I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelites Aah
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite
My wife and my kids, they packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelite
Shirt them a-tear up, trousers is gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
Poor me Israelite
After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor a-poor a-poor me Israelite
I said I get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite Aah
I said my wife and my kids, they are packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelites Aah
Look Me shirts them a-tear up, trousers are gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
A-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah
After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor me Israelite
A-poor a-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelites Aah
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite
My wife and my kids, they packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelite
Shirt them a-tear up, trousers is gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
Poor me Israelite
After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor a-poor a-poor me Israelite
I said I get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite Aah
I said my wife and my kids, they are packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelites Aah
Look Me shirts them a-tear up, trousers are gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
A-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah
After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor me Israelite
A-poor a-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah
Lyrics submitted by skacore_dude, edited by knightride365, nux1873
Israelites Lyrics as written by Desmond Dekker
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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My GF says that Jamaica consideres itself the "lost tribe of Isreal". I have to ask her more about that. "Babylon" as it's know, is Jamaica and and all I know is rastas consider home "Isreal" which ironically, they consider Ethiopia.
All I know is this song is one of the greatest in the history of raggae, and I KNOW raggae.
@scrappy123 Haile Sellassie was the last emperor of Ethiopia. His role would have been great spiritual leader, Ras Tafari, had the country not been invaded by colonial forces.