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, yeah... On my way to work in the morning When I don't give a damn Can't nobody, can't nobody, can't nobody Can't nobody see just who in hell I am? Hemmed in by a suit Yes, all choked up in a tie Ain't no wonder sometimes 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 Woah, 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, yeah... I'm the prisoner

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" (Time, time, time, time, time) Because running makes me look like everyone else Though I hope there will ever because 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 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 (Because I always feel like running) 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 (Because I always feel like running)

This is called The Vulture And a lot of people think it's a poem And after they hear me sing it they're sure it's a poem But, uh We're gonna take a shot at it anyway Remember this is a feel like thing Do whatever you feel like If you feel like clapping your hands You can do that Standing in the ruins Oh, of another black man's life Or flying through the valley There, separating day and night "I am death", cried the vulture "Yes, for the people of the light" Charon brought his raft Then came from a sea that sails on souls I saw the scavenger departing Oh, taking warm hearts to the cold He knew the ghetto was a haven For the meanest creature ever known In a wilderness of heartbreak Yes and a desert of despair Evil's clarion of justice Oh, shrieks a cry of naked terror He's taking babies from their mamas And leaving grief beyond compare You see the vulture coming And he's flying circles in your mind There'll be no escaping For he will follow close behind Only promised me a battle Yeah, a battle for your soul and mine Your soul and mine He's taking babies from their mamas And he's leaving Leaving Leaving Leaving Leaving Thank you, that's called The Vulture

And from the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims And to the buffalos who one ruled the plain Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds Looking for the rain Looking for the rain Just like the cities staggered on the coastline Livin' in a nation that just can't take 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 Seem like winter in America The time when all of the healers done been killed Or they been betrayed But the people know All of the them know it's winter Seem like winter in America And ain't nobody fighting, Because nobody knows what to save Save your soul Lord know it's winter in America The Constitution, a noble piece of paper would free society, It struggled but then died in vain And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner Hoping for rain It's been hoping for some rain And I see the robins perched in barren treetops They're watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor And may peace sign that vanished in our dreams Never had a chance to grow Never had a chance to grow And somebody won't know till it's winter It's cold as like winter in America This the time when all of the healers done been killed Or they been betrayed People know, all the people know it's winter Yeah, it feel like winter in America The truth is there ain't nobody fighting Because nobody know what to save Winter in America It's winter, It's cold as like winter in America This the time when all of the healers done been killed Or they been betrayed People know, some know It's winter Yeah, it seem like winter in America The truth is there ain't nobody fighting, Because nobody know what to save Nobody fighting, nobody fighting Nobody knows, nobody knows What to do, what to do The truth is there ain't nobody fighting, Because nobody knows what to save

Look away while you still can Close your eyes, say goodbye to this strange land You never thought you had it good And high school was just football games and processed food You've been picking through the weeds too long Surrounded by the echoes of a dream gone wrong And running through the fields that led To nothing but a song you're singing in your head Drive across the desert in a blue Ford Escape Hopefully this car will live up to its name You got 90 miles out of town When you started thinking you should turn the car around And go back home to your reckless dad Maybe this time he'll convince you that it's not so bad But then you snapped back down from outer space And stared into the rear view mirror at your face Your swollen eyes and beaded sweat Tattoos on your forehead and around your neck Drive across the desert in a blue Ford Escape Hopefully this car will live up to its name Drive across the desert in a blue Ford Escape Hopefully this car will live up to its name Maggie, are you listening in your blue Ford Escape? Hopefully your car will live up to its name

A long, long time ago in a little Texas town Eve made her way to the field below To have a look around, girls, to have a look around Down, down Evedid go, further in the fields When she heard a voice singing sweet and low Dig in with your heels, girl, dig in with your heels Eyes wide, heart inside like a gavel comin' down All around her brain was the sweet refrain Keep following the sound, girl, keep following the sound They'll try to take you for a ride They'll muddy all the good you've got inside They'll twist your heart until it's black and blue But don't let 'em keep you down, girl Don't let 'em keep you down Miles, miles Eve did go, when at last she came upon The source of the sound in the watery ground And the night was coming on, girls, the night was coming on Through the wilderness and the cypress trees And the night birds all around She made her way to the river's edge And her mother there she found, girls, her mother there she found Eyes wide, heart inside like a gavel comin' down When her mother said, come and rest your head I'll tell you what I've found, girl, I'll tell you what I've found They'll try to take you for a ride They'll muddy all the good you've got inside They'll twist your heart until it's black and blue But don't let 'em keep you down, girl Don't let 'em keep you down