Open you eyes
say what you say and I’ll listen
For a while
Where is your smile
The one that reminds me to whisper
Like a child

How can we stay strong
How hope is gone

Give you a reason
You can believe in
Help you to be the best you can
Give you a feeling
The love that I’m needing
to make you a better man

Will it be there the taste that reminds me
I missed you
All this time
You know I still care
I’m walking around in a circle like I’m blind

Oh it’s bean so long, but I’m holding on

Give you a reason
You can believe in
Help you to be the best you can
Give you a feeling
The love that I’m needing
to make you a better man

Hello, hello it’s me again
You’re still not home
Cuz if you were, it’s after 4 am
I wouldn’t be here alone, see
God, give me the strength and the courage I need
What my heart lives for, have to let it be

But it’s okay, I understand
(You’ve got to leave)
I don’t cry no more baby, what for?
(You don’t shed a tear for me)
See, I was blind but now I see
There’s gotta be a better man for me
There’s gotta be a better man for me

Hello, oh no not this again, I’ll be counting down
Your bags are packed and they’re at the door
I gotta get used to not having you around
God, give me the strength and the courage I need
To move forward with my life, have to let him be

But it’s okay, I understand
(You’ve got to leave)
I don’t cry no more baby, what for?
(You don’t shed a tear for me)
See, I was blind but now I see
There’s gotta be a better man for me
There’s gotta be a better man for me

There’s gotta be a better man
Ooh, God, hear me now
Cuz God, give me the strength and the courage I need
Cuz I know now, baby
There’s gotta be a better man for me

You’ve got to leave
You don’t shed a tear for me
See I was blind, but now I see
There’s gotta be a better man for me
There’s gotta be a better man for me

See I’m tired of your lying, and I’m tired of tryin’
(You’ve got to leave)
I don’t cry no more baby, what for?
(You don’t shed a tear for me)
See, I was blind, but now I see
There’s gotta be a better man for me
Somewhere out there, baby
There’s gotta be a better man for me
Gotta be a better man, oh yeah

Days, how many days
Do I have until
I am set free to a better place
A place of love
A place of no tomorrow’s
Release me from this need i have of me
Hours, how many hours
Do I have until
I am set free to a better place
A place of no misery
Release me from this need I have of me
When will you believe me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
When will you receive me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
I guess I have something to look forward to
I guess I have something to look forward to
When will you believe me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
When will you receive me
When I say these things to you
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all
No one likes a liar baby
No one at all

I’d like to tell you a story
come sit with me here by the sea
I cant promise it wont be a long one
but I need you here to listen to me
I cant make sense of all that I’m feeling
& I dont expect you to understand
but when you’re feeling like nothing else matters…
You’re asking me all the wrong questions
its true that you dont understand
But I can’t help the way that I’m thinking
and I know that you’re mad but dont cry if you can
Don’t think that I’m being an outcast
or just another teenage whore
Cos if I knew of some other way out there
I wouldn’t be with you now up here up high up on
Some people say there is but one way out
I disagree can’t you hear me shout
I’m sick of the looks and I’m sick of the stares
I’m sick of the ones that glance into the air
I’m sick of those tight-fisted wannabe fucks
How can you love when you’re sick of yourself?
I’m sick of the looks that I’m getting
Cos I’m the only one with enough balls to be brave
I’m sicker than sick of just feeling this way
thinking that there must be something that’s better that’s out there
What is out there???
Nothing is out there…
–
I’d like to sit by the ocean,
curl up with a needle or 2
I think that you know what I’m getting at…

