Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)

[Erykah Badu speaking]
"The boy raps over... movie scores... his last rap was over the movie score for 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'."

[Part One: Eternal Sunshine]
She said she'd never fell in love with a superman,
Christian, Muslim, Protestant, Lutheran
I told her that being a mortal is the portal to the true nature of growth; the Christ like Buddha man
That's why I never spit the traditional garbage of a night fight, bright lights, white ice to the fans
The radio is just a stereo, like the house ain't a home, and a chair is just a chair, ask Luther Van
Go to work, go to church, let your dreams die
Bowtie, final call, and the bean pie
yarmulke for Hanukkah, wishlist for Christmas
This is the jist of the life that we lead, why?
So you can fit in, with the close minded in the sit-ins, and get clotheslined in the ed-end
I could care less about a plaque and the Bidd-enz or gettin' Punked on TV by my frid-ends
Don't get a nigga wrong, I get tempted by the rewards that all come along with making nigga songs
But what does it mean if I'm a Muslim and your a Jew and because of that alone we don't get along?
And when you talk like this and try to walk like this the radio stations'll never put a nigga on
Just Mims, just 50, just Wayne, just Jeezy, Dem Franchize Boyz and Jimmy Jones
Fuck that, fuck rap this God-hop,
King-dom mu-sic for the hard rocks
I'ma spit it 'till TRL get it and Hot97 hit the nigga with a bomb drop
Ask Flex, ask Slay, ask Who Kidd
Just Blaze said, "Jay is the new kid."
I took Eternal Sunshine and I looped it,
No drums, no hook, just new shit...

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind...


[Part Two: Paper Thin]

[Voice of Gene Wilder in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" followed by applause.]

The handling of a heart, a very delicate art, 'cause it's paper thin
one irrelevant thought, that started out as a spark
could be a poisonous dart
that leaves a permenent mark
that's ice cold in the day and burns in the dark
and makes you never wanna see her face again
Tee-hee what a place I'm in
Lead me to the sta-tio-n
A one way ticket, don't look back,
one cold tear that frozen crack,
a whole lot of pain I'm holdin' back
Sheriff said, "F that roll the sack."
I said, "If my skull was cracked,
and blood ran out to the cul-de-sac,
that could not match me where I'm at."
My memories flash me there and back
yup, there goes me right there in black
holdin' hands not starin' back
she starts cryin' I start denyin' and it's my fault
and I'm aware of that
Man, in hindsight signs be glarin' back
Where's the map
to show you where you're at?
I can hear the crowd yelling, I can smell the tire smoke
I can hear the starter pistol where's the track?
ring no answer came home late
Jane told Dick she had a date
but they was just chillin'
and at that moment the right brain says to the left, "just kill 'em."
make the headlines, make the front page, wild out in the courthouse man thrill 'em
they'll say the boy dead wrong but I feel him.


[Part Three: Voodooman]

[Voices of children arguing in Kurdish.]

Voodooman, chickenbone chickenbone,
I can make a thunderstorm from a light rain
My ears start ringing,
my nose get bloody,
I feel a lil' bit of pressure on my right brain
Intermission transmission
Put me in submission
Glistening trapped in the light prison whistlin'
the Christ told me "Come closer to the light, man."
I went blind woke up in front of a mic stand...

Voodooman, tap dancing in the French Quarter
Walking on water with a scroll in my hand
The blueprints for a disc shaped-like vessel
that was chiseled out of metal off the coast of Japan
Fasting on the top of a mountain I went to Tepoztlan
Saw a shiny object floating out of the ocean
I'm sort of like a postman,
you can get the message if you want to understand,
from the rap slumber man...

[Voice of man speaking on a UFO sighting.]

Voodooman, civilize the savage
Criticize the parish
Spreading false doctrine
terrorize the cleric
for carrying on nonsense
specialised lies to paralyse the conscience
Voodooman, chit chatter abracadabra
Spitting out matter while I'm shitting out data
Mmm, chew 'em up shitting out rappers
Sipping Pelegrino while I'm giving out matches
Set yourself on fire
Let the wisdom of Elijah
purify ya take a nigga higher
Sold your soul to the high-est buyer
Now you're on the wire
talkin' about two-foot tires.
Saying you sell crack,
clapping at cats with macs
but you're a liar, pants on fire.
Same old rugged cross different crucified Messiah...


[Part Four: FYI]

[Voice of Malcolm X during his 1962 radio broadcast entitled, "The Tribe of Shabazz", followed by applause.]

While you was blowin' "x" amount of dollars on a bracelet,
the sovereign nation of France was openin' their files on the UFO phenomenon, i.e. spaceships,
It's just the facts, Jack, may as well face it
Every rhyme I write the seal get cracked in the chapter of revalations
an atom get cracked in the blackness of meditation, mysterious shit
call me Jay Dogon, I'm on some serious shit
Scholars wonder "Why do he bust?"
Allah blessed me with the Midas-y touch
Everything I lay the hands turn to Ethiopian gold, shiny and buffed.
I got a firm understandin' on the minus and plus
So I ain't got time,
to argue with a rapper 'bout how he ain't got rhymes, that's fuckin' with mine
I'm try'na kill Lucifer, so if I have to brake
'cause a rapper in my face tellin' me that he's "The Great",
you can bet a shiny nickel I'll blast his motherfuckin' ass way past Jupiter
You couldn't be stupider,
fuckin' with the nuclear,
Mayan,
Aztec lion,
Asiatic black man from Zion
Quetzalcoatl supreme, lettin' off steam
dimethyltriptamine makes a man dream
but y'all would much rather hear me rappin' 'bout trash,
the size of Erykah's ass, blunts and cash,
We need savin',
minds are consumed with swine, we need bathin'.

[Voice of Gene Wilder in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" followed by another man's voice which asks the listener, "Are you watching closely?"]