The Prisoner

Here I am

After so many years

Hounded by hatred

And trapped by fear

I'm in a box

I've got no place to go

If I follow my mind

I know I'll slaughter my own

Help me, I'm the prisoner

Won't you hear my plea?

I need somebody

Yeah, to listen to me

I beg you, brothers and sisters

I'm counting on you, yeah

Black babies in the womb

Are shackled and bound

Chained by the caveman

Who keeps beauty down

Smacked on the ass

When they're squalling and wet

And to a spineless man who never forgets

Never forgets that he's a prisoner

Can't you hear my plea?

'Cause I need somebody

Lord knows, to listen to me

I'm a stranger to my son who wonders

Why his daddy runs, yeah

On my way to work in the morning when I

Don't give a damn

Can't nobody, can't nobody, can't nobody, can't nobody see

Just who in hell I am

Hemmed in by a suit

Yes, all choked up in a tie

Ain't no wonder sometimes near morning

I hear my woman cry

She knows her man is a prisoner

Won't you hear my plea?

Yeah, 'cause I need somebody

Whoa, to listen to me

My woman, she don't say

But she hate to see her man

Chained this way, yeah

Help me

I'm the prisoner

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm the prisoner