++++++++

The Klan

Countryside was cold and still 

There were three crosses on the hill 

Each one wore a burning hood 

To hide its rotten core of wood 

And I say father, father I hear an iron sound 

Hoof beats on the frozen ground 

And downhill the riders came 

Lord it was a cryin' shame 

To see the blood upon their whips 

To hear the snarlin' from their lips 

And I cried mother, mother I feel a stabbing pain 

Blood runs down like summers rain 

And each one wore a mask of white 

To hide his cruel face from sight 

And each one sucked a hungry breath 

Out of the empty lungs of death 

And I say sister, sister, I need you to take my hand 

It's always lonely when it's time to stand 

He who rides with the klan 

Is a devil and not a man 

For underneath his white disguise 

I have looked into his eyes 

And I say brother, brother, stand by me 

It's not so easy to be free 

Father, mother, sister, brother, stand by me 

It's not so easy to be free 

It's not so easy to be free 

It's not so easy to be free 

Nobody ever said it would be easy 

Nobody ever said it would be easy 

It's not so easy, no it's not so easy

++++++++++++++

The Needle's Eye

A circle spinning faster

And getting larger all the time

A whirlpool spelled disaster

For all the people who don't rhyme

Him who don't fit through the needle's eye

Him who just don't understand

Understand, understand, understand

A brand new sense of freedom

A brand new sense of time

Him may go and stand alone now

And leave the hate and fear behind

All the millions spent for killing

Seems the whole world must be dying

All the children who go hungry

How much food we could be buying

Him who don't fit through the needle's eye

Him who just don't understand

Understand, understand, understand

A brand new sense of freedom

A brand new sense of time

Him may go and stand alone now

And the leave the hate and fear behind

People wake up every morning

And simply push their lives aside

They seem to carry all their feelings

Crushed and crumbled up inside

Inside, inside, inside

Him who don't fit through the needle's eye

Him who just don't understand

So I went to see my father

Many questions on my mind

But he didn't want to answer me

God, the whole world must be blind

Him who don't fit through the needle's eye

Him may someday go insane

Insane, insane, insane

Without a brand new sense of freedom

A brand new sense of time

Him may go and stand alone now

And leave the hate and fear behind, yeah, behind

++++++++++++++

The New Deal

I have believed in my convictions 

And have been convicted for my beliefs

Conned by the constitution 

And harassed by the police.

I've been billed for the bill of rights 

And been treated like I was wrong.

I have become a special amendment

For what included me all along.

Like "All men are created equal."

(No amendment needed here)

I've contributed in every field including cotton

From Sunset Strip to Washington Square.

Back during the non-violent era.

I was the only non-violent one.

As a matter of fact there was no non-violence

'cause too many rednecks had guns.

There seems to have been this pattern

That a lot of folks failed to pick up on.

But all black leaders who dared stand up

Wuz in jail, in the courtroom or gone.

Picked up indiscriminately

By the shocktroops of discrimination

To end up in jails or tied up in trails

While dirty tricks soured the nation.

I've been hoodwinked by professional hoods.

My ego has happened to me.

It'll be alright, just keep things cool!"

"And take the people off the street.

We'll settle all this at the conference table.

You just leave everything to me."

Which gets me back to my convictions

And being convicted for my belief

'cause I believe these smiles

in three piece suits

with gracious, liberal demeanor

took our movement off of the streets

and took us to the cleaners

In other words, we let up the pressure

And that was all part of their plan

And every day we allow to slip through our fingers

Is playing right into their hands

++++++++++++++

The Other Side Part I

Sometimes I feel like I’m just wasting time

Looking for another side

Sometime I feel like I’m losing my mind ‘cause there ain’t

No other side

Sometimes I’m just spinning my wheels, ain’t no big deal

Morning, there’s another side

Sometimes I feel like I’m just standing in place, ain’t no real race

Ain’t no other side

Life is like a circle and you end up where you started

If you end up where you started ain’t no other side

Yeah, but if life is like a curtain that I’m 90% certain that I’m looking through at something

