[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 n***a 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!
You've seen it too
You just can't call its name

[Outro]
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