Now and Then (6 page)

The world spins around us

We search for a balance

The secrets lie in darkness and light

Our lives are like treasures

Unveiled as perfection

A gift to us from spirits on high

Equator. Divider. Equate us. Combine us.

To seek the answers beyond our sight … 

So you say you never heard of the ‘Inner City Blues'

And what's more you don't understand it all

What the ghetto folks mean about ‘living behind walls'?

Then put on your best suit, white shirt and tie

And come on downtown to stand in line

For a job washing dishes but you may not qualify.

Walking a great big hole in a new pair of shoes

And you've had your first look at the ‘Inner City Blues'. 

Go looking for a place to live but all the while

Beware of what's lurking behind the devil's smile.

Are we stupid or just naive that we continue to believe

Money can buy us anything

Including a slice of ‘the American Dream'?

Answer ads in the paper about ‘houses for sale'

And get treated like Charles Manson out on bail

When you start to get frustrated by the tactics they use

You can recognize that, it's the ‘Inner City Blues'.

It makes you wanna holler and throw up both your hands. 

And haven't you ever wondered about

Why some brothers and sisters were down and out?

Receiving their sympathy from a bottle of wine

Or worse yet ‘old homicide'

Living their lives in a glassine bag

While praising the mysteries of terminal scag?

Still other brothers are parading in drag?

Another set of victims too whipped to choose

You can recognize that its the ‘Inner City Blues'

It makes you wanna holler and throw up both your hands! 

To see sweet sisters, the blossoms of our African tree

Profiling on the corners talking about ‘ten and three'

Because in spite of all the money we made and taxes we paid

The woman was looking at hungry babes

And some decisions had to be made

Could you tell her it's better to go to your grave

As a slave to the minimum wage.

Well I hardly think so but

It makes you wanna holler sometimes and throw up both your hands. 

And what happens when people decide

That they have nothing to lose?

Did you ever hear about Mark Essex

And the things that made him choose

To fight the ‘Inner City Blues'?

Yeah! Essex took to the rooftops guerrilla-style

And watched as all the crackers went wild.

Brought in 600 troops, I hear

Brand new to see them crushed by fear

Essex fought back with a thousand rounds

And New Orleans was a changing town

And rat-a-tat, tat-tat-tat, was the only sound.

Bring on the stoner rifles to knock down walls!

Bring on the god damn elephant guns!

Bring on the helicopters to block out the sun!

Made the devil wanna holler

Because eight were dead and a dozen was down

And cries for freedom were the only sounds

New York, Chicago, 'Frisco, L.A.

Justice was served and the unjust were afraid

Because after all the years and all the fears

Brothers were alive to courage found

And spreading those god damn blues around!

Yeah! makes you wanna holler black people

And hold up both your hands and say ‘Liberation'

This poem was recorded on ‘Reflections' (1981, Arista).

First performed as a part of a medley between the songs

‘Essex' by Bilal Sunni-Ali (recorded on the 1975 Arista LP

South Africa to South Carolina)
and ‘Inner City Blues' by

Marvin Gaye (recorded on the 1971, Motown LP
What's Going On. 

Take Karintha

Take Karintha

(As) perfect as dusk when the sun goes down

Take Karintha

(As) perfect as twilight as a child

     Able to drive both young and old wild

(As) perfect as dusk when the sun goes down

And remember, remember every sound

'Cause often as our flowers bloom

Men will try and cut them down

Take Karintha

    She's as sweet as spring rain

    And run from the cane

    Run from the cane 

Pray for Becky

Pray for Becky

    White woman gave

Birth to two Black sons

Pray for Becky

    Her one room shack fell to the ground

The two boys killed a man

     And had to leave town

     White woman gave

        Birth to two Black sons

And remember, remember the days

She looked to us for help

And we all turned away

Pray for Becky

Buried down near the trains

         Deep in the cane

         Deep in the cane 

 It stands out on the highway

Like a creature from another time

It inspires the baby's question (‘Mama, what's that?')

They ask their mothers as they ride.

But no one stops to think about the babies

Or how they would survive

And we almost lost Detroit this time

How would we ever get over losing our minds? 

 Just 30 miles from Detroit

Stands a giant power station

That ticks each night as the city sleeps

Just seconds from annihilation

But no one stops to think about the people

On how they would survive

And we almost lost Detroit this time

How would we ever get over losing our minds? 