Yes, I’m almost touching something on the other side

Yeah, the opposite of new is old

The opposite of young is old

Seems like everything has got another side

Yeah, but young ones want to be old ones

Old ones know what they would do if they was young ones

People ain’t never really satisfied

People ain’t never satisfied

If life is like a mirror then the nearer you get clearer

You can see it so much clearer

Feel like you know about the other side

My friends all swear that they know

What I should do with my life

How I should run my life

What should be happening with my life

They’re on the other side

They’re on the outside

I’m on the inside

Things always look so much better on the other side

Four O’clock in the morning 

They don’t know

All the things I been needing 

They don’t know

Breaking out in a sweat

And they don’t know

Feeling down 

And they don’t know

They don’t know the other side

I need to go home

Momma could change it

Daddy could help me

Yes, I could go home

Yeah, Momma don’t need to see me this way

Know me this way 

Touch me this way

Love me this way

Find me this way

I can’t go home

I’m saying

I don’t want to call him

I don’t want to know him

I don’t want to need him

I don’t want to feel it

I don’t want to know

But I know, know know

Hey, home

So I say tomorrow

Tomorrow (repeat)

I’m going home

Tomorrow ain’t coming

Tomorrow will always where it was

Tomorrow (repeat)

I need to go home

Maybe I could start all over at home

Without the whispers

Hanging on me

Pulling on me, rolling with me

Pulling on me

Yes, I’d like to go home

Without the whispers

++++++++++++++

The Other Side, Part II

Kick it, quit it (x4) home

Told him, kick it, quit it (x3), can't go home

I know when they told me, kick it, quit it (x3), can't go home

Feeling so much worse now, kick it, quit it (x3), gotta go home

Yeah, my friends say "stop"

Told myself a 100 times I'm going stop

Yeah, my friends say "quit it"

They don't know how many times I've said I gotta quit it

Then I say "tomorrow" (x14) hey, I'm going to stop

Yes, in the morning I'm gonna go home

Need a little bit of love in the morning, love in the morning

Somebody help me get over this thing

Got to go home

Feel like I could start all over at home

Make myself a brand new life at home

First I gotta face them down, say "kick it, quit it" (x4) home

Yeah, I'm gonna say "kick it, quit it" (x2) get back home

Yeah, I hear 'em say "kick it, quit it" (x2) can't get home

Always on my mind say "kick it, quit it" (x2) can't go home

++++++++++++++

The Other Side, Part III

Junkie walking through the twilight, I'm on my way home

I left three days ago, no one seems to know I'm gone

Home is where the hatred is, and home is filled with pain

But it might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again

Home is where I live inside my white powder dream

Home was once an empty vacuum but it's filled now with my silent scream

Home is where the needle marks try to heal my broken heart

But it might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again

Stand as far away from me as you can and ask me why

Hang on to your rosary beads, close your eyes and watch me die

You keep saying, kick it, quit it, kick it, quit it

God, but did you ever try

And turn your sick soul inside out

So that the world, so that the world

Can watch you die (x3), say...

Home is where I live inside my white powder dream

Home was once an empty vacuum but it's filled now with my silent scream

Home is where the needle marks try to heal my broken heart

But it might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again

Don't you know I might never go home, never go home

Make all these plans and keep packing my bags

Not go, hey, not go

Keep saying... Tomorrow

First thing tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll go

Know it all the time, I'm just biding time

Say, kick it, quit it

I might never go home, never go home

Pack all my bags and keep standing around

And down

And say I'm running and running

But I can't get away

Everybody ain't that strong, ain't that strong

Go too long, feel yourself crash

kick it, quit it

can't go home

holding onto something

kick it, quit it

can't go home

yes, you'd like to go home

mamma could change it, daddy could fix it, yes, if you could go home

mama don't need to see me this way, know me this way and touch me this way

love me this way, can't go .. home

say it to myself...

kick it, quit it

can't go home

I feel it in my soul

kick it, quit it

can't go home

yes, yes, saying, saying

kick it, quit it

can't go home

yes, but I know, but I know, but I...

can't go home

yes, I'd like to go home, can't go home

I could start all over

Like to go home

Say yeah, like to go home

++++++++++++++

The Prisoner

Here I am, after so many years

Hounded by hatred and trapped by fear

I'm in a box, I've got no place to go

If I follow my mind, I know I'll slaughter my own.

Help me I'm the prisoner, won't you hear my plea

I need somebody, yeah, to listen to me

I beg you, brothers and sisters, I'm counting on you (yeah).

Black babies in the womb are shackled and bound

Chained by the caveman who keeps beauty down

Smacked on the ass when they're squalling and wet

Heir to a spineless man who never forgets

Never forgets that he's a prisoner, can't you hear my plea

Cause I need somebody, Lord knows, to listen to me

I'm a stranger to my son who wonders why his daddy runs.

