I was born right here, November ’43
My dad was a captain in the army
Fighting the Germans in Sicily.
My poor little momma
Didn’t know a soul in L.A.
So we went down to the Union Station and made our getaway. 

Got on the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams.
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams.

Her own mother came to meet us at the station,
Her dress as black as a crow in a coal mine
She cried when her little girl got off the train.
Her brothers and her sisters drove down from Jackson, Mississippi
In a great green Hudson driven by a Gentile they knew.
Drinkin’ rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat
Tryin’ to do like the Gentiles do
Christ, they wanted to be Gentiles, too.
Who wouldn’t down there, wouldn’t you?
An American Christian, God damn!

On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams.

Don’t remember much about my baby days,
But I been told
We used to live on Willow near the Garden District
Next to the Sugar Bowl
Momma used to wheel me past an ice cream wagon
One side for White and one side for Colored
I remember trash cans floatin’ down Canal Street
It rained every day one summer
Momma used to take me to Audubon Park
Show me the ways of the world
She said, “here comes a white boy, there goes a black one,
that one’s an octoroon
This little cookie here’s a macaroon, that big round thing’s
a red balloon
And the paper down here’s called the Picayune
And here’s a New Orleans tune”
In 1948 my Daddy came to the city
Told the people that they’d won the war
Maybe they’d heard it, maybe not
Probably they’d heard it and just forgot
‘Cause they built him a platform there in Jackson Square
And the people came to hear him from everywhere
They started to party and they partied some more
‘Cause New Orleans had won the war
(We knew we’d do it, we done whipped the Yankees)
Daddy said, “I’m gonna get this boy out of this place
Bound to sap his strength
People have fun here, and I think that they should
But nobody from here every come to no good
They’re gonna pickle him in brandy and tell him he’s saved
Then throw fireworks all ’round his grave”
So he took us down to the airport, and flew us back to L.A.
That was the end of my baby days
Blue blue morning, blue blue day
All your bad dreams drift away
It’s a blue blue morning, of a blue blue day
Lose those bad dreams
Those gray clouds above you, what you want them around
with you for?
You got someone to love you
Who could ask for more?
It’s a blue blue morning, of a blue blue day
All your bad dreams drift away

One September morning when I was five
My daddy said, “Son, rise from your bed.”
I thought, I must be dreaming, it’s still dark outside
He said, “Son if you fall behind you’ll never get ahead
Here’s your little brown cowboy shirt, put it on
Here’s your little brown cowboy pants, put ’em on
Here’s your little brown shoes, can you tie them yourself?
Get into the car, we’re gone!”
We drove, it seemed like forever,
Further than I’d ever been away from home
Then my daddy stopped the car, and he turned to me
He said, “Son it’s time to make us proud of you,
It’s time to do what’s right
Gonna have to learn to work hard”
I said, “Work? What are you talking about?
You’re not gonna leave me here, are you?”
He said “Yes I am!”
And drove off into the morning light
For a while I stood there, on the sidewalk
A Roy Rogers lunch pail in my hand
Then I heard sweet children’s voices calling
And I began to understand
They said, “Four eyes! Look like you’re still sleeping!”
“Four eyes! Look like you’re dead!”
“Four eyes! Where have you been keeping yourself?”
“Look like you been whupped upside the head.”

Your eyelids are gettin’ heavy
Hard to lift
Your mind begins to wander
Things start to drift
Your arms are getting heavy
Hard to lift
You sink down a little deeper
You’re feeling wonderful 

Maybe you’re falling in love
Maybe you’re falling in love
Maybe you’re falling, falling, falling, falling in love
You stare across the harbor
At the lights along the bay
Your arms have got so heavy, now
They’re just getting in your way
Look
Now you’re walkin’ in the holy land
Yeah, that’s you there, walkin’ with the king
You ask “What have I done to deserve this?”
Why, you haven’t done a thing
Maybe you’re falling in love
Maybe you’re falling in love
Maybe you’re falling, falling, falling, falling in love

