Hey America

[Gil Scott-Heron talking]

We beg your pardon, America. We beg your pardon because the pardon you gave this time was not yours to give. They call it due process and some people are overdue. Somebody said brotherman is gonna break a window or steal a hubcap or gonna smoke a joint and brotherman gonna go to jail. The man who tried to steal America is not in jail

[Verse 1: Trademarc]

Hey America, I don’t understand your whims, you’re so grim
With all your sadomasochistic grins and double chins
And gluttony’s the least of your sins
You’re the bane of existence, my sanity is wearing so thin
And so is my resistance to everything you’ve ever been
It’s crawling under my skin, it’s really sinking in
Prozac nation, a patient with no patience
I’m abrasive to the point of being unapproachable unless I’m wasted
I’ve tasted everything from hate to jealousy
Don’t waste your fucking time telling me “let it go”
I’m more felony than misdemeanor
My melody is more Christina, you’re Britney, washed up, you’re awestruck
Your liturgy’s coughed up, boxed up and boxed in
I’ll kill you faster than the English language dies in Boston each night
I like the cries of orphans in fright
Or maybe more the cries of ecstasy when your endorphins are just right
A voice locked the devil himself, I could revel in wealth, wine, and women
By swimming in the sinning of everyone else that’s barely living
That’s why I’m driven by the urge to never fit in
A rebel like Robert Neville but fellow rage flow off my page
We in the age where the living and dead ain’t that different
That’s why we’re off-balanced and record sales
Don’t effectively reflect your talents
I’m callous and vicious and overflowing with malice
And this is just the beginning, Eso let ‘em know

[Verse 2: Esoteric]

Hey America, I really love the type of life I live
What a life it is, wife and kids, you would steal instead of give
We’re trained to take, it’s in our nature brain
In fact we make the same mistake and smile in denial
At the fact that we came from apes
Look at the way our brain is shaped, check the way our frame is shaped
(You’re preaching to the choir)
Now reaching higher, trying to reach, let people buy you
The GOP supplier, the feds who sold the right to never cease to fire
Entertainers get beat to death till there’s no secrets left
I guess it’s like Meet The Press except they put peeps to rest
Mental fatigue and stress left in the heat of flesh prison
It needs a rest, cardiac style’s the best
I won’t bullshit ya like Wolf Blitzer
Or slip shit past you like Chris Matthews
I believe in Jesus less, less y’all confess, press secretary minion fuck it
Public opinion? I want my opinion public
I want Fox News like real rap, no more spins
Pres elections like golf man, the low score wins
I been

[Verse 3: Trademarc]

America, land of the free, home of the brave
And they ain’t even know that they’re slaves
Such a dirty road to pave, the bill’s owed and paid with your soul
Cause they made it their goal up in America
Land of the free, home of the brave, born with one foot in the grave
Such a dirty road to pave and the peoples in the dark
When their fate’s downloaded and saved

[Unknown speaker talking]

… disgusted and so am I. If you tear the whole system down, what does that say about America? They’re wrong. They can’t be wrong. The world is fighting right now to preserve our way of life. You can’t attack it blindly. You have to realise no one will talk. Everyone has been gotten to