I’d like to tell you a story
come sit with me here by the sea
I cant promise it wont be a long one
but I need you here to listen to me
I cant make sense of all that I’m feeling
& I dont expect you to understand
but when you’re feeling like nothing else matters…
You’re asking me all the wrong questions
its true that you dont understand
But I can’t help the way that I’m thinking
and I know that you’re mad but dont cry if you can
Don’t think that I’m being an outcast
or just another teenage whore
Cos if I knew of some other way out there
I wouldn’t be with you now up here up high up on
Some people say there is but one way out
I disagree can’t you hear me shout
I’m sick of the looks and I’m sick of the stares
I’m sick of the ones that glance into the air
I’m sick of those tight-fisted wannabe fucks
How can you love when you’re sick of yourself?
I’m sick of the looks that I’m getting
Cos I’m the only one with enough balls to be brave
I’m sicker than sick of just feeling this way
thinking that there must be something that’s better that’s out there
What is out there???
Nothing is out there…
–
I’d like to sit by the ocean,
curl up with a needle or 2
I think that you know what I’m getting at…

(Dolly Parton)

There’s a bit of magic in a simple little smile
Something that just makes life seem a little more worthwhile
And there’s a world of meaning in the touch of someone’s hand
A gentle touch that let’s your brother know you understand
Oh if people would stop taking and just once try to give
We could make the world we’re living in a better place to live
La la la la la la la la la la la la

And if we’d love one another instead of finding faults
We could afford the price of peace, love is all it costs
Oh wouldn’t it be great to live and sing in harmony
Everybody take your brother’s hand and sing my song with me

La la la la la la la la la la la la

All life has to offer that’s what most folks desire
But offer nothing in return, cause they don’t seem to care
And if we’d ask to be forgiven and be willing to forgive
We could make the world we’re living in a better place to live
And if we’d all climb together, we could climb the highest hill
We could make the world we’re living in a better place to live

And if we’d love one another instead of finding faults
We could afford the price of peace, love is all it costs
Oh wouldn’t it be great to live and sing in harmony
Everybody take your brother’s hand and sing my song with me

La la la la la la la la la la la la

[Inspectah Deck]
Yo, this goes for all my brothers and sisters locked down
For all my peoples incarcerated, for those who ain’t make it

Yo, in the housing, thousands seen early graves
Victims of wordly ways, memories stays engraved
All my live brothers, is locked down with high numbers
The young hunger, blind to these lies, they die younger
In this New World the Order slaughter men, women, and children
Ten feet gates surround the building keep us sealed in
The projects, lifeless like a vietnam vet
Constant war, sever threats of enemy conquest
Crooked cops comb my building complex that’s in the rumble
Streets are like a jungle, can’t let my cypher crumble
Vivid thoughts, Devils resort to trick knowledge
They kick garbage, lust for chicks and quick dollars
I know the pain the game bring, I did the same thing
Spaced out in the staircase, performing a sting
It’s hard to keep control, I bless those who seek a scroll
Trying to reach a whole nation and break the sleeper hold
Not a role model, I walk a hard role to follow
I sold bottles of sorrow then chose poems and novels
The gospel was told, some souls it swallowed whole
Mentally they fold, and they eventually sold
their life and times, deadly like the virus design
but too, minute to dilute, the science is mine

You can’t party your life away
Drink your life away
Smoke your life away
Fuck your life away
Dream your life away
Scheme your life away
Cause your seeds grow up the same way

[Masta Killa]
A voice cries from the wilderness of the North
A representation of the families that lost one
all victims of incarceration
Or other divisions of the family structure
Youths are injected with serums that leads
to skin irritations, babies being born with
disfigurations, experimentations
On their faces there bear world relations
of mothers that carry the pain
of blood stained streets where sisters mourn and wail
Big brothers been slain from hails of gun fire
It lightly begins to rain screams of terror
are hidden by the passing trains
This can’t be little Shane, his uncle cried
As he drops to his nephew’s side, holding his cane
Just give me a name, of who has inflicted this
bitter sickness, and left us to witness