On my way to work in the morning when I don't give a damn

Can't nobody (x4) see just who in hell I am

Hemmed in by a suit, yes all choked up in a tie

Ain't no wonder some times near morning I hear my woman cry

She knows her man is a prisoner, won't you hear my plea

Yeah, cause I need somebody, wooo, to listen to me

My woman she don't say but she hates to see her man chained this way

Yeah, help me, I'm the prisoner

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the prisoner

++++++++++++++

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

You will not be able to stay home, brother.

You will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop out.

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,

Skip out for beer during commercials

Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox

In 4 parts without commercial interruption.

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon

Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell,

General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat

Hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and

will not star Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.

The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.

The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.

The revolution will not make you look five pounds

Thinner, because The revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays

Pushing that cart down the block on the dead run,

Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.

NBC will not predict the winner at 8:32or the count from 29 districts.

The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down

Brothers in the instant replay.

There will be no pictures of young being 

Run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process

There will be no slow motion or still life of 

Roy Wilkens strolling through Watts in a red, black and

Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving

For just the right occasion

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and 

Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant,

andWomen will not care if Dick finally gets down with

Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people

will be in the street looking for a brighter day.

The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock News

and no pictures of hairy armed women Liberationists and 

Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.

The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, 

nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, 

Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.

The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be right back after a message 

About a whitetornado, white lightning, or white people.

You will not have to worry about a germ on your Bedroom, 

a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.

The revolution will not go better with Coke.

The revolution will not fight the germs that cause bad breath.

The revolution WILL put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised,

WILL not be televised,WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.

The revolution will be no re-run brothers;

The revolution will be live.

++++++++++++++

The Subject Was Faggots

and the quote was "ain't nothin' happenin' but faggots and dope"

Faggots and dope, faggots and faggots and faggots who line dot dot dot dot dot

Like that, 34th street and 8th avenue

Giggling and grinning and prancing and shit

Trying their best to see to see the misses and misery

and miscellaneous misfits who attend the faggot ball

faggots who have come to ball

faggots who have come to ball

faggots who were balling because they couldn't get their balls

inside the faggot hall

Balling, balling, ball-less faggots

cutie cootie and snoodie faggots

I mean you just had to dig it to dig it

the crowning attraction being the arrival of Ms Brooklyn

looking like a half-back in a mini-skirt

with swan feathers covering

his err hers a it's pectoral and balls

and he err she or it prepared to enter the faggot ball

but sitting on the corner digging all that I did as I did

long long, black limousines and long flowin' evening gowns

had there been no sign on the door saying "faggot ball"

I might have entered, and god only knows just what would've happened

++++++++++++++

The Train From Washington

During reconstruction time they were folks who have been promised 40 acres and a mule. And they were told a man with their legal papers could be expected on a train from Washington. They were folks who waited for him and there are folks still waiting for him. But you can't depend on the train from Washington, it's 100 years overdue…

You can depend on the stars and planets yeah

They'll always tell you the truth

You can depend on the 15th of April Yeah

Somehow it always gets through

You can depend on the daily paper's calls

They surely bring you the blues

But don't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

I see people, dragging on their own

I see them standing 

Anxious near the tracks

I see people, a long long way from home

Wondering how they'll ever get back

You can depend on the politicians yeah

Always got a point of view

They are contemporary court magicians yeah

Sleight of mouth will dazzle you

You can depend on the repositions from them

Changes that you've got to go through

But don't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

I see people, on their way to work

I see factories bursting at the seams

I see people listening for the whistle

On the train that will carry their dreams

I see people, on their way to work

I see factories bursting at the seams

I see people listening for the whistle

On the train that will carry their dreams

You can depend on the folks and gravity

Cuz both of them will bring you down

You can depend on catching something Yeah

Cause something is going around

You can depend on the first two numbers, but

Damn if the last one come through

But don't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

You can't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

Oh lord you see

You can't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

Don't you over

But don't depend on the train from Washington 

Eh eh eh .. eh you know it might not make it

You can't depend on the train from Washington 

Everybody knows it's it's it's running late

You can't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue

It's long long time

You can't depend on the train from Washington 

It's one hundred years overdue 

++++++++++++++

The Vulture

Standing in the ruins 

Of another Black man's life,

or flying through the valley 

They're separating day and night.

"I am death," cried the Vulture. 

"For the people of the light."

Charon brought his raft 

and came from the sea that sails on souls,

And saw the scavenger departing, 

taking warm hearts to the cold.

He knew the ghetto was the haven 

for the meanest creature ever known.

In a wilderness of heartbreak 

and a desert of despair,

Evil's carrion of justice 

shrieks a cry of naked terror.

He's taking babies from their momas 

and leaving grief beyond compare.

