Something in the Way of Things (In Town)

Lyrics

[Spoken word: Amiri Baraka] In town In town In town Something in the way of things Something that will quit and won't start Something you know, but can't stand, can't know, get along with Like death Riding on top of the car Peering through the windshield for his cue Something entirely fictitious and true That creeps across your path, hallowing your evil ways Like they were yourself, passing yourself, not smiling The dead guy you saw me talking to is your boss I tried to put a spell on him, but his spirit is illiterate I know things you know and nothing you don't know 'Cept I saw something in the way of things Something grinning at me, and I wanted to know, was it funny? Was it so funny it followed me down the street? Greeting everybody like the Good Humor man And they got the taste of good humor But no ice cream It was like that Me talking across people, into the houses And not seeing the beings crowding around me with ice picks You could see them But they looked like important Negroes on the way to your funeral Looked like important jiggaboos on the way to your auction And let them chant the numbers And use an ivory pointer to count your teeth Remember Steppen Fetchit? Remember Steppen Fetchit, how we laughed? And all your Sunday school images, given flesh and jiggling With the ice pick high over his head Made you laugh, anyway I can see something in the way of ourselves I can see something in the way of ourselves That's why I say the things I do You know it – But it's something else to you Like a job This morning, when you got there, and it was quiet And the machines were yearning soft behind you Yearning for their nigga to come and give up his life Standing there, being dissed, and broke, and troubled My mistake is, I kept saying "That was proof God didn't exist" And you told me, "Nah... but, it's proof that the Devil do." But still, it's like– I see something, I hear things I saw words in the white boy's lying rag Said "You was gonna die poor and frustrated" That them dreams that walk with you 'cross town Are gonna die from over work There's garbage on the street that's tellin' you "You ain't shit" And you almost believe it Broke and mistaken all the time You know some of the words, but they ain't the right ones! Your cable back on, but ain't nothin' you can– see But I see something in the way of things... Something to make us stumble Something to get us drunk from noise, and addicted to sadness I see– something and feel– something, stalking us like an ugly thing floating at our back, calling us names You see it, and hear it too But you say, "It got a right to exist just like you And if God made it...!" But then, we got to arguing And the light gon' come down around us Even though we remember where the mic is Remember the Negro squinting at us through the cage You seen what I see too? The smile that ain't a smile, but teeth flying against our necks You see something too But can't call its name "Ain't it too bad?" y'all said "Ain't it too bad? Such a nice boy, always kind to his mother Always say good morning to everybody on his way to work" But that last time, before he got locked up and hurt, real bad I seen him walking toward his house, and he wasn't smiling And he didn't even say hello But I knew he'd seen something Something in the way of things That had worked on him like it do and will And he kept marching faster and faster, away from us And never even muttered a word Then the next day, he was gone You wanna know–– what? You wanna know what I'm talkin' about Sayin' "I seen something in the way of things"? And how the boy's face looked that day Just before they took him away? There is in that face, and remember now I remember all them other faces And all the many places you've seen him Or the sister, with his child, wandering up the street Remember what you seen in your own mirror And didn't for a second recognize? The face, your own face Straining, to get out from behind the glass Open your mouth like you was gon' say something Close your eyes and remember what you saw And what it made you feel like Now – don't you see something else? Something cold and ugly Not invisible, but– Blended with the shadow, criss-crossing the old man, squatting by the drug store at the corner, with his head resting uneasily on his folded arms And the boy that smiled And the girl he went with And in my eyes too A waving craziness, splitting them into the jet stream of a Blackbird With his ass on fire Or the solemn not-ness of where we go to know– we gon' be happy I seen something... I seen something! And you've seen it too! 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