All dressed up, nowhere to go
Looks so easy but it isn’t you know
Hard to find what you’re dreamin’ of
But there’s something special about our love
Different people, different worlds
You just call me, and I’ll be there for you
We belong together you know it’s true
‘Cause there’s something special about me and you
Something special about our love
It’s all right,
Baby, it’s ok
We’re gonna make it no matter what they say
Sure as the stars shine in the sky above
There is something special about our love
People change as time goes by
Others come between
But I’ll love you ’til the day I die
‘Cause there’s something special ’bout you and me
Something special about our love

High on a cliff in Mexico
Staring down at the rocks and the sea below
I can hear the church bells ring
I can hear the choir
I remember the night she left
I drove to the station in the pouring rain
Sat all night behind my big iron desk
The oil on the water made a rainbow
At the end of this bone-white gravel road
They both lie sleeping on a feather bed
And her hair is black as the sky at night
But her eyes are gray like the moon
You can run but you can’t hide
You can run but you can’t hide
You said you love me but I know you lied
You said you love me but I know you lied

They say that people are livin’ in the street
No food in their belly, no shoes on their feet
Six black children livin’ in a burned-up room
One bare light bulb swinging
Little black kid come home from school
Put his key in the door
Mr. Rat’s on the stairway, Mr. Junkie’s lyin’ in his
own vomit on the floor
You gotta roll with the punches, little black boy
That’s what you got to do
You got to roll with the punches
Tap it baby
There’s all these boring people, you see ’em on the TV
And they’re making up all these boring stories
About how bad things have come to be
They say “You got to, got to, got to feed the hungry”
“You got to, got to, got to heal the sick”
I say we ain’t gotta do nothin’ for nobody
‘Cause they won’t work a lick, you know
They just gonna have to roll with the punches, yes they will
Gonna have to roll with them
They gonna have to roll with the punches, yes they will
It don’t matter whether you’re white, black or brown
You won’t get nowhere putting down
The old Red, White and Blue
Tap it baby. Alright.
Look at those little shorts he’s got on, ladies and
gentlemen
You can see all the way to Argentina
Get it
So pretty
Let ’em go to Belgium, let ’em go to France
Let ’em go to Russia
Well at least they ought to have the chance to go there
We have talked about the red, we have talked about the blue
Now we gonna talk about the white
That’s what we’re gonna have to do
Now we had to roll with the punches, yes we did
We had to roll with ’em
We had to roll with the punches
Yes we did
We had to roll with ’em
I don’t care what you say
You’re livin’ in the greatest country in the world
When you’re livin’ in the USA
Tap it out baby, all right

People tell me that I brag a lot ’cause I call myself the Masterman
Always talkin’ ’bout how I got dynamite in every hand
Hit it
Me and my brother we live alone, got no television, got no telephone
But when we walk down the street people get out of the way
They say “Here come the Masterman and Baby J”
“Here come the Masterman and Baby J”
Hit it–hit it
When we get on the mike we’ll be number one
Even top D.M.C. and Run
Everybody’s gonna have some fun
‘Cause we’re takin’ ’em all the way down
We’re takin’ ’em all the way down
Gonna rap about this, gonna rap about that
Gonna tell everybody where it’s at
All over the world people gonna say
You got to dig the Masterman and Baby J
You got to dig the Masterman and Baby J
Hit it
People tell me “Man you live in a dump”
“You won’t never be nothin’ but a pumped-up chump”
You got no money–you got no sense
You won’t never be nothing, you won’t never be nothing
I say well-well-well-well 

When I look out my window, you know what I see
I don’t see no whores in the stinkin’ street
I don’t see no drunks and junkies dying
I don’t see no bums or garbage flyin’
I see me and J in the L.A. Coliseum
100,000 people on their feet
And they’re laughin’ and bumpin’ and screamin’ and cryin’
And jumpin’ up on their seat
And then the band begins to play and then they hush up
And then the band begins to play and then they hush up
And it gets real quiet in the Coliseum with the stage all
dark and bare
Maybe a little rain begins to fall–yeah
But the people stayin’ right there
Then you can hear that announcer say
Please welcome! (the crowd roars)
Please welcome! (the crowd roars)
L.A.’s own, the number one
The biggest, the best, the number one band in the USA
The Masterman and Baby J!
The Masterman and Baby J!

