《Letter To My Countrymen》歌词

[00:00:00] Letter To My Countrymen - Brother Ali

[00:00:31] I used to think I hated this place

[00:00:34] Couldn't wait to tell the president straight to his face

[00:00:37] But lately I changed nowadays I embrace it all

[00:00:40] Beautiful ideals and amazing flaws

[00:00:43] Got to care enough to give a testament

[00:00:45] 'Bout the deeply depressing mess we're in

[00:00:48] It's home so we better make the best of it

[00:00:51] I wanna make this country what it says it is

[00:00:53] Still dream in the vividest living color

[00:00:55] No matter how many times my love been smothered

[00:00:58] Who's ever above us won't just let us suffer

[00:01:01] All of this struggling got to amount to something

[00:01:04] This is a letter to my countrymen

[00:01:06] Especially those my age and younger than

[00:01:09] We're up against an ugly trend

[00:01:11] Everybody's hustling don't nobody touch their friends

[00:01:15] No group singing and dancing

[00:01:17] No anthem nobody holds hands and

[00:01:20] Instead they give a handheld

[00:01:22] And make you shoulder life's burden by your damn self

[00:01:25] One thing that can't be debated

[00:01:27] Power never changed on it's own you got to make it

[00:01:30] That's why community is so sacred

[00:01:33] That's the symbol that we make when we raise fists

[00:01:37] "Sooner or later"

[00:01:42] "Sooner or later"

[00:01:47] We don't really like to talk about the race thing

[00:01:49] The whole grandparents used to own slaves thing

[00:01:51] Pat ourselves on the back in February

[00:01:54] Looking at pictures of Abe Lincoln and the great King

[00:01:57] But the real picture's much more embarrassing

[00:01:59] We're still not even close to really sharing things

[00:02:02] The situation of oppressed people

[00:02:04] Shows what we feel it means to be a human being

[00:02:08] What does it mean to be American

[00:02:10] I think the struggle to free is our inheritance

[00:02:13] And if we say it how it really is

[00:02:15] We know our lily skin still give us privilege

[00:02:18] Advantages given to the few

[00:02:20] That are built into the roots of our biggest institutions

[00:02:23] That's the truth in life we got to choose

[00:02:25] Do I fight in the movement or think I'm entitled to it

[00:02:30] This is not a practice life

[00:02:31] This is the big game we got to attack it right

[00:02:34] Each one of us is headed for the grave

[00:02:36] This old crooked world won't be saved by the passive type

[00:02:40] This is a letter to my countrymen

[00:02:42] Not from a Democrat or a Republican

[00:02:45] But one among you that's why you call me brother

[00:02:47] Ain't scared to tell you we're in trouble 'cause I love you

[00:02:51] "Sooner or later"

[00:02:57] "Sooner or later"

[00:03:01] They tell me I'm a dreamer they ridicule

[00:03:03] They feel defeated old bitter and cynical

[00:03:06] Excuse me but I see it from a different view

[00:03:08] I still believe in what a driven few could really do

[00:03:11] I know that the masses want to sleep

[00:03:13] And they would just rather hear me rapping to the beat

[00:03:16] But I want to pass this planet to my son

[00:03:19] A little better than it was when they handed it to me

[00:03:21] So I wrote a letter to my countrymen

[00:03:24] I'll be happy if it only reaches one of them

[00:03:27] Reporting live A-L-I your brother

[00:03:29] Mourning in America dreaming in color

[00:03:33] My dear Brother Ali

[00:03:36] I think you know deep down in your soul that

[00:03:38] Something something just ain't right

[00:03:42] You don't want to be just well adjusted to injustice

[00:03:46] And well adapted to indifference You want to be

[00:03:49] A person with integrity who leaves a mark on the world

[00:03:54] People can say when you go that you left the world

[00:03:57] Just a little better than you found it I understand I want

[00:04:02] To be like that too

[00:04:03] Lyrics by 卟 断 努 力