James Newton Howard
Roll With the Punches
[Verse 1]
They say that people are livin' in the street
No food in their belly, no shoes on their feet
Six black children livin' in a burned-up room
One bare light bulb swingin'
Little black kid come home from school, put his key in the door
Mr. Rat's on the stairway, Mr. Junkie's lyin' in his own vomit on the floor

[Chorus]
You got to roll with the punches, little black boy
That's what you got to do
You got to roll with the punches

[Post-Chorus]
Tap it, baby

[Verse 2]
There's all these boring people, see 'em on TV
Makin' up all these boring stories about how bad things have come to be
They say, "You got to, got to, got to feed the hungry"
And, "You got to, got to, got to heal the sick"
And I say we ain't gotta do nothin' for nobody
'Cause, you know, they won't work a lick

[Chorus]
They just gonna have to roll with the punches, yes they will
Gonna have to roll with them
They gonna have to roll with the punches, yes they will
Don't matter whether you're white, black or brown
You won't get nowhere putting down the old red, white and blue
[Post-Chorus]
Tap it baby, alright
Look at those little shorts he's got on, ladies and gentlemen
You can see all the way to Argentina
Get it
So pretty

[Verse 3]
Let 'em go to Belgium, let 'em go to France
Let 'em go to Russia
Well, at least they ought to have the chance to go there
We have talked about the red, we have talked about the blue
Now we gonna talk about the white
That's what we're gonna have to do

[Chorus]
Now we had to roll with the punches, yes we did
We had to roll with 'em
We had to roll with the punches, yes we did
We had to roll with 'em
I don't care what you say
You're livin' in the greatest country in the world when you're livin' in the USA

[Post-Chorus]
Tap it out baby, alright