Left Los Angeles a short while ago
Flew ‘cross the country back to Buffalo
Walked around through the sleet and the snow
With a red bandana on my head
Saw my momma on 12th and Grand
Standing in the alley with the junkyard man
They were both so loaded they could hardly stand
Talkin’ ’bout going to Mexico
I said “Momma I was born
Out there I was born again
Been clear to California and back
Was out there so long many times I thought I was dead”
She said, “Sonny what’s that you got wrapped around your head?”
It’s a Red Bandana
It’s a Red Bandana
It’s a Red Bandana
It’s from Hollywood USA
Looked for the woman I used to love
Seen her in a bar off the Harlem road
Talking in a booth with Charley Hobbs
And this ugly little dude whom I didn’t know
She said “Honey you’re back I’m so glad
When you was gone I was so sad
You come in here lookin’ so bad
With that red bandana on your head
With that red bandana on your head”
Yes! It’s a Red Bandana
It’s a Red Bandana
It’s a Red Bandana
And it’s red just like your blood is

You can stand alone
Or with somebody else
Or stand with all of us, together
If you can believe
In something bigger than yourself
You can follow the flag forever
They say it’s just a dream
That dreamers dreamed
That it’s an empty thing that really has no meaning
They say it’s all a lie
But it’s not a lie
I’m going to follow the flag ’til I die
Into every life a little rain must fall
But it’s not gonna rain forever
You can rise above–you can rise above it all
We will follow the flag together
We will follow the flag forever

Of all of the people that I used to know
Most never adjusted to the great big world
I see them lurking in book stores
Working for the Public Radio
Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back
Moving careful and slow
It’s money that matters
Hear what I say
It’s money that matters
In the USA
All of these people are much brighter than I
In any fair system they would flourish and thrive
But they barely survive
They eke out a living and they barely survive
When I was a young boy, maybe thirteen
I took a hard look around me and asked what does it mean?
So I talked to my father, and he didn’t know
And I talked to my friend and he didn’t know
And I talked to my brother and he didn’t know
And I talked to everybody that I knew
It’s money that matters
Now you know that it’s true
It’s money that matters
Whatever you do
Then I talked to a man lived up on the county line
I was washing his car with a friend of mine
He was a little fat guy in a red jumpsuit
I said “You look kind of funny”
He said “I know that I do”
“But I got a great big house on the hill here
And a great big blonde wife inside it
And a great big pool in my backyard and another great big pool
beside it
Sonny it’s money that matters, hear what I say
It’s money that matters in the USA
It’s money that matters
Now you know that it’s true
It’s money that matters whatever you do”

I ran out on my children
And I ran out on my wife
Gonna run out on you too, baby
I’ve done it all my life
Everybody cried the night I left
Well, almost everybody did
My little boy just hung his head
And I put my arm, put my arm around his little shoulder
And this is what I said:
“Sonny I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
Honest I do, honest I do, honest I do”
If I had one wish
One dream I knew would come true
I’d want to speak to all the people of the world
I’d get up there, I’d get up there on that platform
First I’d sing a song or two you know I would
Then I’ll tell you what I’d do
I’d talk to the people and I’d say
“It’s a rough rough world, it’s a tough tough world
Well, you know
And things don’t always, things don’t always go the way we plan
But there’s one thing, one thing we all have in common
And it’s something everyone can understand
All over the world sing along
I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
Honest I do, honest I do, honest I do”