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Broken Wings Lyrics
She's a fairy with broken wings, I used to go watch her perform
And if she hears me, I hope she sings the songs that have me
Goin' right back, couldn't find anyone in town to talk about how
No one like that should be confined to the ground we walk
She glides so much it seems like she floats and these folks
Decide to crush her wings until they're permanently broke
She'd ride gusts of wind just by the way she spoke
She cries but loves to sing songs of freedom and hope
On the east side hustling, discussing things that we quote
In shallow conversations as if we have deep throats
We choke on our confusion, not sure if it's a heat stroke
Or if we need coats,
Trading in our cheap jokes for our c-notes
I see notes being passed, I ask to see what these creeps wrote
To find silly kids had flying privileges revoked
Ski slopes have been blocked off they can't chance it
Had weights tied to her ankles, she most definitely can't skip
Town, she's held down by the transcripts my hands grip
Tried to tie her wings back on before they're once again clipped
Panic stricken
She'll remain stuck on a
Titanic sinkin'
But she's tryin' to stay up
Change her plan, thinkin' it's okay, see this is strange but
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in a way that kept them chained up
I'd like to see her take flight into the stars,
Instead of letting her fly free, they keep her in jars
Instead of letting 'em fly free, they keep 'em in jars
I put my hands to the glass so hard that it might break the prison bars
It isn't hard to see why they keep her captive,
She's naturally attractive, speaks with ad-libs, she's uncommonly talented
Ain't enough adjectives to do her disposition justice
Kids are wishin' for just a kiss and a submission to touch her lips
They can't trust her with freedom of movement, that's a chance to lose her quick
If she ups and splits you might as well call that discussion quits
They have ways to keep her down, the government's underlings enslave
People in this town, especially if their culture's rich, exploiting
Talents, making her do a bunch of tricks,
With the rest of the wingless imports repeatedly told: "You ain't a fairy, you just a bitch
With a butt that's thick, so rub your tits
And thrust your hips and suck my dick
And run your shit..."
She's a fairy with broken wings, I used to go watch her perform
And if she hears me, I hope she sings songs
That have me goin' right back couldn't find anyone in town to talk about how
No one like that should be confined to the ground
When I was down in New York, she'd send me letters and I read her passages
About how I left her to the savages
No matter how sad that is I didn't cry,
'Cause it was only a matter of time before they'd figured me out and tried to strip my pride
I knew the scoop, wish you could've seen the blueprints in my eye
When I flew the coup, utilizing overground railroads in the sky
It was live or die, let me let you in on this secret of mine:
Me and you are different, girl - we don't even need wings to fly
You and me, we don't need wings to fly
Keep on singing, give it a try, give it a try
And if she hears me, I hope she sings the songs that have me
Goin' right back, couldn't find anyone in town to talk about how
No one like that should be confined to the ground we walk
Decide to crush her wings until they're permanently broke
She'd ride gusts of wind just by the way she spoke
She cries but loves to sing songs of freedom and hope
On the east side hustling, discussing things that we quote
In shallow conversations as if we have deep throats
We choke on our confusion, not sure if it's a heat stroke
Or if we need coats,
Trading in our cheap jokes for our c-notes
I see notes being passed, I ask to see what these creeps wrote
To find silly kids had flying privileges revoked
Ski slopes have been blocked off they can't chance it
Had weights tied to her ankles, she most definitely can't skip
Town, she's held down by the transcripts my hands grip
Tried to tie her wings back on before they're once again clipped
She'll remain stuck on a
Titanic sinkin'
But she's tryin' to stay up
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in a way that kept them chained up
I'd like to see her take flight into the stars,
Instead of letting her fly free, they keep her in jars
Instead of letting 'em fly free, they keep 'em in jars
I put my hands to the glass so hard that it might break the prison bars
It isn't hard to see why they keep her captive,
She's naturally attractive, speaks with ad-libs, she's uncommonly talented
Ain't enough adjectives to do her disposition justice
Kids are wishin' for just a kiss and a submission to touch her lips
They can't trust her with freedom of movement, that's a chance to lose her quick
If she ups and splits you might as well call that discussion quits
They have ways to keep her down, the government's underlings enslave
People in this town, especially if their culture's rich, exploiting
Talents, making her do a bunch of tricks,
With the rest of the wingless imports repeatedly told: "You ain't a fairy, you just a bitch
And thrust your hips and suck my dick
And run your shit..."
