I stepped out on a celluloid night
that flickered on a black and white reel
looking for something that I could not explain
I could only feel
these were the songs upheld by the shades
that spoke to me as I left town
Israelites, the harder they come, 54-47
I hear them now
and the words of the prophets never sounded
as good as the echo of a hard one drop
to be forever enslaved by the sound the creator made
don't let it stop
[Chorus:]
come again, midnight passenger
there to accompany down
to the end of the souls lost avenue
feel it now
I kept walking in the dust all night
looking for a diamond in the crush
halfway under in bars like a ship that was sinking down
or coming up
it was not the sun that stung,
but the feel of loss and the voice of suffering and fate
till I just stopped listening to the chatter of all those yesterdays
crime pays
[Chorus]
we will show up with all our secret problems
and if we can't find land
there's a tone written into soul songs that understands
[Chorus]
we will be free
that flickered on a black and white reel
looking for something that I could not explain
I could only feel
these were the songs upheld by the shades
that spoke to me as I left town
Israelites, the harder they come, 54-47
I hear them now
and the words of the prophets never sounded
as good as the echo of a hard one drop
to be forever enslaved by the sound the creator made
don't let it stop
[Chorus:]
come again, midnight passenger
there to accompany down
to the end of the souls lost avenue
feel it now
I kept walking in the dust all night
looking for a diamond in the crush
halfway under in bars like a ship that was sinking down
or coming up
it was not the sun that stung,
but the feel of loss and the voice of suffering and fate
till I just stopped listening to the chatter of all those yesterdays
crime pays
[Chorus]
we will show up with all our secret problems
and if we can't find land
there's a tone written into soul songs that understands
[Chorus]
we will be free