 The Sheriff of Monroe County

Had (sho' 'nuff) disasters on his mind

And what would Karen Silkwood say to you

If she was still alive?

That when it comes to people's safety

Money wins out every time

And we almost lost Detroit this time

How would we ever get over losing our minds?

I'm gonna take myself a piece of sunshine

and paint it all over my sky.

Be no rain. Be no rain.

I'm gonna take the song from every bird

and make them sing it just for me.

Be no rain.

And I think I'll call it morning from now on.

Why should I survive on sadness

convince myself I've got to be alone?

Why should I subscribe to this world's

    madness

knowing that I've got to live on? 

I think I'll call it morning from now on.

I'm gonna take myself a piece of sunshine

and paint it all over my sky.

Be no rain. Be no rain.

I'm gonna take the song from every bird

and make them sing it just for me.

Why should I hang my head?

Why should I let tears fall from my eyes

when I've seen everything that there is to see

and I know that there ain't no sense in crying!

        I know that there ain't no sense in crying!

I think I'll call it morning from now on. 

On a bright spring morning

Not a cloud in the sky;

Got me out here walkin', wavin' to the ladies

As they stroll by.

And I ain't forgot for a moment

All the things I need to do,

But when I see that old sun shinin'

It makes me think that I can make it too.

All I really want to say

Is that problems come and go

But the sunshine seems to stay.

Just look around, I think we've found

A lovely day. 

Flowers woke up bloomin',

Put on a color show just for me.

Shadows dark and gloomy

I tell them all to stay the hell away from me.

Because I don't feel like believin'

Everything I do got to turn out wrong

When vibrations I'm receivin'

Say hold on brother! Just you be strong.

All I really want to say

Is that problems come and go

But the sunshine remains. 

Just look around, I think we've found

A lovely day. 

Sometimes it rains and I feel kind of strange.

Because it seems that my problems begin

Without the sunshine on which I depend. 

We're sliding through completely new

beginnings.

We're searching out our every doubt

and winning.

We want to be free

and yet we have no idea

why we are struggling here

faced with our every fear

just to survive. 

We've heard the sound and come around

to listening.

We've touched the vibes time after time

insisting that we know what life means;

still we can't break away

from dues we've got to pay

we hope will somehow say

that we're alive. 

You explained it to me John I must admit,

but just for the record you was talkin' shit!

Long raps about No Knock being legislated

for
the people you've always hated

in this hell-hole that you/we all call ‘home'.

‘No Knock!' The Man will say, ‘to keep that man

    from beatin' his wife!'

‘No Knock!' The Man will say, ‘to keep people

    from hurtin' themselves!'

No-Knockin', head rockin', enter shockin',

   shootin', cussin',

killin', cryin', lyin' and bein' white!

No Knocked on my brother, Fred Hampton,

bullet holes all over the place!

No knocked on my brother, Michael Harris

and jammed a shotgun against his skull!

For my protection?

Who's gonna protect me from you?

The likes of you? The nerve of you!

To talk that shit face-to-face

your tomato face dead pan

your dead pan deadening another freedom plan!

No Knockin', head rockin', enter shockin',

   shootin', cussin',

killin', cryin', lyin' and bein' white!

But if you're wise, No Knocker,

you'll tell your No-Knockin' lackies

to No Knock on my brother's heads

and No Knock on my sister's heads

and double lock your door

because soon someone may be No Knocking …

   for you!

‘The economy's in an uproar,

the whole damn country's in the red,

taxi fares is goin' up … What?

You say Billy Green is dead?'

‘The government can't decide on busin'

Or at least that's what they said.

Yeah, I heard when you tol' me,

You said Billy Green is dead.'

‘But let me tell you 'bout these hotpants

that this big-legged sista wore

when I partied with the frat boys.

You say Billy took an overdose?'

‘Well now, junkies will be junkies,

But did you see Gunsmoke las' night?

Man they had themselves a shootout

an' folks wuz dyin' left and right!

At the end when Matt was cornered

I had damn near give up hope …

Why you keep on interruptin' me?

You say my son is takin' dope?

Call a lawyer! Call a doctor!

What you mean I shouldn't scream?

My only son is on narcotics,

should I stand here like I'm pleased?'

Is that familiar anybody?

Check out what's inside your head,

because it never seems to matter

when it's Billy Green who's dead.