Now and Then (3 page)

Space was the place

where at least we thought our dreams were safe;

where yesterdays of youth and innocence and grace

floated somewhere high above the planet's face.

Ah, but the distance has been erased

'cause Uncle Sam is on the case.

E.T. is joining the Arms Race!

They're up there building some kinda military base.

Rocketing through the atmosphere,

sliding into second gear

while miles below the people cheer

the New Invaders on the New Frontier.

… but there are also those who do not cheer.

The gravity of their lives appears

and in their eyes flash frozen fears

while rocket sounds are all they hear.

Space Shuttle/raising hell down on the ground!

Space Shuttle/turning the seasons upside down.

Space Shuttle/and all the hungry people know

all change sho' 'nuff ain't progress when you're poor.

No matter what man goes looking for

he always seems to find a war.

As soon as dreams of peace are felt

the war is raging somewhere else.

We must have somehow been disarmed

or lost our heads over false alarms;

underwhelmed and over charmed,

watching the storm clouds from afar.

Exploration, proliferation,

spending more while pockets fill.

Assessments of our investments

drive us on to overkill.

Practice looks of great surprise

as the Captain Kirk of ‘Free Enterprise'.

Wall Street says ‘Let's play Defense!'

and ‘Dollar bills make damn good sense!'

Hail to the new Protectionism!

Let's bring on the new age of Humanism.

We can put the cap on Capitalism!

We've got a giant, mechanical Ray-gunism!

Space Shuttle/raising hell down on the ground!

Space Shuttle/turning the seasons upside down.

Space Shuttle/and all the hungry people know

all change sho' 'nuff ain't progress when you're poor.

No matter what man goes looking for

he always seems to find a war.

As soon as dreams of peace are felt

the war is raging somewhere else.

Space was the rage

so Hollyweird took center stage

and together we wondered whether

we would ever get over the weather.

Things started happening that seemed so strange,

like the whole jet stream is being rearranged:

There was a clear day in L.A.,

a foot of snow in Tampa Bay.

The space shuttle no sooner goes up

than we watch while the weather man goes nuts.

Tornados and hurricanes,

dead rivers and Acid Rain,

volcanoes ages dead

suddenly just get up and lose their heads.

Typhoons, monsoons,

and tidal waves come down from an angry moon.

It's earthquaking all the Goddamn time

and the only common denominator we can find …

Space Shuttle/raising hell down on the ground!

Space Shuttle/turning the seasons upside down.

Space Shuttle/and all the hungry people know

all change sho' 'nuff ain't progress when you're poor.

No matter what man goes looking for

he always seems to find a war.

As soon as dreams of peace are felt

the war is raging somewhere else.

Old folks must have had it right

from the time they saw the first satellite

they said ‘Some advancements may be good,

but not in God's neighborhood.'

Laser beams and moonbeams,

we got peace dreams killed by war schemes,

there's a hole shot through the ozone layer

that has put the fear back into atmos-fear.

ICBM, MX, Cruise Missiles,

obsolete today.

Let's spend another billion on The Sergeant York

and then throw that ‘sumbitch' away.

War is big business without a doubt

so there ain't much chance of peace breaking out.

Underwater, overhead, God we'll all be nervous wrecks

'cause did you hear where they're going next?

Space Shuttle/raising hell down on the ground!

Space Shuttle/turning the seasons upside down.

Space shuttle/and all the hungry people know

all change sho' 'nuff ain't progress when you're poor.

No matter what man goes looking for

he always seems to find a war.

As soon as dreams of peace are felt

the war is raging somewhere else.

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 bill.

    (but Whitey's on the moon)

Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.

    (while Whitey's on the moon)

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 uppin' me?

    ('cause Whitey's on the moon?)

I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.

    (with Whitey on the moon)

Taxes takin' my whole damn check,

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' arm began to swell.

    (but Whitey's on the moon)

Was all that money I made las' year

    (for Whitey on the moon?)

How come there ain't no money here?

(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)

Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill

    (of Whitey on the moon.)

I think I'll sen' these doctor bills

    (to Whitey on the moon.)

I was wondering about our yesterdays

and started digging through the rubble

and to tell the truth somebody went

to a hell of a lot of trouble

to make sure that when we looked things up

we wouldn't fare too well

and that we would come up with totally unreliable

pictures of ourselves.

But I've compiled what few facts I could,

I mean, such as they are

to see if I could shed a little bit of light

and this is what I got so far:

First, white folks discovered Africa

and claimed it fair and square.

Cecil Rhodes couldn't have been robbing nobody

'cause he said there was nobody there.

White folks brought all of 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 to prove all of 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 the 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 way they knew we were backwards,

or at least this is how we were taught,

is that ‘Unlike the very civilized people of Europe'

these Black groups actually fought!

And
yes
, they were 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,

inter-tribal communication by drum.

But no papers and pencils and other utensils

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

So 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 out in the bushes if the natives got restless

You could call that ‘guerilla attack!'

And never have to describe that somebody finally got wise

and decided they wanted their things back.

But still we are victims of word games,

semantics is always a bitch:

Places once called underdeveloped and ‘backwards'

are now called ‘mineral rich'.

And still it seems the game goes on

with unity always just out of reach

because Libya and Egypt used to be in Africa,

but they've been moved to the ‘Middle East'.

There are examples galore I assure you,

but if interpreting was 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'.