So if you see the Vulture coming, 

he's flying circles in your mind,

Remember there is no escaping 

for he will follow close behind.

Only promised me a battle, 

battle for your soul and mine.

He taking babies from their momas

And he's leaving

Leaving

Leaving

++++++++++++++

Three Miles Down

Here come the mine cars; it'sdamn near dawn.

Another shift of men, some of my friends, comin' on.

Hard to imagine workin' in the mines;

Coal dust in your lungs, on your skin and on your mind.

I've listened to the speeches,

but it occours to me politicians just don't understand;

the thoughts of isolation, ain't no sunshine underground.

It's like workin' in a graveyard three miles down.

Damn near a legend as old as the mines:

things that happen in the pits just don't change with the times.

Work 'till you're exhausted in too little spacwe.

a history of desastrous fears etched on your face.

Somebody signs a paper, ev'ry body thinks it's fine,

but Taft and Hartley ain't done one day in the mines.

You start to stiffen! You heard a crackin' sound!

It's like workin' in a graveyard three miles down.

++++++++++++++

Under The Hammer

Good advice is sure enough hard to come by

Bad advice surrounds you constantly

Good advice you just can’t put no price on

Bad advice is easy cus it’s free

But Through it all somehow we’re different

We think theres nothing to it so we plunge faithfully through it

No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change

We’re under the hammer totally

(talkin’ bout) Under the hammer from the day yous born 

Under the hammer and out there on your own

Good advice don’t make it if theres no one there to take it

You’re just under the hammer totally

Now I meant to tell you something about the drinkin’ 

Yeah But you don’t want to hear a word I say

Naw and You don’t care what I’ve been thinking

Because you control things your own way

And since you’ve got things under control

There ain’t nothing to it ain’t no reason you should do it

No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change

You’re back under the hammer totally

Under the hammer from the day yous born 

Under the hammer and out there on your own

Good advice don’t make it if theres no one there to take it

You’re just under the hammer totally

Good advice is sure enough hard to come by

When bad advice surrounds you constantly

Good advice you just can’t put no price on

And bad advice is easy cus its free

And through it all somehow we’re different

We think theres nothing to it so we plunge faithfully through it

And No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change

We’re under the hammer totally

You’re under the hammer from the day you was born 

Under the hammer and out there on your own

Good advice don’t make it if there’s no one there to take it

You’re just under the hammer totally

Under the hammer from the day you was born 

Ain’t no surprising you now you’re full grown

Under the hammer from the day yous born

Ain’t no surprising you now that you’re full grown

Good advice don’t make it if there’s no one there to take it

You’re just under the hammer totally

Location baby

Under the hammer (x5/Fade)

++++++++++++++

Vild (Deaf, Dumb And Blind)

<I know if you been lookin' now you can see

yes and it's closer than your nose, reality.

I know if you been listenin' you done heard

how the people be cryin' out for a soothing word.

And you can give 'em the word, but now don't you despair, ain't no rule that says they got to care. They can always swear they're deaf dumb and blind.

It works one time. But nothing works forever.

(bridge) Offering one chance to boogie down.

Yes and the smack I got with me is the best in town.

You know everybody wanna get high every now and then.

Offering you a chance to dance and swing, come on, come on, yea.

I need you out here with me while I do my thing.>

++++++++++++++

Waiting For The Axe To Fall

Brother livin' in a cell,

Doin' time in a county jail,

Now you might think his life is hell,

But he told me, first room he ever had to himself

He's just, waitin' for the axe to fall,

Sometimes lord I think that's all,

When you're head is on a block

ain't no way for it to stop

You're just waitin' for the axe to fall.

Brother served in Viet Nam,

and found out no one gives a damn.

Agent Orange fell on his camp (but everybody went deaf)

Brother turned around on Uncle Sam.

Waiting for the axe to fall;

Sometimes, Lord I think that's all.

When your head is in the noose

and won't nobody turn you loose

you're waiting for the axe to fall.

Sister on the welfare line,

Examining the threads of her life,

She never thought she'd be cheatin' and lyin'

Just makin' sure her and her kids survive

It's gettin' tougher just, waitin' for the axe to fall

Sometimes lord I think that's all

When you're head is on the block

and ain't nobody trying to stop

You're just waitin' for the axe to fall

Last night grandma should got shook

'cause someone took her pocketbook

She ain't safe in the neighborhood

'cause too many youngin's up to no good

They're just, waitin' for the axe to fall

Sometimes lord I think that's all

When your head is in the noose

and won't nobody turn you loose

You're waitin' for the axe to fall

++++++++++++++

Washington, D.C.