[U-God]
Yeah, yo
Curses from war, innocent blood spills for days
Soothe in godly ways, hands, solemn in praise
Tree of life, more precious than Wu is golden game
The wise self flourish inherit, Halls of Fame
Crime visions in my blood got me, locked in prison
While we die hard living people whine about religion, vision
Blow, spin, and sin and killing what’s revealing
It’s a never ending battle with no ending or beginning, listen
Zero process, progress, become the hunted
America’s most wanted, good life flaunted, want it
Some love the speed, some satisfy a need
Some want to be down, young gun seed, jungle breed
The stronger speed, someone die, someone bleed
One flew astray, and then caught my little seed
Can it be, the ice have us trife life, made me grab the knife
The righteous man would be within these stripes pipes
Take in my energy, breath and know the rest
Cause the good die young and the hard die best

You can’t party your life away
Drink your life away
Smoke your life away
Fuck your life away
Dream your life away
Scheme your life away
Cause your seeds grow up the same way
Cause your seeds grow up the same way
Cause your seeds grow up the same way

[RZA]
Y’all bitches love dances, and pulling down your pants
while your man’s on tour, your spending up his advances
Your friends ain’t shit, all they do is drink, smoke, and suck dick
The whole projects is trapped in stench
You either high school drop-outs, one to three cop-outs

One by one we take control
New consciousness, one heart, one soul
Oppression ends, the time has come
So don’t look back, it can be done
Something is still missing
Something keeps ’em blind
Like a prescious sacrilege
They can never find
So they walk together
Into a silent war
Though it seems to take forever
This generation is finaly heading for…

A Better Tomorrow

Tell me can’t you feel it?
Tell me can’t you see it?
Tell me can’t you hear it?
I know it ain’t just me
Let us walk together
What are we waiting for?
It is now or never
This generation is finaly heading for…

A Better Tomorrow

Day by day we’re praying for,
It to come across the shores
It brings new hope, it brings new light
Nameless spirits now they shine
One by one become aware
New consciousness will be there
And all the blind
Now they will see, embrace their minds
To plant the seeds for…

A Better Tomorrow

(Raul Malo)

We spent the night in a hobo town
Like a pair of runaways
We lit a fire and sang the songs
We learned from yesterday
Settled down and built a house
With our own sweatin’ hands
What happened next I’ll never know
Or never understand

Finished with my working day
And headed straight for home
I looked inside the bedroom door
And you were not alone

Well I hope you find a better way
To get through my front door
The roads you take don’t let you see
I don’t love you anymore
And if you find a broken heart
Somewhere along the way
Don’t you dare pick it up
I’ll mend itself someday

You thought my life was over now
Well honey you thought wrong
I found myself someone to love
Who’ll love me all night long
All the things you left behind
I threw them all away
You never cared enough about
The things I had to say

Well I hope you find a better way
To get through my front door
The roads you take don’t let you see
I don’t love you anymore
And if you find a broken heart
Somewhere along the way
Don’t you dare pick it up
I’ll mend itself someday
Well I hope you find a better way
To get through my front door
The roads you take don’t let you see
I don’t love you anymore
And if you find a broken heart
Somewhere along the way
Don’t you dare pick it up
I’ll mend itself someday

(Craig Wiseman/James Dean Hicks)

Mamma’s tears fell so easy
Daddy’s handshake was strong
Then I climbed aboard that Greyhound
Eighteen and glad to be gone

Took a rented room on broadway
As I unpacked everything I owed
I found a note my mamma left me
With a Bible and a bus ticket home (It said)

One will get you where you’re going
When you haven’t got a prayer
And one will bring you back son
If you’re dreams ain’t waiting there
You’re out on your own now
We won’t be there to fall back on
But you know we’re never farther
Than a Bible and a bus ticket home.

The years have come and gone and taken
The only things in life I ever counted on
But I’m going back tomorrow
To lay flowers on their stone.

I can almost hear my mamma calling
Saying son come back where you belong
You’ve got all you need to get here
A Bible and a bus ticket home

One will get you where you’re going
When you haven’t got a prayer
And one will bring you back son
If you’re dreams ain’t waiting there
You’re out on your own now
We won’t be there to fall back on
But you know we’re never farther
Than a Bible and a bus ticket home.