Southern Trees
Verse 1:
I gotta run away
I gotta flee the south
Don’t know where I’m headed yet
But I know it ain’t Massa’s house
I can’t stay here no longer
The young mind seems to wonder
I wanna see what the north is like
I heard colored folk get treated right
But we don’t know about none of that
Us dem don’t know how to read
We the people dem wanna see
So why is it hard for you and me
All we see is blood on the leaves
Black bodies on poplar trees
Chained and whipped the mentality
Of everyone who isn’t free
But okay
I need a place to stay
Cause back here in the south
They’re gonna work you like slaves
Okay
You’ll catch me running today
Might catch the Underground Railroad
A youngin’ tryna get paid so I say
Run away runaway, run away runaway
I gotta go
Cause I done been down in the south
For far too long
Hook:
Just a negro lost in the southern breeze
Just another black body on the poplar trees
And I’m still like a slave cause mentally I ain’t free
We hear rumors about up north and what that life could be
But I’m just another nigga smoking southern trees
Tainted because I use to see the blood on the leaves
And I’m still like a slave cause mentally I ain’t free
We hear rumors about up north and what that life could be
Verse 2:
Why why why why
Why must we die
Why must the churn cry
Why can’t we all try
They tell us white lies
We are forced to believe
If there is a God then
Why has Thou forsaken me
Why do we get lost in the comfort of the southern breeze
Why do they all hang black bodies from southern trees
Why do we all fall and say prayers while we’re on our knees
Why isn’t there a picture of God in a southern church that resembles me
God damned
Those questions can’t even be answered
That’s why we’re headed to the north
Because those other brothers got answers
But I know they won’t share them with a negro
So I have to find a brother like me
A proud moor with melanin all in his skin
That’s what I need
Run away runaway, run away runaway
I gotta go
Cause I done been down in the south
For far too long
Hook:
Just a negro lost in the southern breeze
Just another black body on the poplar trees
And I’m still like a slave cause mentally I ain’t free
We hear rumors about up north and what that life could be
But I’m just another nigga smoking southern trees
Tainted because I use to see the blood on the leaves
And I’m still like a slave cause mentally I ain’t free
We hear rumors about up north and what that life could be