Mama’s Drill Tale

Sit at

the table, son, turn down the phone.

You wonder why your mama

never sleeps alone. I

kept my silence till the block

went cold. They ask why a mother picked up that line

Why she wrote out the names on the street sign

I seen the sirens painted across the wall

Three brothers standing, now none left at all

I whispered to the warden through bulletproof glass 'Cause I wasn't letting

another hearse pass They call it a betrayal on the estate walk

I called it breathing till tomorrow morning clocks.

They say mama told,

mama broke the code

I broke the chain to clear your heavy road!

Better in the courtroom facing thirty years

Than washing out the sidewalk of your mother's tears! (yeah)

Better behind iron than beneath the clay!

Your cousin had the burner wrapped inside the coat

I smelled the petrol burning in his throat

The circle got tighter,

the corners grew thin

Everybody screaming 'bout who's gonna win

I dialed the precinct from the corner booth phone Hand shaking on

the plastic, cold to the bone

I gave them the stash spot,

I gave them the plan

To keep you a boy before they made you a dead man.

Judge gave him ten,

but he still takes

breath. A cell is a cage,

but it isn't death.

You can hate my name

on every corner wall...

(Lord knows) At least you're here to hate me,

after all.

They say mama told,

mama broke the code

I broke the chain to clear your heavy road!

Better in the courtroom facing thirty years

Than washing out the sidewalk of your mother's tears!

(listen to me) Better behind iron than beneath the clay!

Go on and close the blinds now,

son.

I paid the debt,

you keep your life. (mmmmm)