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Luther Jackson Green |
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Lived in the apartment above me |
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We smoked cigarettes on the stairs |
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Tell me stories that white boys never hear |
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Like when he found his shine |
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And moved North in 1949 |
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On his 10th birthday daddy took him to town |
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To see the Jackie Robinson play. |
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It was a picture perfect day |
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In the sunshine and the hate |
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He didn't understand why all those |
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People would say such awful things. |
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His daddy said pay no attention to them |
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Turnaround and watch the man play |
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The one black man in the baseball field |
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Was better in every way |
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My daddy said if you wanna win in this world |
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You gotta beat em at the their own game. |
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Luther Jackson Green |
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Went to law school in 1963 |
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In the summer between he worked in Alabama |
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With Martin Luther King |
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He met a girl on a summer night |
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He fell hard when they saw each other's eyes |
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There were people in town that really didn't |
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Like that he was black and she was white |
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They found her in the ditch |
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A little outside of town |
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Some stupid man was laughin about it |
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So Luther beat him down |
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He looked him in the eye, he spit in his face and |
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Turned and walked away. |
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He knew he was better than all the hate! |
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He knew he was bigger than all the pain! |
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He knew that there's a time to fight and a time to walk away! |
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He knew until he changed the rules |
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Ohh yeah gotta beat em at their own game. |
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He never did lose |
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That feeling inside. |
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You could hear it in his voice |
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You could see it in his eyes. |
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Luther moved out West to live |
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When his wife passed away |
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He lives right next door to his son |
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So he can watch his grandchild play. |
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Luther Jackson Green |
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Watched election night with me. |
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We put a black man in the White House |
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A thing he never thought he'd see. |
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Even though he never cried |
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I could see tears in his eyes |
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He had dreamed about this moment |
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Every single day of his life. |
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Yeah Luther died that night in his sleep |
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But he lived long enough to see, |
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America become the kind of place |
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He always wanted it to be. |
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He said you could never forget the day |
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That we beat em at their own game! |
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Yeah just like Jackie Robinson. (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta be bigger than all the hate! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta be better than all the pain! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta find a better way! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta beat em at their own game! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta beat em at their own game! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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Gotta beat em at their own game! (Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
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(Just like Jackie Robinson! ) |
