DIY Time Machine

My father can no longer speak Something about pneumonia Something in his brain Something about swinging low sweet chariots Laying there in Vietnam I got war on my back get it off get it off I got war on my back get it off get it off Gave me that ease He gave me all this heroin to sell Help me poison the community I came home all blown up I got death on my back I got death on my back Swing low sweet chariots Then (?) this penitentiary So I can find religion Get this death off my back Sing it for me Clutching brown bibles With corn-rows in your hair Sing it for me On the phone through the glass while the nurse watching She took my legs, I ain't leaving I’ll be here with this song in my head They got me after all that running After all them prayer since I was a little boy My father baptized by the word And run-ins with the holy ghost Singing low to touch someone We was singing in the penitentiary you know Singing away the years One time we sung the same song for five years Next thing I knew, I was home back in the projects