Bring My Family Back

Beg you listen me, don't be kissing me til I'm done

Unsung champion of reason

Like seasoning, pepper your thoughts with spice

And entice you to a space where I dwell where bass players

And layers of loops think what I think with my prayers, its nice

My world is everything I've become

Contained in the hum between voice and drum

I'm coming from the same place I'm-a still running from

But even sitting in the garden one can still get stung

I'm on Lonely Street, age nearly three

Recently mama's crying all the time, is it because of me

Or my younger sister, even dad was weeping when he kissed her

Face all puffy like a blister, crying like he missed her

Since we moved away from the house where we use to play

They say I'll understand one day

But I doubt it, mama never say nothing about it

How'd it get to be so crowded, I found it

A strain, everywhere I look I see pain

And I can't escape the feeling maybe I'm to blame

So I strain to listen, praying for a decision, wishing

They were kissing, this feels like extradition

Or exile, mama finds it hard to smile

So I make pretend cups of coffee in her favourite style

She says, "Child, I'm working so there's nothing you lack."

But she know, I want my dad, I want my family back

I'm on Lonely Street, age forty-three

Couldn't gauge when to quit so my wife quit me

Took offence, took the kids, I wish that was the end

But before she took her leave she took care of my best friend

Working all the hours God sent was not the tactic

You see cause after ten years I'm left with jack ****

Wanted to make the cash quick, so I had to work real late

Mad ***, my woman's vexed even if I stay awake

And if I'm honest, I had a little cake at the office

I was eating, we'd do our cheating over coffees

Making tea for their bosses, making free with me

And I agree I got sleazy too easily

But I'm forty-three, this doesn't usually happen to me

Now I'm lonely, I wondering what my son's doing today

Suddenly I'm blinking like the screen on my computer display

And I'm drinking, concerned about what's down the track

If I don't get my family back

I'm on Lonely Street, number fifty-three

Boarded up properly, I'll probably get pulled down

Litter all around, inside there's no sound and no light

But yo it gets busy at night

People creeping, derelicts sneaking in to fix, speaking

On the way my timbers creaking, roof leaking

And bricks coming loose, knee-high in refuse

But even though I'm a slum, I'm still of some use

There was a time my walls were decorated

And under my roof, children were educated

But now paint's faded, windows are all smashed

A crash in the economy robbed me of my family

And no strategy combats negative equity

So that's it, like violence it's drastic

I'm freaking, and seeking to be more than just a house for crack

Somebody bring my family back