And if she hears me, I hope she sings songs
That have me goin' right back couldn't find anyone in town to talk about how
No one like that should be confined to the ground
About how I left her to the savages
No matter how sad that is I didn't cry,
'Cause it was only a matter of time before they'd figured me out and tried to strip my pride
I knew the scoop, wish you could've seen the blueprints in my eye
When I flew the coup, utilizing overground railroads in the sky
It was live or die, let me let you in on this secret of mine:
Me and you are different, girl - we don't even need wings to fly
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I always figured that sage was quite possibly talking about both a woman he knew and music itself. Maybe someone he knew that was an incredible artist, someone who taught him things, someone who never got a chance to blow up and be recognized as a talent for a lot of reasons. For some reason I get this feeling that if it was about a woman she was the type who was a little self destructive, someone who had big appetites, large dreams and had trouble coping with the fact that she wasn't reaching a huge audience.
@ANHoax The liner notes thank a specific person he claims is more talented than him. So your correct on that point, but the rest of the song is about her and the criminal justice system. Clipping her wings is putting her in jail, and he talks about how they restrict her movements(parole or probation). On a deeper level it speaks to the fact that black people in America still aren't free, that years of systemic racism haven't ended, they just traded slavery for mass incarceration and endless probation, racial profiling, etc. If you disagree that black people...
@ANHoax The liner notes thank a specific person he claims is more talented than him. So your correct on that point, but the rest of the song is about her and the criminal justice system. Clipping her wings is putting her in jail, and he talks about how they restrict her movements(parole or probation). On a deeper level it speaks to the fact that black people in America still aren't free, that years of systemic racism haven't ended, they just traded slavery for mass incarceration and endless probation, racial profiling, etc. If you disagree that black people are still second class citizens, I recommend the documentary called the 13th on Netflix. In my lifetime we've had two openly racist presidents, and the presidents before that specifically came up with new ways to keep black people down (Google southern strategy for details), but it was essentially a plan to stir racial animosities in the south, using dog whistle politics to signal to southern voters that the president was against blacks.
This is the song of my life, I think we can all relate to this at one point or another. It's all about society/ the governments attempt to constrain us and prevent people with ambition from succeeding 'flying away.' The song begins with Sage listing all of the qualities this girl possesses and then he talks about how everyone tries to exploit her and prevent her from really going places. This song is intensely emotional, especially with his solution, the line "me and you are different girl, we don't even need wings to fly"
Well reading the Sleeve notes to the album, I'm pretty sutre it IS about a girlfriend. In his thank yous he thanks this girl who he credits as "more creative" than him and much more talented, and these are all the things he says to whoever he addresses the note to that goes with this song. It's About how her talent is constrained basically, how she isn't allowed to fly free.
this song is awesome. soooo good. and i agree it's about a girlfriend sage had.
It's about a girlfriend sage had, but I do think it's about racism as well.
I feel this song also shows a lot of insight to how the world views womens rights or people views of womens rights. What people say can be totally different then how people act, as we all know. So even though the women in the song appears to be succesfull and confident she will still be viewed as an item ie "you ain't a fairy, you just a bitch! with a butt that's thick... so rub your tits... and thrust your hips... and suck my dick... " and Sage shows pity and remorse over this but feels unable to change the bigger picture.So although he doesn't like the behavior he still sees himself falling into the presure to conform. In his eyes being different and unique makes you a target. Does this make sense to anyone or am I rambling?
i always thought this song was about a stripper
..hip hop personified?
The song is about a stripe. It seems as if she wants to get out of that line of work, but can't. He talks about how she is talented and haves all of these great things going for her, but how she has become "enslaved" by striping. "about how i left her to the savages. " shows that she wanted out, but probably couldn't do it on he own.
i agree with quez_boogie. i, too, think it is about hip hop. but you never know. :].
i think this song's about how hip hop is constantly being held down. sage hates that nobody can see the beauty in hip hop "...couldn't find anyone in town to talk, about how no one like that...should be confined to the ground " he hates that critics write off talented artist. "i see notes being passed, i ask to see what these creeps wrote, to find silly kids had flying privileges revoked" he thinks that because of this hip hop is dying no matter how hard he tries to save her "she's held down by the transcripts my hands grip. i tried to tie her wings...
i think this song's about how hip hop is constantly being held down. sage hates that nobody can see the beauty in hip hop "...couldn't find anyone in town to talk, about how no one like that...should be confined to the ground " he hates that critics write off talented artist. "i see notes being passed, i ask to see what these creeps wrote, to find silly kids had flying privileges revoked" he thinks that because of this hip hop is dying no matter how hard he tries to save her "she's held down by the transcripts my hands grip. i tried to tie her wings back on before they're once again clipped. panic stricken...she'll remain stuck on a titanic sinkin'...but she's tryin' to stay up." sage explains that hip hop is being held down because "they can't trust her with freedom of movement. that's a chance to lose her quick," this means that hip hop is being held down because it would be lost if artists fully expressed themselves. also he talks about a brief time when he left hip hop for new york and throws in a little thing about blueprint. not sure if it's a refrance to the rapper Blueprint or not but they have done some work together.