Verse 1 [Harlem, New York, June 4, 1964: "The Panther’s Tale"]
We are one people, one kindred, one fellow/Though of varying hues of black, brown, and yellow/We come from the same streets, same slums, same ghettos/To live a life whose outcome is always dreadful/That’s why we need more than lunch counters/We need the liberty promised by our nations founders/Because Washington D.C. has got hypocrisies and mockeries/And the basic ploy is to keep our people under lock and key/They used to shackle our ankles, now they chain our liberty/And it’s getting ridiculous, my folks aren’t safe in the streets/That’s why they’re scared to see what black people truly think/And that’s why they fear talk of guns in their cities and streets/Because if they send me over seas to slaughter the Vietnamese/They know I won’t come home and suffer an in peace, and muffle my speech while I see my brothers I beat/The know this time, I’ll be willing to suffer and bleed/Because the longing for liberty is a natural instinct/So why should I suppress it for what white men think/Why should I fear what the white man says, when like I he dresses pant-leg, by pant-leg/These weapons I’m holding shows him he bleeds hemoglobin, so if it must come to this, let his wish be granted/Because if I must die, I will not cower in the gutter, but I will breathe my last breathe to empower my brother
Verse 2 [Warsaw, Poland, May 20, 1944: "Judah Laments"]
119482 is my new moniker/And my every waking moment is watched an monitored/By S.S. soldiers who love their cruel deeds/Of killing innocents, they call it duty/They’ll kill anyone, first you and then me/To say they triumphed and slew the Jew’s seed/But redemption is coming, one day and you’ll see/Because we’re His chosen people, those who will mention His name/And He will bless those that bless us/And curse those that render the same/So when our blood cries to Him, He will remember the slain/And when His judgment comes, His vengeance will reign/Because we’re not treated like men, we’re like dogs instead/They transformed the children of God into the walking dead/I’m eating and sleeping, and now I’m even talking less/I awaken to death, the smell of scalding flesh/At night I wonder why my Lord hasn’t called me yet/It can be no worse/This is hell, death, and the grave/Why won’t my Lord beckon His slave/Though I grow weary less, and less I’m afraid/Though afflicted, I still carry my faith, I tarry and wait/For green pastures and still waters, for there is a place/Where my Lord will lead me, and there in He will say/Well done thy faithful servant, your blessing awaits
Verse 3 [Savannah, Georgia, April 24, 1844: "The Bondman’s Freedom"]
Before I’m a slave another day, I’ll be buried in my grave/That’s what I say today, I have to leave this place/Before I’m a slave another day, I’ll be buried in my grave/That’s what I say today I’m going to leave this place/Before I’m a slave another day, I’ll be buried in my grave/That’s what I say today, and when I leave this place/I’m going to keep on running, until my feet come, to that beloved place that men call freedom/But they say if I leave I’ll be aborting my seed/Because when I’m caught it will be the cord and the string/But it’s no fitting, they pinned my Lord in a tree, so if I must die, at least I lived according to me/They say the caged bird sings due to the bliss of his ignorance/But through all the dissonance, he won’t miss this life’s belligerence/Because through the bars he sees the restoration of his innocence/And hears the sweeter tune of freedom in the distances
Verse 4
We are human beings, being how humans be/Moving through this life, longing to be free/Looking for heaven to come on this earth beneath/Singing the sweeter tune of what it means to be free/Lord you knew my nature, saw my flesh was flawed/Knew this frame would hinder me, but still my name you called/You knew this frame would hinder me, but you still loved me tenderly/Even though you knew my flesh wouldn’t stand the test of infinity/You saw my frame and how iniquity entered me/Foolishness broke in and caused my body injury/But your love came down and stretched thousands of centuries/Love you sent for me, Your grace, it entered me
