This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
The sky took away
Something that you said that you never wanted
And doubt spread all over your body
A painful source, yeah, the confidence died
You'd kill yourself
To bring curses and poison all raining upon us
But your plan was spoiled
At the last minute, by critics who panned your suicide
And so you were dead
And nobody watched and nobody wondered
It wasn't all that different
Than how things were before you were gone
Now there's too much blood
There's too much blood on your palms
And the way it runs off through your fingers is all wrong
It's all wrong
So you wake and the house still stands
And you can guess across town the store's there too
So you go, take the bus to the train, walk the rest
And spend another day waiting, waiting
The expectations die one at a time
And suddenly now, where once an acute type of pain you could feel
Signal the end of some distant stranger's faith in you
You tried
What would anyone else have done
You tried
Was there anything you didn't do
You tried
Was there a way to put your insides in English, and you just missed it
You just missed it and never knew
There's too much blood
There's too much blood on your palms
And the way it runs off through your fingers is all wrong
Something that you said that you never wanted
And doubt spread all over your body
A painful source, yeah, the confidence died
You'd kill yourself
To bring curses and poison all raining upon us
But your plan was spoiled
At the last minute, by critics who panned your suicide
And so you were dead
And nobody watched and nobody wondered
It wasn't all that different
Than how things were before you were gone
Now there's too much blood
There's too much blood on your palms
And the way it runs off through your fingers is all wrong
It's all wrong
So you wake and the house still stands
And you can guess across town the store's there too
So you go, take the bus to the train, walk the rest
And spend another day waiting, waiting
The expectations die one at a time
And suddenly now, where once an acute type of pain you could feel
Signal the end of some distant stranger's faith in you
You tried
What would anyone else have done
You tried
Was there anything you didn't do
You tried
Was there a way to put your insides in English, and you just missed it
You just missed it and never knew
There's too much blood
There's too much blood on your palms
And the way it runs off through your fingers is all wrong
Lyrics submitted by Dorroile
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