only a pawn in their game

 

(*) Bob Dylan

A bullet from the back of a bush
Took Medgar Evers' blood
A finger fired the trigger to his name
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man's brain
But he can't be blamed
He's only a pawn in their game

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game

Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
He'll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain
Only a pawn in their game

One too many mornings

 

(*) Bob Dylan

Down the street the dogs are barkin'
And the day is a-gettin' dark
As the night comes in a-fallin'
The dogs 'll lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
As I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind

From the crossroads of my doorstep
My eyes start to fade
And I turn my head back to the room
Where my love and I have laid
And I gaze back to the street
The sidewalk and the sign
And I'm one too many mornings

And a thousand miles behind

It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good
You're right from your side
I'm right from mine
We're both just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind

Song to Woody

 

(*) Bob Dylan

I'm out here a thousand miles from my home
Walking a road other men have gone down
I'm seeing your world of people and things
Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings

Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
About a funny old world that's a-coming along
Seems sick, and it's hungry, it's tired, and it's torn
It looks like it's a-dying, and it's hardly been born

Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things that I'm a-saying an' a-many times more
I'm a-singing you the song, but I can't sing enough
'Cause there's not many men that done the things that you've done

Here's to Cisco and Sonny and Leadbelly too
And to all the good people that traveled with you
Here's to the hearts and the hands of the men
That come with the dust and are gone with the wind

I'm a-leaving tomorrow, but I could leave today
Somewhere down the road someday
The very last thing that I'd want to do
Is to say I've been hitting some hard traveling too

Tell me how do it

 

(*) Migrantes (Tote / B.Torres)

I won't mess with your life no more

You know it was love, I just ask for respect though

You can try to hide it, but you gotta face it

Some loves stay even when you change location

What you gon' tell me, that you love him now

That you're so happy, he's the reason that you blossomed

Since I left, you didn't waste no time

You're confusing real love with a little bit of comfort

Tell me how you do it,

How you don't feel my hand when he is touching ya

How it don't move you nothing,

Watching our love fade, it don't even shake ya

Watching my heart break

Even though he doesn't deserve ya

Tell me how you do it,

I kissed other lips but I tasted your mouth still

Tried to forget you but my soul just won't listen

How do I make my heart turn into stone

And forget you in a couple months?

You're trying to cover the sun with one finger

That hug ain't real even if it gives you some heat

I know one day you'll see it even if not today

It's not healing to search for me in others, you're just hiding the pain

Our love ain't easy to forget, and I'm so fragile

Your memory comes back and it kills me, it kills me

Tell me how you do it,

How you don't feel my hand when he is touching ya

How it don't move you nothing,

Watching our love leave, it don't even hurt ya

Watching my heart break

Even though he don't deserve ya

Tell me how you do it,

I kissed other lips but I tasted your mouth still

Tried to forget you but my soul just won't obey

How do I make my heart turn into stone

And forget you in a couple months?

To the Young Who Want to Die

(*) Gwendolyn Brooks

Siéntate. Inhala. Exhala.

El arma esperará. El lago esperará.

la sustancia amarga en el pequeño hermoso frasco

esperará, esperará:

podrá esperar una semana: y esperará todo abril.

No tienes que morir este día. 

La muerte permanecerá, 

Te aseguro que la muerte esperará. La muerte

tiene todo el tiempo. La muerte puede

atenderte mañana. O la próxima semana. La muerte está

justo en esta calle, un poco más allá; y es la vecina

más complaciente, está lista para encontrarte

a cada instante.

No necesitas morir hoy.

Quédate aquí un poco  –pese al despecho, y el desánimo y el dolor.

Espera a ver lo que depara el mañana.

En las tumbas no crecen verdes que te sirvan.

Recuerda, el verde es tu color. Eres la primavera. 

Be Thankful for What You Got

 

(*) William DeVaughn

Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Gangsta whitewalls
TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall
Just be thankful for what you've got

Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene
With a gangsta lean
Gangsta whitewalls
TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall
Just be thankful for what you've got

Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Gangsta whitewalls
TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall

Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin the scene
With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin the scene
With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene
With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
Diamond in the back, sunroof top

Speak low

 

(*) Kurt Weill

Speak low when you speak, love
Our summer day withers away too soon, too soon
Speak low when you speak, love
Our moment is swift, like ships adrift, we're swept apart, too soon
Speak low, darling, speak low
Love is a spark, lost in the dark too soon, too soon
I feel wherever I go that tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here and always too soon
Time is so old and love so brief
Love is pure gold and time a thief
We're late, darling, we're late
The curtain descends, ev'rything ends too soon, too soon
I wait, darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me, speak love to me and soon