2. Mama, I Can’t Breathe

Words and music by Bob Reid and Judi Jaeger © 2020

Paper bag is blowin’ down the sidewalk.
The smell of tires, the smell of something worse.
Somewhere, someone’s cryin’, somebody’s laughin’.
I hear a scream, I hear somebody curse.

People walkin’ by, people lookin’.
People askin’ what is goin’ on.
Someone kicks a beer can at a storefront.
I hear a voice that tells them “move along”.

The more things don’t change the more they stay the same.
I’m just another piece in a brutal game.
Lyin’ here, no one knows my name.
But, Mama, I can’t breathe

I try to bend my legs but nothin's happening.
I try to raise my head but I can’t move.
Feel like I am drownin’ on the pavement.
Somebody’s winnin’; I am gonna lose.

The more things don’t change the more they stay the same.
I’m just another piece in a brutal game.
Lyin’ here, no one knows my name.
But, Mama, I can’t breathe

The more things don’t change the more they stay the same.
I’m just another piece in a brutal game.
Lyin’ here, no one knows my name.
But, Mama, I can’t breathe.
Mama, I can’t breathe.
Mama, I can’t breathe.

Song Notes: Bob: “Sometimes you carve out space in the silence to spend time to consider.” Judi: “Faced with the horrors of what we saw on our screens, and being stuck at home during the pandemic lockdown, we did what we could with our emotions. We wrote and we sang.”

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