The Way We Were

Memories like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
of the way we were.
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
for the way we were.
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again,
tell me could we?
Would we?
Memories may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
we simply choose to forget.
But it's the laughter
we will remember
whenever we rememeber
the way we were
the way we were

My Grandmother Loves to Sing this Song

May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?
Folk Song

One night it was dark and 'twas stormy
When along came a tramp in the rain
He was making his way to the station
To catch a long distance train

I have no tobacco or matches
And I'm sure I will do you no harm
I will tell you my story kind mister
For it runs through my heart like a thorn

May I sleep in your barn tonight, mister
It is cold lying out on the ground
And the cold north wind is a-howling
And I have no place to lie down

It was three years ago last summer
I shall never forget that sad day
When a stranger came out from the city
And said that he wanted to stay

One night as I came from my workshop
I was whistling and singing with joy
I expected a kind-hearted welcome
From my sweet loving wife and my boy

But what should I find I find but a letter
It was placed in the room on the stand
And the moment my eyes fell upon it
I picked it right up in my hand

This note said my wife and the stranger
They had left and had taken my son
I wonder if God up in Heaven
Only knows what this stranger has done

Oh Mary Don't You Weep

Well if I could I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Well Mary wore three links and chains
On every link was Jesus' name
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep
Go!

Go!

Well one of these nights bout 12 o'clock
This old world is gonna rock
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Well Moses stood on the Red Sea shore
Smote' the water with a two by four
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Alright!

(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(Pharaoh's army got drownded)
(O Mary don't you weep)

Well old Mr. Satan he got mad
Missed that soul that he thought he had
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Brothers and sisters don't you cry
There'll be good times by and by
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Well O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Solo, try it out!
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(Pharaoh's army got drownded)
(O Mary don't you weep)
Hey!

Drums!

God gave Noah the rainbow sign
"No more water but fire next time"
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Everybody!
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(Pharaoh's army got drownded)
(O Mary don't you weep)

O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
Oooooooh, Mary don't yoooooou

(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(O Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn)
(Pharaoh’s army got drownded)
(O Mary don't you weep)

Defining and Understanding the Military Industrial Complex

Think Cheney and his connection to Haliburton and Haliburton's contract worker profits coming out of Iraq. That is totally it. That went over in my mind last night as I watched Greenwald's film on war profiteering in Iraq. It is also very much tied to the internal Prison Industrial Complex. Profit(absolutely not Prophet) drives....

Honesty and Sincerity are the same thing.

Everything is Everything

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually
[2x]

I wrote these words for everyone
Who struggles in their youth
Who won't accept deception
Instead of what is truth
It seems we lose the game,
Before we even start to play
Who made these rules? We're so confused
Easily led astray
Let me tell ya that
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
After winter, must come spring
Everything is everything

I philosophy
Possibly speak tongues
Beat drum, Abyssinian, street Baptist
Rap this in fine linen
From the beginning
My practice extending across the atlas
I begat this
Flippin' in the ghetto on a dirty mattress
You can't match this rapper / actress
More powerful than two Cleopatras
Bomb graffiti on the tomb of Nefertiti
MCs ain't ready to take it to the Serengeti
My rhymes is heavy like the mind of Sister Betty
L. Boogie spars with stars and constellations
Then came down for a little conversation
Adjacent to the king, fear no human being
Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum
Now hear this mixture
Where hip hop meets scripture
Develop a negative into a positive picture

Now, everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

Sometimes it seems
We'll touch that dream
But things come slow or not at all
And the ones on top, won't make it stop
So convinced that they might fall
Let's love ourselves then we can't fail
To make a better situation
Tomorrow, our seeds will grow
All we need is dedication

Let me tell ya that,
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
After winter, must come spring
Everything is everything

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

Morgan Goodson

I want to profile my great great grandfather so as to give an accurate picture of him. They say he was the meanest man in Autauga County. He was relatively short, dark, and had red eyes. People called him a soothsayer and said he could tell the future. He also knew more about the law than most and people always went to him for advice. He let it be known, as he said, he didn't raise his children to work in any white man's kitchen. They say, when he took his cotton to the cotton gin to sell it, the white man who owned it was to have said, "You hurry up and you get Morgan Goodson out of here and you make sure his accounts are right because he is one crazy nigger and you just don't know what he might do." They say that he could fuss from sun up til sun down and that when his children got old enough to work he sat down. He and his wife, my great great grandmother Mattie, were quite interesting and industrious people, however. They owned about 400 acres of land, which they passed on to us, and had twenty children, fifteen that lived to see adulthood. They also had one son to go and recieve his phd(Macaulay Ware).They said that my great geat grandfather told the exact hour and day of his death. I believe he was a man of his time. His name is still spoken out of the mouths of many around the place where he lived with reverence.