I had a dream of a name on fire
A martyr for a terrible cause
Ablaze on a fence
A falling store sign
A sign of a future
Falling in smoke
Citywide curfew
Smell the palms
Burning on the hills
A rage and a thrash
Of the fists of a people
Without a consciensce
Everyone in the wrong
Both the beaters
and the beaten
A yin yang whirl
Of fear and confusion
(But dont you know
That yin and yang
Are really
the same?)
When vets say its
worse than Nam
or the Gulf
then you know its bad
Burn baby burn
Theres nothing they could do
Where do we go now?
This is America
27 years
and they still didn't learn
25 years
and we still haven't learned
April is a terrible month
You beat a man
And you don't expect
him to fight back?
You treat them like animals
and they become animals
They act like animals
and they expect to be treated
as if they're human?
You create a circle
And it turns
You set a trap for one man
And you get caught in it yourself
when you watch your city burn
And when the innocents
get caught in that trap too
You better bow
You better pray
For you will pay
for sins heaped sevenfold
upon your head
Burn baby burn
Theres nothing they could do
Where do we go now?
This is America
I think the martyr himself
said it best:
Those
people
will
never
go
home
