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I was sprinting through the woods down in Alabama |
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Only me and the crickets' violins, my footsteps slammin' violent, like hammers |
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I'd been runnin' since like four am |
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sweat pouring from my pores and blood pouring from the sores on my feet, |
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ignoring it, I would escape the prison I was born in and be free |
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even if it's through death from pu************ng my body, we |
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have to keep running |
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what's that? the dog's comin'? |
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C'mon, legs, bring me to my freedom before these dogs snuff it |
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before these wicked man catch up |
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and strip my life from me |
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before the chains are once again |
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rubbing blisters into my skin |
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God, they're closing in |
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****** my black, charcoaled skin |
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the curse that wraps my bones |
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why was I born with this? |
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Was it my sins? |
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Am I paying for a life I lived |
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before this one, and in it, I mimicked my captors wickedness? |
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Well, could you delay that punishment? |
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And forgive what I have done in lives before and after this one? |
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And if it does not reflect some type of karma |
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I can imagine God is wicked |
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as those who chase me, and thus my villain |
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And if I'm caught before the sun is up |
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know my freedom will be won |
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and it will echo through millennia |
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Even if I die, |
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you heard it right, |
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you'll know that I'm a ******' man |
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and not your ****** |
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We chased him through the woods down in Alabama |
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My dogs barked as they ran toward the smell of the man |
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He'd ran since about four am |
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blacker than petroleum |
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I said he'd blend into the night, into the shadows it afforded him |
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Where you runnin' to my ******? |
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I gave you whips and chains so you'd stay my ****** |
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And if you escape, you'll remain a ****** |
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Even if you're free |
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Society will cage you, ****** |
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The dogs kept barkin', we're closer |
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I can hear your feet stompin' |
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in the dark like the animal you are |
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you can't run from that |
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you can't change your stripes |
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you don't know where your home is and your last name's mine |
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and any job that you get will be the bile left behind |
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by us whites and we'll pay you in pennies to be patronizing |
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Yeah, run into that future |
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knowing your skin will make your shackles when the world views you as human |
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and you'll be tethered to the bottom until you find a dye to use |
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that can turn your skin a ******' lighter hue |
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And now I find myself alone |
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The dogs, chasing a ghost |
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I'll come back and find you when the sun's exposed |
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But if you made it to the river |
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just know you'll always be a mother******'- |
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I've dropped some eves from in this brush |
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I've listened in, now tell me, what have I become |
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Am I your nigger or the angel, Gabriel |
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I could have run |
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But instead I'll choke the life out from your lungs |
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And yes, your dogs will hear it |
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And your men will come and find me |
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but you'll be dead below my feet as I'm hanging from this pine |
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Like our fates are intertwined |
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like the day is to the night or the moon is to the ocean's tide |
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah |
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I'm goin' home |