Shades of Brown

Lyrics

[Verse 1] They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn In chess, without exception, white moves the first pawn They called it "Black Tuesday" when the stock market crashed A fix in 1919 turned the White Sox to Black Black balled, black magic, executioner's hood White hatted, white horsed, champion of good Black knight of Dark Ages on the darkest night The Pope walks in truth, head to toe in white [Chorus] Who started all this bullshit? They were looking for a fight You didn't have to be there to know that they were white When we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around No one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown [Post-Chorus] Black hearted, black beard on the briny deep Or the family member you call the black sheep Days of black plague, you draw your final breath Heading for heaven while you're dying of Black Death [Verse 2] Mankind is preoccupied to keep each other down Some use superstition, a Bible or a crown At best it's fear and ignorance, at worst, it's a sin Not God and country, king or crown, it's the pigment of our skin Used to reinforce what is wrong or right It's really just the presence or the absence of light In the blackest hour, on the blackest day Isn't mighty white of us, but we gotta say [Chorus] Who started all this bullshit? They were looking for a fight You didn't have to be there to know that they were white When we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around No one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown [Post-Chorus] White when you marry, black when you die A racial hierarchy, a festering white lie White stands for innocence, pure and sincere But if you're talking bigotry it should be crystal clear [Verse 3] The new world beckoned, the immigrants came Homogenized their culture, anglicized their name When they painted Jesus, blonde with eyes of blue Not a Nazarene, more a Nazi than a Jew In the black revolution with their Black Power found 'Til their leaders were all jailed or stomped into the ground The final step ironic, to nail that coffin tight The powder of enslavement in their glassine bags of white [Chorus] Who started all this bullshit? They were looking for a fight You didn't have to be there to know that they were white When we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around We're not really black or white, we're all just shades of brown [Instrumental Break] [Chorus] Who started all this bullshit—were they looking for a fight? You didn't have to be there to know that they were white But when we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around 'Cause no one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown Who started all this bullshit? They were looking for a fight You didn't have to be there to know that they were white When we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around No one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown Who started all this bullshit—were they looking for a fight? You didn't have to be there to know that they were white But when we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around 'Cause no one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown Who started all this bullshit? They were looking for a fight You didn't have to be there to know that they were white When we're talking skin tone, let's not fuck around No one's really black or white, we're all just shades of brown