Song: Minnesota
Album: Lesser Restoration
Album: Lesser Restoration
Artist: Toussaint Morrison
Written by: Toussaint Morrison
Released September 27, 2016
ref: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Wl3nCKB43NyUKz5LGp4L5
She cares for me with cops
Looks after me with laws
Calls me "nigger" when I'm not around
Employs me with a job
Kisses me with snow
Keeps me alive to make the wheels go 'round
And you convince yourself it's ok
Because it's all you've known
Surrounded by white smiles
Waitin' for permission to hope
So, she takes me down to the ballot box
And let's me pray without the cross
Makes my bed and she lays me down
-
Chorus
And she says she loves me
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
And I feel nothing
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
And I feel...
-
Met her' back in '86
And she ain't been right since
I suspect somethin' long's been goin' on
I knew she had a past and all
And I believed her when she said those days were long gone
Until I took a good look at the ground
I saw pictures of Mankato
Pictures of Duluth
The video from Saint Paul
The dead spoke the truth
They said, "Old habits die hard,
but this money's one helluva drug.
She's got a dealer named legacy
and a drunk step daddy named America.
Brother, if you want to fight the good fight
Then you'll have to understand that she won't go by fallin' on her own sword
You'll have to reconstruct the handle to the blade, so there's a price to pick it up
'Cos we've all heard it before."
-
Chorus
-
Well I marched all the way to her front door
Demanded to know what the hell is goin' on
She drew a smile with those big blue eyes
And said, "Why so serious.
They named schools and lakes after murderers
they called masters
They protect my land with murderers
they call officers
They got a prison cell made for ya
and a bullet with your name on it,
and every time I made your bed
was just to measure out the grave for ya.
I wasn't born this way.
Could you help me change?"
She grabs me by the throat
and holds me down
-
Chorus
She cares for me with cops
Looks after me with laws
Calls me "nigger" when I'm not around
Employs me with a job
Kisses me with snow
Keeps me alive to make the wheels go 'round
And you convince yourself it's ok
Because it's all you've known
Surrounded by white smiles
Waitin' for permission to hope
So, she takes me down to the ballot box
And let's me pray without the cross
Makes my bed and she lays me down
-
Chorus
And she says she loves me
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
And I feel nothing
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
She says she loves me
And I feel...
-
Met her' back in '86
And she ain't been right since
I suspect somethin' long's been goin' on
I knew she had a past and all
And I believed her when she said those days were long gone
Until I took a good look at the ground
I saw pictures of Mankato
Pictures of Duluth
The video from Saint Paul
The dead spoke the truth
They said, "Old habits die hard,
but this money's one helluva drug.
She's got a dealer named legacy
and a drunk step daddy named America.
Brother, if you want to fight the good fight
Then you'll have to understand that she won't go by fallin' on her own sword
You'll have to reconstruct the handle to the blade, so there's a price to pick it up
'Cos we've all heard it before."
-
Chorus
-
Well I marched all the way to her front door
Demanded to know what the hell is goin' on
She drew a smile with those big blue eyes
And said, "Why so serious.
They named schools and lakes after murderers
they called masters
They protect my land with murderers
they call officers
They got a prison cell made for ya
and a bullet with your name on it,
and every time I made your bed
was just to measure out the grave for ya.
I wasn't born this way.
Could you help me change?"
She grabs me by the throat
and holds me down
-
Chorus