Symbols of democracy, pinned up against the coast

Outhouse of bureaucracy, surrounded by a moat

Citizens of poverty are barely out of sight

Overlords escape in the evening with people of the night

Morning brings the tourists, peering eyes and rubber necks

To catch a glimpse of the cowboy making the world a nervous wreck

It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

(mmmm-hmmm)

May not have the glitter or the glamour of L.A.

May not have the history or the intrigue of Pompeii

But when it comes to making music, and sure enough making news

People who just don’t make sense and people making do

Seems a ball of contradictions, pulling different ways

Between the folks who come and go, and one’s who’ve got to stay

It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

Seems to me, it’s still in light time people knifed up on 14th street

Makes me feel it’s always the right time for them people showing up and coming clean

Did make the one seem kind of numb

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

(mmmm-hmmm)

Symbols of democracy, pinned up against the coast

Outhouse of bureaucracy, surrounded by a moat

Citizens of poverty are barely out of sight

Overlords escape in the evening with people of the night

Morning come and bring the tourists, craning rubber necks

Catch a glimpse of the cowboy making the world a nervous wreck

It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital

It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.

It’s the nation’s capital

Got you feeling capital

Punishment is capital in Washington D.C.

++++++++++++++

We Almost Lost Detroit

It stands out on a highway 

like a Creature from another time. 

It inspires the babies' questions, 

"What's that?" 

For their mothers as they ride. 

But no one stopped to think about the babies 

or how they would survive, 

and we almost lost Detroit 

this time. 

How would we ever get over 

losing our minds? 

Just thirty miles from Detroit 

stands a giant power station. 

It ticks each night as the city sleeps 

seconds from anniahlation. 

But no one stopped to think about the people 

or how they would survive, 

and we almost lost Detroit 

this time. 

How would we ever get over 

over losing our minds? 

The sherrif of Monroe county had, 

sure enough disasters on his mind, 

and what would karen Silkwood say 

if she was still alive? 

That when it comes to people's safety 

money wins out every time. 

and we almost lost Detroit 

this time, this time. 

How would we ever get over 

over losing our minds? 

You see, we almost lost Detroit 

that time. 

Almost lost Detroit 

that time. 

And how would we ever get over... 

Cause odds are, 

we gonna lose somewhere, one time. 

Odds are 

we gonna lose somewhere sometime. 

And how would we ever get over 

losing our minds? 

And how would we ever get over 

losing our minds? 

Didn't they, didn't they decide? 

Almost lost Detroit 

that time. 

Damn near totally destroyed, 

one time. 

Didn't all of the world know? 

Say didn't you know? 

Didn't all of the world know? 

Say didn't you know? 

We almost lost detroit...

++++++++++++++

We Beg Your Pardon (Pardon Our Analysis)

We'd like to do an idea for you that was related to the H2OGaTe, Watergate blues

In March of 1973, we wrote the Watergate blues, and some 17 months later, then-President Nixon resigned

But the story didn't end there, so we didn't stop there

We have prepared a sequel, and it's called, and it's called "We Beg Your Pardon America"

We beg your pardon because the pardon you gave this time, was not yours to give

They call it due process and some people are overdue

We beg your pardon America

Somebody said "brother-man gonna break a window, gonna steal a hubcap, gonna smoke a joint, brother man gonna go to jail"

The man who tried to steal America is not in jail

"Get caught with a nickel bag brother-man, get caught with a nickel bag", says the lady on your way to get your hair fixed

"You'll do Big Ben, and Big Ben is time"

But the man who tried to fix America will not do time

Said they're going to slap his wrists, gonna retire him with 850 thousand dollars

And America was "shocked"

America leads the world in shocks

Unfortunately, America does not lead the world in deciphering the cause of shock

850 thousand dollars they said and the people protested and so they saw it like "we'll give him 200 thousand dollars" 

Everybody said "OK, that's better"

I'd like to retire with 200 thousand dollars some day

San Quentin not San Clemente

Do not pass go, go directly to jail, do not collect 200 thousand dollars

We beg your pardon America

We beg your pardon because somehow the pardon did not sit correctly

What were - what were the causes for this pardon?

Well now they had "flea bite us"

Rats bite us, no pardon in the ghetto

They had national security, but do you feel secure with the man who tried to steal America back on the streets again?

