I'm a prisoner Won't you set me free I'm a prisoner Won't you set me free You could have my body But you can't have me I know I'm a criminal Don't you tell on me I know I'm a criminal Don't you tell on me You can cross your fingers But you can't cross me Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh Oooh I'm a prisoner Wont you set me free I'm a prisoner Don't you tell on me You can have my money Have me on my knees You can have my body But you can't have me No you can't have me

The prisoner watches through the bars As the sun comes up every day And he's in love with the prison guard The one who locks him in his cage But he doesn't want to make it out Because it won't be the same No matter who he tries to tell They'll never love him the same way Does it matter what he did, if he says he's sorry How long is too long to spend in this cage rotting Does it matter what he did, if he says he's sorry How long is too long The prisoner watches through the bars As the sun comes up every day He counts the nights as he sits and waits But never plans a grand escape No matter what you think you've heard He's getting what he deserves Does it matter what he did, if he says he's sorry How long is too long to spend in this cage rotting Does it matter what he did, if he says he's sorry How long is too long

I grew where I was planted But I never felt at home My head was filled with questions And my feet, they long to roam My arms reached out like branches But my heart just couldn't stay I left the moment that I could A prisoner of the highway I passed by farms and trailers As I drove through little towns I found trouble in the city I never set my suitcase down And in those empty alleys Where retaining walls decay I just kept a-moving As a prisoner of the highway Ooh, and I don't know where I'm headed Ooh, and I don't know where it ends Well, the wind, it felt like freedom As it whipped through my hair I was everywhere and everyone I was nobody and nowhere Oh, the map was written on my hand And in my DNA I believe that I was meant to be A prisoner of the highway Had chains around my ankles Handcuffs on my wrists I was haunted by decisions And simple things I missed Dear God, why do I wander? Was I born this way? And I prayed He would release me As a prisoner of the highway Ooh, and I don't know where I'm headed Ooh, and I don't know where it ends I sacrificed my family Sacrificed true love I sacrificed my unborn child To the heavens up above Oh, there was not a limit To those I would betray Oh, I was deep down in it As a prisoner of the highway I just kept a-moving As a prisoner of the highway (Highway, ooh)

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

Thank you for the song, for your accomodation capital The accomodation that we come throughout a song it's called, Washington D.C. And just as you think, you heard it all that come with a little bit force When you hear this, soon i'll keep improve, say 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 their evening with brothers 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. (Mmmh) 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 It's 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 I'm talking about the 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 Again, it's the nation's capital It's the nation's capital I'm talking about the capital, it's Washington D.C. (Mmh) 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 here in the brothers 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 I'm talking about the capital, it's Washington D.C. It's the nation's capital I'm talking about the capital, feel anything the capital It's Washington D.C. It's the biggest capital, sure and I'm sing it's the capital The punishment is capital in Washington D.C. Say, somebody say, somebody say Where you going?, what you do? It's the nation's capital, sure you don't feel the capital? I'm talking about the capital, a-aha-aha Say, yeah, go about but, I don't care but Washington D.C. Thank very much, thank you, thank you very much appreciated

Because I always feel like running Not away because there's no such place Because if there was, I would've 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 never 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