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Franklin​/​Classon Mile

from Eleven For The Road by Benjamin Shepherd

/

lyrics

Welcome back, kid
You've been gone a while
They came and made a bid on the Franklin/Classon Mile
The cranes come in and then the tenants, faces white as snow
Now it's all divided up, Mason/Dixon Style

August was as hot it's been since Kemmler got the chair
No one said much and there was something hangin in the air


Well, you know where I've been
And it ain't much to speak of
But I could rant for days about the ways a warden treats ya
It's good to see the neighborhood ain't trampled in retreat
But what's these shifty eyes from windows on my mama's street
Isn't home a sense of feeling free in your skin?
I'm not talking colors though that's where it seems to land


My name is McVeigh and I just bought a house here
They say the value's rising every fiscal year
And while the enterprise is good
This place is awful rough for an urban pioneer

I'm lying wide awake in the informercial dim
The baby's cryin hungry, it's 3:15 a.m.
The store is only down a couple blocks
Do this for me and walk with me while I walk


Well I've seen many marks in my day
But take a look at this one speed walking our way
Acting like he's never seen someone with kinky hair
But I don't aim to harm him I'm only gonna scare him

Shake him for his greenbacks, a residential tax
Shake him for his greenbacks, a residential tax

I told myself I'd never go back on lock
That's why I'm leaving not returning to the block
Nobody calls me nigger and walks away from it
I sent him to the ground with a blow so swift


I'm lyin wide awake in that hospital bed
Wondering how that word crept up and out my head
Knowing so many folks are full of just the same
But you'll never see them shoulder any blame
And they say tomorrow's a bright new day
But how can I raise a child in a world that acts this way

It's hard to say, it's hard to tell
If some things acted upon are safer only felt
No law in the land will lock you up for evil thoughts
But what about the poor misunderstood for whom it boils and rises to the top?

credits

from Eleven For The Road, released July 3, 2014

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Benjamin Shepherd Richmond, Virginia

Southern antifolk with a lyrical focus.

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW SATURDAY APRIL 8TH AT GALLERY 5 IN RICHMOND

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