What are the results of this pardon though? Because remember, when there's causes, there's results and the results is always deeper still

We now have Oatmeal Man

Anytime you find someone in the middle,

Anytime you find someone who is tepid,

Anytime you find someone who is lukewarm,

Anytime you find someone who has been in Congress for 25 years and no one ever heard of him,

You've got Oatmeal Man

Oatmeal Man, straddling uncomfortably, yards and feet of barbed wire

It's hard to live in the middle all the time

Oatmeal Man, the man who said you could fit all of his black friends in the trunk of his car and still have room for the Republican elephant

Oatmeal Man

But there was no crime committed

Oatmeal Man says that "America, in 1975 your president will be a 1913 Ford"

Regressive

Circle up the wagons to defend yourself from nuclear attack

Oatmeal Man, reminiscent of 1964's AuH2O, Gold Water

Thank god he didn't win, but Oatmeal man didn't win

Did you vote for him? I didn't vote for him

But that's the first results, and the second would be the Dred Rockefeller

Doubtlessly being promoted for the job he did at Attica, 43 dead and millions of Americans once again in shock

Doubtlessly being promoted for the job he did on the streets of New York city where the pushers sell the drugs that the government allows in the country, and then they do time

They do life, and death or life, and death behind bars, while William Saxbe says he is going to dismiss the Lorton Furlough program

And brother Richard X of Buffalo New York faces 13 hundred and 65 years - did he say one thousand three hundred and sixty five years? - behind bars for participating in Attica

And Rockefeller faces being the Vice President of this country

And all is calm and quiet along the white sands at San Clemente

We beg your pardon America, we beg your pardon once again

Because we found out that seven out of every ten black men behind jail, and most of the men behind jail are black

Seven out of every ten black men never went to the ninth grade

Didn't have 50 dollars and hadn't had 100 for a month when they went to jail

So the poor and the ignorant go to jail while the rich go to San Clemente

We beg your pardon America because we understand now much more deeply than we understood before

But we don't want to take the pardon back, we want to issue some more

Pardon brother Frank Willis, the Watergate security guard, he was only doing his job

Pardon H. Rap Brown, it was only burglary

Pardon Robert Vesco, it was only embezzlement

Pardon Charles Manson, it was only mass murder

And pardon us while we get sick

Because they pardoned William Calley, 22 dead, and America in shock

And we understand all the more deeply, and we beg your pardon

As unemployment spirals toward 7 percent, and it seems like 70 percent in my neighborhood

As unemployment spirals and as we watch cattlemen on TV shoot cows in the head and kick 'em in the graves while millions are starving in the Sahel and Honduras and maybe even next door

We understand all the more deeply as Boston becomes Birmingham becomes Little Rock becomes Selma becomes Philadelphia, Mississippi, becomes yesterday all over again

We understand and we beg your pardon

We beg your pardon America because we have an understanding of karma

What goes around, comes around

And we beg your pardon for all of the lies and all of the people who've been ruined and who look forward to next year because they can't stand to look at this one

We beg your pardon America because the pardon you gave this time was not yours to give

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

++++++++++++++

When You Are Who You Are

You always go out of your way to impress me

Don't you know by now, ain't no need to impress me

I'm impressed every time you smile

When I feel like you mean to smile

Cuz you can be so very beautiful

When you are who you are

Every morning when you wake up, you put on a new disguise

How long did you think it would take me to realize?

Girl, the things you wore ain't real

You never tell me how you feel

Cuz you could be so very beautiful

When you are who you are

People never seem to want to be themselves

So they end up running in circles, confused

Yes confused just like everyone else

Every morning when you wake up, you put on a new disguise

Just how long did you think it would take me to realize?

That the things you were ain't real

You never tell me just how you feel

When you could be so very beautiful

When you are who you are

Yea when you are who you are

When you are who you are, yea

When you are who you are

++++++++++++++

Where Did The Night Go

Long ago the clock washed midnight away

Bringing the dawn

Oh God, I must be dreaming

Time to get up again

And time to start up again

Pulling on my socks again

Should have been asleep

When I was sitting there drinking beer

And trying to start another letter to you

Don't know how many times I dreamed to write again last night

Should've been asleep when I turned the stack of records over and over

So I wouldn't be up by myself

Where did the night go?

Should go to sleep now

And say fuck a job and money

Because I spend it all on unlined paper and can't get past

"Dear baby, how are you?"

Brush my teeth and shave

Look outside, sky is dark

Think it may rain

Where did

Where did

++++++++++++++

Whitey On The Moon

A rat done bit my sister Nell.

(with Whitey on the moon)

Her face and arms began to swell.

(and Whitey's on the moon)

I can't pay no doctor bills.

(but Whitey's on the moon)

Ten years from now I'll be payin' still

While Whitey's on the moon.

