Born In Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

We came here when I was a child

Before I reached the age of sixteen

I was running with the gang and we were wild

He keeps looking but he don't recognize me.

Some guy from Lexington or Park

Red beans and rice from kitchen windows

Supper-time and the barrio is dark.

No one knows you like I do

Nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one can testify to all that you've been through

But I will.

I was born in Puerto Rico

And my blood is Taino

Spanish Caribbean my soul

We came here wearing summer clothes in winter

Hearts of sunshine in the cold

Your family rented this apartment

You'd watch the street lamps from your perch

In the sacramental hour your stepfather in black

Preached the fire of the Pentecostal Church

No one knows you like I do

Nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one can testify to all that you've been through

But this will.

I was born in Puerto Rico

Came here when I was a child.

Small change and sunlight, then I left these streets

for good.

My days as short as they were wild.

I'm Carlos Apache

Angel Soto

Frenchy Cordero

Babu Charlie Cruz

Your features blurred in every grainy photo

And fading headline of the Daily News

Wiltwyck School for Criminal Children

Auburn, Brooklyn House of D.,

Dannemora, Sing-Sing, Attica,

Greenhaven

Twenty years inside, today you're free.

You cannot even read your story

The pages piling up in shame

Before the words released you, the guard would

kill the light

The night you took The Capeman for your name.

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

Yo naci en Puerto Rico

Yo naci en Puerto Rico

Mi corazon es Puerto Rico

Mi alma es Puerto Rico