Prelude

I'm just walking down the street

And the street is lonely

There's no one to save me, save me, save me, save me...

I'm just walking down the street

And the street is lonely

There's no one to save me

And no one for me to save

And I feel like

I could be Superman

I could come and save you

If only I could

I want to tell you the story of me and my friend, Mingus Rude

But to do that, I have to tell you about my mother

My mother had a dream

My mother used to sing

My mother had a record collection

My mother made it seem

That every time she'd sing

Every song made a secret connection

Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie, Ethel Waters

The Mamas and the Papas, their sons and daughters

Josephine Baker, Miles Davis, The Rolling Stones

She said this song would save us

We're part of a movement

This place is where it starts

The block is the kind of space the world should be

A better America than the one that's on TV

That's how I see it, that's how it is