You know, the man jus' upped my rent las' night,

'cause Whitey's on the moon. 

No hot water, no toilets, no lights,

but Whitey's on the moon.

I wonder why he's uppi' me? 

'cause Whitey's on the moon?

Well I wuz already givin' 'im fifty a week

And now Whitey's on the moon.

Taxes takin' my whole damn check, 

The junkies make me a nervous wreck, 

The price of food is goin' up, 

An' as if all that crap wuzn't enough,

A rat done bit my sister Nell. 

(with Whitey on the moon) 

Her face an' arms began to swell

And Whitey's on the moon.

Was all that money I made las' year 

For Whitey on the moon?

How come I ain't got no money here? 

Hmm! Whitey's on the moon.

Y'know I jus' about had my fill 

Of Whitey on the moon.

I think I'll sen' these doctor bills, 

Airmail special

++++++++++++++

Who'll Pay Reparations On My Soul?

Many suggestions 

And documents written.

Many directions

For the end that was given.

They gave us

Pieces of silver and pieces of gold.

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)

From the White House desk (uh huh)

Written on the cue cards

That were never really there. Yes,

But the heat and the summer were there

And the freezing winter's cold. Now

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Call my brother a junkie 'cause he ain't got no job (no job, no job).

Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard).

Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself.

And now that I want to be a man (be a man) who can depend on no one else (oh yeah).

What about the red man

Who met you at the coast?

You never dig sharing;

Always had to have the most.

And what about Mississippi,

The boundary of old? 

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Call my brother a junkie 'cause he ain't got no job

Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard).

Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself.

Wanna be a man that can depend on no one else (oh yeah).

What about the red man,

Who met you at the coast?

You never dig sharing;

Always had to have the most.

And what about Mississippi,

The boundaries of old? 

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)

From the White House desk (uh huh)

Written on the cue cards

That were never really there. Yes,

But the heat and the summer were there

And the freezing winter's cold.

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Who'll pay reparations,

‘Cause I don't dig segregation, but I

can't get integration

I got to take it to the United Nations,

Someone to help me away from this nation.

Tell me,

Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

++++++++++++++

Willing

(Verse 1)

We've all heard so many conflicting words

About life, whether wrong or right

How you gotta be workin' hard

And it ain't no easy job

To survive. Just keep it alive

We've all come to think of ourselves as links

In a chain, so much to gain

We are the ones who tie our fathers to our sons

Don't you know, that's how we grow

(Chorus)

What my life really means is that the songs that I sing

Are just pieces of a dream that I've been building

And we can make a stand and hey, I'm reachin' out my hand

'Cause I know damn well we can if we are willing

But we gotta be....

Got to be willing (X3)

(Verse 2)

Well we've all been so close to getting in

It's always nice, with no sacrifice

But times have changed and it's no longer strange

To make a few corrections in our direction

'Cause being strong is more than just holdin' on

To advance, you gotta take a chance

Waitin' on line, it ain't nothin' but marking time

Won't get nowhere, just standing there

Chorus

Verse 1

What my life really means is that the songs that I sing

Are just pieces of a dream that I've been building

And we can make a stand and hey, I'm reachin' for your hand

'Cause I know damn well we can if we are willing

But we gotta be....

Got to be willing (X3)

(Repeat last chorus)

++++++++++++++

Winter In America

From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims

And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains

Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds

Looking for the rain

Looking for the rain

Just like the cities staggered on the coastline

Living in a nation that just can't stand much more

Like the forest buried beneath the highway

Never had a chance to grow

Never had a chance to grow

And now it's winter

Winter in America

Yes and all of the healers have been killed

Or sent away, yeah

But the people know, the people know

It's winter

Winter in America

And ain't nobody fighting 

'Cause nobody knows what to save

Save your soul, Lord knows

From Winter in America

The Constitution

A noble piece of paper

With free society

Struggled but it died in vain

And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner

Hoping for some rain

Looks like it's hoping

Hoping for some rain

And I see the robins

Perched in barren treetops

Watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor

But just like the peace sign that vanished in our dreams

Never had a chance to grow

Never had a chance to grow

And now it's winter

It's winter in America

And all of the healers have been killed

Or been betrayed

Yeah, but the people know, people know

It's winter, Lord knows

It's winter in America

And ain't nobody fighting

Cause nobody knows what to save

Save your souls

From Winter in America

And now it's winter

Winter in America

And all of the healers done been killed or sent away

Yeah, and the people know, people know

It's winter

Winter in America

And ain't nobody fighting

Cause nobody knows what to save

And ain't nobody fighting

Cause nobody knows, nobody knows

And ain't nobody fighting

Cause nobody knows what to save

++++++++++++++

Work For Peace

Back when Eisenhower was the President,

Golf courses was where most of his time was spent.

