The Prisoner Songtext
von Gil Scott‐Heron

Here I am
After so many years
Hounded by hatred
And trapped by fear

I′m in a box
I've got no place to go
If I follow my mind
I know I′ll slaughter my own

Help me I'm the prisoner
Won't you hear my plea
I need somebody
Yeah, to listen to me

I beg you
Brothers and sisters
I′m counting on you (yeah)

Black babies in the womb
Are shackled and bound
Chained by the caveman
Who keeps beauty down


Smacked on the ass
When they′re squalling and wet
Heir to a spineless man who
Never forgets

Never forgets that he's a prisoner
Can′t you hear my plea
'Cause I need somebody
Lord knows, to listen to me

I′m a stranger to my son who wonders
Why his daddy runs, yeah...

On my way to work in the morning
When I don't give a damn
Can′t nobody, can't nobody, can't nobody
Can′t nobody see just who in hell I am?
Hemmed in by a suit
Yes, all choked up in a tie

Ain′t no wonder sometimes near morning
I hear my woman cry
She knows her man is a prisoner
Won't you hear my plea


Yeah, ′cause I need somebody
Woah, to listen to me
My woman she don't say
But she hates to see her man

Chained this way, yeah
Help me, I′m the prisoner
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
I'm the prisoner