So I never really listened to what the President said,

Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead.

But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed,

Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex.

Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe,

Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace.

Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex,

But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex.

The Military and the Monetary,

The Military and the Monetary,

The Military and the Monetary.

The Military and the Monetary,

get together whenever they think its necessary,

They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries,

they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary.

We're marching behind a commander in chief,

who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf.

but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef,

so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief.

The Military and the Monetary,

were shielded by January and went storming into February,

Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries,

two weeks ago I hadn't heard of the son of a bitch,

now all of a sudden he's legendary.

They took the honour from the honourary,

they took the dignity from the dignitaries,

they took the secrets from the secretary,

but they left the bitch in obituary.

The Military and the Monetary,

from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,

had us all scrambling for our dictionaries,

cause we couldn't understand the fuckin vocabulary.

Yeah, there was some smart bombs,

but there was some dumb ones as well,

scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel.

The Military and the Monetary,

they get together whenever they think its necessary,

War in the desert sometimes sure is scary,

but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries.

Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary,

keeping the citizens secondary,

scaring old folks into coronaries.

The Military and the Monetary,

from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary,

kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary.

We've got to work for Peace,

Peace ain't coming this way.

If we only work for Peace,

If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do,

we'd have Peace.

The only thing wrong with Peace,

is that you can't make no money from it.

The Military and the Monetary,

they get together whenever they think its necessary,

they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,

they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

Got to work for Peace,

Peace ain't coming this way.

We should not allow ourselves to be mislead,

by talk of entering a time of Peace,

Peace is not the absence of war,

it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the preparation for war.

Peace is not the absence of war,

it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other,

closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves

because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves.

The Military and the Monetary,

The Military and the Monetary,

The Military and the Monetary.

Get together whenever they think its necessary,

they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,

they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery.

The Military and the Monetary,

The Military and the Monetary,

We hounded the Ayatollah religiously,

Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi's son hideously.

We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians,

and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians.

Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians,

We better warn the Amish,

they may bomb the Pennsylvanians.

The Military and the Monetary,

get together whenever they think its necessary,

they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries,

they are turning the planet, into a cemetery.

I don't want to sound like no late night commercial,

but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world

in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help.

When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day,

I know a lot of folks feel as though that,

thats not really any kind of contribution to make,

but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays.

So this is a song about tommorrow and about how tommorrow can be better. if we all,

"Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one".

Nobody can do everything,

but everybody can do something,

everyone must play a part,

everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace.

Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace

If you believe the things you say, go to work.

If you believe in Peace, time to go to work.

Cant be wavin your head no more, go to work.

++++++++++++++

Your Daddy Loves You

Now sweet lil ol' brown eyed girl, hey, now

Now that you're sleepin'

I've got a confession to make 

Of secrets that I've been keepin'

Me and your mama had some problems,

A whole lotta things on our minds

But lately, girl, we've been thinkin' that we were wastin' time

Nearly all the time, and

Your daddy loves you

Your daddy loves his girl

Your daddy loves you

Your daddy loves his girl, hey now

Now sweet lil ol' chocolate girl

Now that you're sleepin' I feel braver

I've got a confession to make

I'll sneak it in while you're dreamin'

Me and your mama had some troubles

There's been a whole lotta things on our minds

But lately when we look at you, we know that we've been wastin' time

Damn near all the time, and

Your daddy loves you

Your daddy loves his girl, hey, now

Said your daddy loves you

Said your daddy loves his girl, hey, now

Your daddy loves you, and your mama, too

Your daddy loves his girl

Loves his girl

Loves his girl

++++++++++++++

Your Soul And Mine

Standing in the ruins of another black man's life

Or flying through the valley separating day and night

"I am death!" cried the vulture for the people of the light

Karon brought his raft from the sea that sails on souls

And saw the scavenger departing, taking warm hearts to the cold

He knew the ghetto was a haven for the meanest preacher ever known

In the wilderness of heartbreak and a desert of despair

Evil's clarion of justice shrieks a cry of naked terror

Taking babies from their mamas, leaving grief beyond compare

So if you see the vulture coming, flying circles in your mind

Remember there is no escaping for he will follow close behind

Only promise me a battle, battle for your soul and mine

And mine